Consecutive disagreements with boss
My boss is very combative and does not collaborate well with me. Often times I’ll present him with an idea which almost immediately gets shot down with little discussion.
I love the company I work for, but my relationship with my boss makes it tough to make progress. Is there a way I can professionally address this?
Comments (14)
I’ve found that if I want someone to come into alignment with my ideas I tend to lead them to them with questions instead of answers. Figure out a way to make them think it’s their idea. Coming at someone with a history of disagreements I typically use much more caution with my words. They’re less likely to agree with me if I use assertive tones and words than if I act more like I need help solving the problem.
I have battled a similar situation except my coworker agreed with my boss 100% and it was always a two against one battle. I often tried to open the conversation to offer other perspectives on the situation to try and paint the bigger picture. I also second Dylan when it comes to leading with questions and using a cautious tone. Unfortunately, in my situation there were a couple of times I had to get HR involved. I would strongly recommend thinking over your short and long term career goals and if you believe that this relationship with your boss is going to prevent you from achieving your goals it might be time for a change.
Wait for the proper time to introduce the idea. Some people can't change their thought process that fast, so their first reflex is always no. Wait for a time when your talking about a similar subject and introduce the idea. You'll be amazed how many more YES answers you can get this way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNCrMEOqHpc
Up hill battle. Find a way to show him what you are proposing has a cost savings or a value that he can recognize may work .
Hire an assassin
Lots of great commentary from Dylan, Sean, and Andrew.
Sounds like it is time for a closed door heart to heart talk. Walk into his office. Shut the door as you do. Sit down and start with something like this......what have I done or what is it about me that you find so distasteful that you would treat me with disrespect every time I make a suggestion. My only motivation is to do better, be better and work for the safety of the same folks we work for and with. How do you and I come to terms?" I have had to do this in the past and I what I found out 100% of the time is that it was not me, it was frustration, pressure, stress from somewhere else. I was just the easy target.
Unfortunately you're gong to deal with this a lot in the workplace, I would look for other opportunities if your boss has the backing of ownership/corporate - because there's nothing you can do to fight that