So You Have a New Boss

You’re comfortable in your job and you have a great and mutually supportive relationship with your boss and then.....the proverbial rug is pulled out from under you.  Your boss is leaving and someone else is moving in.

You must start all over to build the foundation for a good working relationship with your new boss.  Since you can’t control your boss’ behavior, you must take responsibility if you want to make this new situation work.

How do you build a good foundation?  The cornerstones of a good boss/subordinate relationship are:

Trust:  the higher up you go in an organization the more critical a factor trust becomes for a good boss/subordinate relationship to exist.  Your new boss can find other people who can do your work, but not all of these people will be people she can trust.  From the very beginning, you must demonstrate that she can place her trust in you.

Loyalty:  you don’t have to be a “yes” person to demonstrate loyalty.  In fact, part of demonstrating loyalty is to assure that your new boss has all the facts available and your recommendation before making a decision.  However, once the decision is made, your boss expects your support even if he did not follow your recommendation.

Supportive Communication:  providing valuable information to your new boss, such as company culture, grapevine news that may affect her, predicted changes that are ahead, is a way of demonstrating your support.  Another way is to ask your new manager about her expectations of you and your work, up front, so there is no opportunity for miscommunications.  By keeping her informed about what’s going on and what you are doing, you let her know that you support her.

Dependency:  as Gabarro and Kotter stated (Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, 1980) boss/subordinate relationships involve: “mutual dependence between two fallible human beings.  A manager who fails to recognize this typically either avoids trying to manage his relationship with a boss or manages it ineffectively.”  For both of you to succeed, you need each other.  And your best way to a promotion is to help your boss be successful.  Make sure he knows he can depend on you.

Building on Cornerstones

With these cornerstones in mind, here are some actions you can take to make sure that your relationship with your new boss gets off to a good start—in addition to doing good work, of course.

Prepare an orientation guide.

Compiling information that your new boss needs will surely be appreciated.  Information could include who to call from planning, customer service, and finance as well as who to go to for the latest sales figures and what reports she needs to request.  Does she know the corporate culture enough to know that video conferences are preferred to conference calls? What about all the acronyms that people in your company take for granted?  Providing information on whatever is unique about your department or company will be very useful to her in her first few weeks on the job.

Prepare an overview of your function.

In the overview of your function, start by including your overall goal for the year, what you’ve accomplished so far relative to that goal and what you expect to accomplish for the rest of the year.  Including an updated job description can be helpful if your job has some unique qualities to it.  When detailing what you expect to accomplish for the rest of the year, don’t over commit thinking you will impress him.  He is too new to know what is a realistic goal and what is an aggressive goal.  List what you know you can deliver and, if you feel you must add “stretch goals”, identify them as such.  By providing this executive summary you will go a long way toward assuring clear communications in the future.  You are developing that important foundation of trust by sharing information rather than hoarding information.

Keep your new boss informed.

While she may not have time in the beginning to meet with you as frequently as you might like, that is no excuse for not keeping her informed about what you are doing or what you may have heard relative to the department.  Your motto should be “no surprises.”  When there is something you think she should know about, send her a note, e-mail her or leave her a voicemail.  She can decide whether it is important enough for to meet with you.  But, she definitely will appreciate the information and being kept in the loop.

Openly show support.

Your new boss was placed in the position for a reason.  Those reasons usually involve some sort of change that needs to be made.  Getting the organization behind change can be a challenge for any new boss.  Take the opportunity, then, to defend his actions when someone else questions them—as long as you feel you can defend them, of course.  Word will get back to your boss and he’ll recognize the support you are giving him.  And if you can’t support the changes or his style, you owe it to your boss not to denounce his actions publicly, but to tell him privately of your concerns.

As you demonstrate that you will be a trusted, loyal, supportive and dependable member of the team, it is also important for you to understand your boss’ goals and pressures.  Knowing your own boss’ goals and pressures will enable you to proactively meet your boss’ expectations.  For instance, why exactly was your boss chosen for this position?  Was it because she is good at turnarounds?  growing businesses?  the technical aspects of the job? strategic thinking?  relationship building?  politics?  The answer to the question should give you insight as to what to expect for the future and what the emphasis will be.

Understanding the big picture will enable you to be prepared and to prepare your subordinates for the changes that will surely come.  Having built a strong foundation for the relationship, any changes have a better chance of involving you in the process rather than excluding you.

Because of the need for trust and loyalty in corporate relationships, a new boss can be a major reason for job loss or change for those he will supervise. The new boss will likely seek to bring in at least some people whom he already knows are trustworthy and loyal.  These are people he is confident in and with whom he's familiar.  These are people who won’t second-guess him as he implements necessary changes.  If you can get off to a good start with your new boss, you will be one of those people. 

If you need help in managing a new boss (or a current boss), contact me at caaloisi@yahoo.com or leave a comment.

Copyright 1994, 2004 Career Management Consultants, Inc. All Rights reserved.  No reproduction of this content is allowable in any format without expressed written permission.