How to Build a Positive Relationship with Your Boss

10 Questions

Mutual dependence

Confusion

Previous work experience

Trust

Collaboration and leading initiatives

Testing your boss's willingness to provide support

Opinions offered in support of your boss's success

A common understanding of challenges and goals

Making the boss-subordinate relationship a partnership

Linda A) Hill and Kent Lineback

Study Notes

Managing up is important for success in the workplace.
A good relationship with your boss can provide valuable information, resources, and support.
Conflicting roles of supporter and evaluator can create confusion in the relationship.
People's past experiences with authority can complicate the relationship.
The relationship should be seen as a partnership of mutual dependence.
Performance targets are the foundation for a good relationship.
Results and keeping your boss informed are key expectations.
Other expectations include collaboration, leading initiatives, developing employees, staying current, driving personal growth, and demonstrating positive behaviors.
Testing your boss's willingness to provide support can help determine when to focus on development rather than evaluation.
Reflecting on past experiences and feelings can help improve the relationship.

Building a productive relationship with your boss requires support and loyalty.
Disagreements should be expressed as opinions offered in support of your boss's success.
Trust is the foundation of all network relationships, including the one with your boss.
A common understanding of challenges and goals is essential.
Negotiate expectations when given an assignment.
Identify and leverage your boss's strengths.
Negotiate what you need from your boss and communicate your desire to learn.
Be aware of cultural differences in expectations and treatment of authority figures.
Build a relationship based on mutual expectations, dependability, and honesty.
Use your boss's time and resources selectively.

Managers face issues with both their bosses and their subordinates.
Building a positive relationship with one's boss can be a powerful source of help and support.
Managers should take responsibility for making the boss-subordinate relationship a partnership.
Avoid seeing oneself as a passive, powerless subordinate.
Don't assume the boss-subordinate relationship cannot be positive until it has been tested.
Linda A. Hill is a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
Kent Lineback is a writer and executive coach who has worked in business and government.
Hill and Lineback coauthored the book Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader.
The book was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2011.
The article is from the Harvard Business Review Guide to Managing Up and Across.

10 Questions