How to manage your boss

Venue: Novotel Shenzhen Wonder Hotel

Moderator: Liu Lan, Editor-in-Chief of "CEConline"

Discussers:

Shen Xiaona (Secretary of Chairman of Fuxiang Group) Chen Zhan (Sales Director of Guangdong Aisikai Special Plastics Co., Ltd.) Lu Ruhai (Marketing Manager of Hong Kong Lianzhi Technology Development Co., Ltd.) Yang Huaheng (Shunde Huizhong Water Treatment Equipment Co., Ltd. Company Regional Manager) Wen Qiusheng (Assistant to President of Shenzhen Anxin Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd.) Wang Jing (Head of Training of Shenzhen Electromechanical Equipment Tendering Center) Zhang Yong (First Biotechnology Director of Dongguan Dalingshan Suzuka Fuji Xerox Electric Appliance Factory) Tian Xiaomei (Shenzhen Weixinkang Industrial Co., Ltd.) Zhang Ge (China Marketing Manager of German Gulou Paper (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.) Wei Yi (Deputy Manager of Training Department of McDonald's Restaurant (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.) Tan Lin (Torch Technology ( Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.)

How can I help my boss improve?

Every boss has his own strengths and weaknesses. When his weaknesses have restricted the development of the company, how can subordinates properly remind him and help him improve? Shen Xiaona, secretary to the chairman of Fuxiang Group, raised this question. Her boss started a business. In the early days of reform and opening up, he relied on economic policies, flexible minds, and decisive investment vision to win the company's future and market, but today's experience-based management has no way out.

Yang Huaheng, who guided his boss to participate in seminars and classes, felt the same way about this issue. He said, "When I was studying at Tsinghua University, I often exchanged with my boss what the professor said, and asked him if he was involved in the company's current situation. It sounds pretty good to him, last year he started to study Tsinghua MBA, and this year he took part in the training of Sun Yat-sen University."

Shen Xiaona believes that from the perspective of being a secretary, it is impossible to directly point out the shortcomings of the boss. Recommend him to attend some seminars from the side. Not long ago, at the Entrepreneurship Forum held on the CEConlines website, Shen Xiaona received a free recommendation form for a human resources seminar, and she urged her boss to participate. She told her boss that the seminar was about the human resources problems faced by modern enterprises. The professor was very competent. She also said that if the boss didn't have time, she would go to the seminar first in the morning, and if it felt good, then let the boss go. In the morning, the boss didn't go because there were customers. Shen Xiaona called him at noon to tell him that it was really good, and the boss rushed over immediately in the afternoon.

Helping bosses improve by getting support Lu Ruhai gave an example from her work, she said: "Our boss started out in sales, and marketing was blank. My position is not very high, and I don't have the opportunity to communicate with the boss. Sitting together to discuss this issue, the way I take is to write a plan, I give him the data, and tell him how to do every step, he feels very good, and he executes it for me. When the boss held a high-level meeting in the second month, All vice presidents are required to come up with their own annual plans. I think what I do is still helpful to him."

Taking advantage of the company's crisis and grasping the characteristics of the boss Shen Xiaona believes that she can use the company's crisis to help her boss improve . In 2001, her company had a problem of lost goods in the warehouse, and the loss was about 1 million. Shen Xiaona said: "My boss is a person who is very sensitive to numbers. I took advantage of his characteristics and recommended ERP. One of the reasons I persuaded him was to ensure the absolute accuracy of warehouse data. I told my boss that if I use ERP By straightening out the logistics, you can save at least 3 million yuan a year. Another reason is that our procurement was not transparent at that time, and there were at least tens of millions of invisible losses every year. The final decision."

Tian Xiaomei believes that external or peer crises can also be used to remind the boss and let him pay attention to related problems. Wei Yi said in his speech that a prerequisite for helping the boss to improve is to have a relatively strong relationship of trust with the boss.

What if the method is different?

This question gave Zhang Ge of Gulou Paper a very headache. She said: "My immediate supervisors are Americans and Germans. They have different cultural backgrounds and different working methods. They don't care about anything. The balance and consistency of the development of the global market must be considered. The Chinese market is too special. I think a special strategy is needed to enter the Chinese market. For example, price is a very important aspect, but it is difficult for the company to accept it. The price in China is low. It may hit other markets in the world, but if the price is too far from the competitors, it is difficult to enter."

