The Impediments On Way Of Impressing The Boss

The Impediments On Way Of Impressing The Boss

In this article I will share couple of my personal…. professional actually – experiences that I had as a middle level employee. The term ‘impressing’  in the topic of this article maybe sounding a bit awkward but what I want to say is ‘be in the good books of the Boss’. Who doesn’t want to be in the good books of the Boss huh? He or she is the one who will decide my future in the company – whether I’ll be promoted or demoted or get a raise by whatever percentage. So it is but obvious and only intelligent a step towards rising on the corporate ladder.

My ‘Impressing-The-Boss’ Skills Developed Pretty Early In Life!

Since my father was in the Indian Defense, he had a transferrable job, because of which, every two to three years, we were posted out to a new city. And thus folks, every 2-3 years I had a brand new set of teachers to impress! In school, teachers are the Bosses…and we had as many bosses as subjects! I studied them of course. Whatever made them happy, impressed them – is exactly what I did. I had to be in their good books after all – they check our copies, give marks and our Report cards will have their signatures…so why on earth will I not do everything to impress them?

I Came To Be Known As A ‘Buttering-Fly’ In School….

Yea folks! We all had nick names during our school days. And I knew what they called me behind my back. While I was trying my best to impress the teachers… and managing pretty well at it too – the other students started having problems with that…and thus the name calling! They said things like – you know which side of the bread is to be buttered very well OR do you have a shop with surplus supply of oil and butter?…it does not seem to finish at all!

Impressing teachers was not a big deal at all – it is pretty much simple if only you use just wee bit of your brains! For example, Teacher A always liked the homework to be submitted with proper margins – ruler drawn pencil margins (not pens – pencil) on both the right and left sides of the sheet plus at the bottom. Yes, of course it was tedious – but if he/she likes it that way – it has to given that way. Period. Students who did not listen to this bare minimum requirement of the teacher will obviously earn his wrath! This is simple logic. Why not just draw the margin and let him be happy!?

Another example would be – let’s say Teacher B – she dislikes too many scratches on the sheet and even if by mistake you have to cut the word and write the correct spelling, just cut it across once…and not make a cloud on the paper! Okay fine – these small things about respective teachers we have to remember – you remember such small nitty-gritty and you are sorted. Then there were some who liked point-wise presentation of facts…while others liked it in essay form…some liked too many diagrams whereas others liked more written matter, less diagrams…and I did exactly what each wanted. I wanted good marks at the end of the day – so remembering what impresses them is something one has to keep on mind…and honestly I never felt that I was buttering the teacher – so whatever my friends or foes called me behind my back – it did not really matter to me much!

Stepping Into The Professional World –

 

More or less same things happened in work places too. I believe in working smart, not working hard! If in the IT era, when a single report is just a few key-ins away from you – I don’t think you should have any reason to delay the same by one week!! But folks this is exactly what happened….and since team work is essential – in fact the prime most important factor in any office …. things slowed down tremendously because of sloppy workers in the team!

Work Smart, Not Hard!

Here is one example – Let’s say a letter is to be drafted and of course before it can be handed over to the customer or client, it has to go through the Boss’s eyes. So once Boss gave it a go, I saved the letter in a properly named folder – so that in future, if any such requirement came up – all that I’d have to do would be to change the name and address and get the letter ready by 4 minutes!

So something that took 30 minutes the very first time it was drafted, took 4 minutes the next time – result – 26 minutes saved the next time! I think for mid level workers this is an achievement!…not really an achievement folks – there are many like me who do exactly like this – and must be pretty much surprised to read the above line where I have stated it as an achievement! But the places where I have worked – well – it was some sort of an achievement!

My Swift Working Style Was Not At All Appreciated By My Colleagues

It takes all sorts to make this world – and unfortunately, the lazy sorts are many in number! The fact that I did not keep the client waiting and surprised him by giving a swift service was highly appreciated by Boss…. but highly criticized by co-workers! (this was not a single incident – many such instances – just giving a single example here)

They first started with alarming me to not give the clients such a taste of ‘speed and efficiency’ or else they will get spoilt….lol – I understood that I was raising the expectation of the Boss actually…because logic would be – if I am able to work so efficiently…then given the same infrastructure – why are they failing to do the same!

Delays In Reporting Due To Other Team Members.. But Same Punishment For All!

Since I had an IT academic background, I knew the importance of filling up every field given in the E-filing system. I knew just how important it was for reports to get generated in a jiffy! So whereas my part of the reports got prepared before time – others were beginning to make quick data entries – minutes before the presentation! Obviously the Boss would be upset …and it is not possible for him or her to single out who was right, who was wrong or who was being sloppy …result – all of us had to work overtime – although my work was over…I was asked to fill in someone else’s data too…….

Was this justified? I think not! At least I could not tolerate the punishment of staying back after office hours to complete someone else’s job!!

Employees With Zero Passion And Lazy Disposition

I guess this is pretty much it! The obstacles on way to impress the Boss mostly come from sloppy team members who maybe have a lazy, detached disposition …for whatever reason – but result in making a team work inefficiently!!…Plus the smart, efficient worker will either move away looking out for greener pastures…or decide to become like one of the sloppy workers…..

This topic is especially for the Bosses to know…and of course the HR Dept. to be always on the guard – or else you will just land up working with employees with zero passion and lazy disposition!