You've tried to excuse, understand, and defend your boss's behavior. Now you conclude that your boss has become the team's weak link. Here are 5 strategies for keeping your sanity.
1. Get Experience
You once felt flattered when your boss asked for your help. Eventually, you realised she was playing Tom Sawyer and conning you into whitewashing her fence. Sure, you can joke that your boss's guiding philosophy is delegate and disappear. In her clumsy way, she's giving you the opportunity to step up to take the reins. Soon enough, they'll be joking that you're the one who runs the show. You'll be well-tested and ready when your break comes.
2. Take Responsibility
Good managers make their staff less reliant on them. By that measure, your boss is a regular Jack Welch. He compliments you for being resourceful, not realising that you have to go around him to get answers. Sure, you cringe when he says: "I'm not to blame, you're responsible for your own success." Take out the self-serving hand-wringing and your boss has a point. You must go out and make something happen — and fix whatever goes wrong. In other words, you're on your own. Your boss may be unable to swim; it's your responsibility not to drown.
3. Don't Slack Off
When the going gets tough — well, your boss slips out with yet another ailment or appointment. She is oblivious to her example, forgetting that what supervisors project is what employees absorb and reflect. You may think your boss has little to teach you. But you're missing one huge takeaway: Don't let someone else's conduct rub off on you. Don't use it as an excuse to indulge your worst instincts, either.
4. Don't Gossip
Your boss heads off to another off-site meeting...and the speculation begins. You'd like to believe he can work effectively on a mobile basis, even though his laptop collects dust while he's gone. Sure, you can bond with peers by partaking in conspiracy theories. In reality, you're just diminishing yourself and making a bad situation worse. So what should you say the next time someone asks, "what's his deal?" Remember this: A smiling "no comment" is often more damning than commentary would be.
5. Give it Time
"This is the person who makes decisions for us?" You're probably not alone in losing confidence in your boss. Chances are, she's coasting on borrowed time. Eventually, the higher-ups will take notice as production drops, turnover rises, and those whispers build to a roar. So wait it out and hope for the best. At the end of the year, you'll be asked: "Did you do everything possible to achieve your goals?" Take comfort in knowing that your boss will face the same question.
Bloomberg Businessweek / Corporate Dossier (08-04-2011, Mumbai, Economic Times)
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