Zhang Yong also encountered similar problems, he said: "Our company is a branch under Fuji Xerox. Because of the personnel The liquidity of the company is strong. When I am doing manpower planning, I always have five or six or 10% more reserves. Whenever the report is submitted, no matter how I explain it, the boss does not think it is a reason. Because in Japan In an enterprise, employees have a strong sense of belonging."

Acknowledging differences and respecting the views of their bosses Chen Zhan and Shen Xiaona both talked about the need to first acknowledge the differences between themselves and their bosses and respect his views. Think about whether everyone's goals are all for the development of the company, and if so, whether they can reach the same goal. Shen Xiaona mentioned: "When I get along with the big boss, 70% should follow his thoughts, and 30% should adjust according to my own thoughts and the thoughts that are most conducive to the development of the company."

Station Look at the problem from the other side's point of view Chen Zhan mentioned that whenever he disagrees with his boss, he can look at the problem from the other side's point of view. Once, his boss told him that the Korean institute was going to visit their clients. In fact, they had already visited them before, this time for inspection. Chen Zhan said, "We hope this event can be cancelled because what we need is customer feedback, not the inspection of the Korean Institute. In the end, the boss accepted our opinion."

Chen Zhan added: "I think Some of my words touched him, that is, when people from South Korea come, they don’t look at the process, they just look at the results. If the results are not good, it will be bad if they go back, and the harm will be big; Thinking from his point of view."

Impress your boss with facts For some issues that your boss can't understand, you can use facts to speak. For example, Zhang Yong's boss can't understand the current situation of talent flow in China. One way is to give him some figures from third-party statistics. What is the turnover rate of talent in the Chinese market? What is the turnover rate of manufacturing enterprises like them, especially In such an IT industry, what is the turnover rate; in addition, let him feel the current situation of talent flow, such as going to places such as human recruitment fairs to see how many people are looking for jobs and changing jobs here.

After the boss assigns the task, he often does not have enough resources to support him. Chen Zhan, who is a sales manager in a Korean-funded enterprise, feels that the requirements and resources given by his boss are not specific, and there is no clear assessment index.

Ask for power when power is not enough For this problem, Chen Zhan's solution is to ask for power when he has no power. Since everyone in the department is a business person, without the assistance of the rear staff, he asked the boss for an assistant, and also has the right to support from other departments. He also reported the resources he needed to his boss, and when declaring the required training, he also submitted optional training institutions and their respective quotations.

Wen Qiusheng said in the communication that sometimes the client needs him to make a decision on a certain project, but he does not have the right to make a decision in this regard. If the incident is urgent and there is no time to communicate with the boss, he will be the first to make a decision. Lu Ruhai expressed a different opinion. Once she needed to make an urgent decision on whether to participate in an exhibition, and it was too late to report, so she decided to participate in the exhibition on her own. Later, although the outcome of the matter was proved to be correct, she was punished by the company due to an error in the handling procedure.

Pushing people with power to solve the imbalance of responsibility and power, Shen Xiaona's solution is to push people with power to solve it. When their company started ERP, the boss appointed her as the project manager. The biggest problem she encountered was coding material, and several departments blamed each other. At that time, she had only been in the company for three months, but she observed that the production boss can promote this matter. This person is very controversial in the company, but she praised the production boss in front of the boss. The boss is also a person who loves to spread the word. The production boss soon found out about this, and his attitude towards Shen Xiaona became very friendly. Later, I talked to him about the material coding and it went smoothly.

After expressing their opinions, they also shared some advice from management gurus on managing their bosses. For related content, please refer to the sub-column of this article and to the readers of this issue.

This article is organized by Marisa Wang. If you want to know the complete record of this management salon, please log on to the CEConlines website to view the live version of the management salon.

The Authority Perspective: A Checklist for Managing Bosses

Harvard Business School professors John J. Gabarro and John Cotter ( John P. Cotter, co-authored Managing Your Boss, gives the following advice for managing your boss:

Know your boss and his environment, including goals and objectives, pressures, strengths, weaknesses and blind spots, preferences How you work;

● Assess yourself and your needs, including strengths and weaknesses, personal style, dependence on authority figures - anti-dependence or over-dependence? (Anti-dependence means doing whatever the boss says, over-dependence means doing whatever the boss says without asking);

● Develop and maintain a relationship that has the following characteristics: suits the needs and styles of both parties Yes, reflecting common expectations, reporting to the boss in a timely manner, based on trust and honesty, and selectively using the boss's time and resources.

According to the survey of the CEConlines website, the main difficulties in interacting with the boss are as follows: