Influencing Up

CHAPTER 7

Building a Partnership Relationship with Your Boss

The notion of being a partner with your boss is pretty intriguing; after all, who wouldn’t want to have a relationship where:

• You can be open with each other—tell “truth to authority” and know that you are getting the same in return.
• You have the same goals rather than being at odds.
• There is the leeway to disagree with each other and work out your issues together.
• You can take initiative and don’t need permission to complete tasks. And when your initiative doesn’t work out, the negative outcomes don’t get your manager into the “blame game.”
• You know that your boss is genuinely interested in your learning and growth as well as your immediate performance.

Although it’s nice to feel close to someone and have their approval, the major benefit of this relationship is that it allows you to more fully use your abilities to meet organization goals. Of course, you have to want to carry a major part of the responsibility. You might blame your boss for failing to establish a partnership with you in the first place; however, if you want something different, you have to figure out how you can get it. You’re fortunate if you have a boss who will initiate this kind of partnership with you—but because you can’t count on that from every boss, you should learn how you can generate this yourself.

You will be more convinced that this can indeed occur if you know exactly how to go about it, especially with a boss who doesn’t seem eager ...