{"id":1052,"date":"2007-07-06T07:30:31","date_gmt":"2007-07-06T12:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/07\/clear-communication-or-sucking-up\/"},"modified":"2007-07-06T07:30:32","modified_gmt":"2007-07-06T12:30:32","slug":"clear-communication-or-sucking-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/07\/clear-communication-or-sucking-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear Communication Or Sucking Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yahoo.com offers up a unique article titled Five Myths of Managing Up<\/a> that purports to help employees communicate more clearly with their boss. I don’t know – many of the suggestions seem like sucking up to me.<\/p>\n

\n
Conventional wisdom:<\/strong> If you’re even five minutes late, the boss will think you’re a slacker.<\/p>\n
Why it’s a myth:<\/strong> In an age of flex time, telecommuting, Blackberries, and instant messages, bosses care more about whether you’re getting the job done than whether you’re warming your seat. <\/p>\n
Try this instead:<\/strong> Make sure the boss knows you’re putting in extra hours at home or on the road, both by maintaining a rapid-response email or instant message presence, and by hinting at when you’re putting in those extra hours. <\/p>\n
Example:<\/strong> “I had to work over the weekend on this report, but I think you’ll agree the extra effort was worth it.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The example statement is, well, pathetic. If I was this person’s boss, I would laugh at that self-promoting comment. My perspective is probably skewed by years in sales, but these mental gymnastics involving excuses, shameless self-promotion and explanations of effort are pointless. <\/p>\n
Be on time – how hard is it? If your boss is waiting, you can expect to hear about it. <\/p>\n
The other issue is the commentary about effort. Obviously effort is important in being a strong employee (how about some effort to be on-time?). But salespeople are not paid based on effort, they are paid based on success – i.e. closing deals. We’ve seen plenty of salespeople who work hard and close little. At the end of the day, those employees can feel good about their effort but it is doubtful that they will keep their job without bringing in business. <\/p>\n
Sucking up won’t save them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yahoo.com offers up a unique article titled Five Myths of Managing Up that purports to help employees communicate more clearly with their boss. I don’t know – many of the suggestions seem like sucking up to me. For instance: Conventional wisdom: If you’re even five minutes late, the boss will think you’re a slacker. Why it’s a myth: In an age of flex time, telecommuting, Blackberries, and instant messages, bosses care more about whether you’re getting the job done than whether you’re warming your seat. Try this instead: Make sure the boss knows you’re putting in extra hours at home or on the road, both by maintaining a rapid-response email… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-sales-management"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-gY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":806,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/04\/interview-with-the-coach\/","url_meta":{"origin":1052,"position":0},"title":"Interview With The Coach","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"CareerJournal.com offers something new, at least to me, in the modern-day hiring process - Add One More to the Hiring Process: The Boss's Coach. Welcome to the latest development in job hunting. You impressed the recruiter, treated the receptionist politely and bonded with the hiring official. Now, you must also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2117,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/10\/whos-your-friend\/","url_meta":{"origin":1052,"position":1},"title":"Who’s Your Friend?","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"October 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m sure you have encountered those people who you wonder if they have any social skills whatsoever.\u00a0 I used to work with a guy who would walk in to any conversation between people and just start talking about his topic.\u00a0 No waiting, no gentle interruption \u2013 he just walked in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1425,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/7-saving-graces-of-managers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1052,"position":2},"title":"7 Saving Graces Of Managers","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an interesting article from BusinessWeek.com - a ranked order of saving graces which are essentially counterpoints to the typically hard-charging approach of managers. The 7: 1. Listening: Taking the time to listen can get you out of more jams than the rest of the saving graces combined. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":992,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/06\/challenge-your-employees\/","url_meta":{"origin":1052,"position":3},"title":"Challenge Your Employees","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Inc.com reports on a Korn\/Ferry survey in Most Employees Believe They Can Outperform Their Bosses. I don't think the results are all that surprising: Seventy-three percent of executive-level employees believe they would do a better job than their current boss, according to a new survey. ... While a majority of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Retention"","block_context":{"text":"Retention","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/retention\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":407,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/10\/the-importance-of-your-boss\/","url_meta":{"origin":1052,"position":4},"title":"The Importance of Your Boss","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"October 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Sales & Marketing Management has a quick hitter of a story regarding an Adecco survey about the worker-boss relationship. 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