Aggressive boss
- Things that you would discover in him
- Highly energetic
- Lot of ego, which he confuses with his pride
- Fast paced and pushy
- Would set tough targets and challenges
- Would mostly talk loud and without filter
- Would not care, if others are hurt from his actions; lacks empathy
- Bold; but mostly over confident
If he starts making lives of most people difficult and takes nothing for No, he is heading towards extreme right of scale i.e. being toxic. And, if he regrets hurting people and recognizes good performance, he heads towards left of scale i.e. being dynamic. However, remember his category still remains “aggressive”.
2. Things that you should do to click
- Pay extra attention to your health.
- Be forthright and fearless with your boss.
- Be aggressive in your speed of actions.
- Appreciate his aggressiveness; but apprise him of possible fall outs and at the same time, your preparedness to bear the brunt.
- Do not get bogged with formalities and rituals.
- Do not argue; just augment.
- Use patience and silence as your tools to tackle him.
Action-oriented boss
- Things that you would discover in him
- Very active
- Out spoken; may boasts at times
- Would drive lot of actions, without caring too much for results
- In case of poor results, would not mind to blame everyone else
- Over confident; but may confuse it as real confidence
- Short – lived memories
- Driving what he believes, without considering others’ views would drive him towards Aggressive side; on other hand, becoming conscious of others’ comfort level and limitations would take him towards Pragmatism.
2. Things that you should do to click
- Match his speed of action with your speed of closing, what is in your hands
- Do not initiate long discussions with him and instead focus on your actions
- Do not dither
- Be brief and willing
- Be prompt to bring to his attention any barrier or show stopper
- Be systematic in documenting your actions
Work-to-rule boss
- Things that you would discover in him
- Disciplined and balanced
- Organized
- Controlled temperament
- Very compliant
- Immune to criticism
- Often inflexible
- Dispassionate and conservative
2. Things that you could do
- Be vociferously compliant and stickler to rules
- Do not expect out of turn recognition to your performance
- Do not lose your initiatives and drive to change and put forward same to boss by explaining how it is beneficial to organization and would be liked by top management (bosses of the boss)
- You have best opportunity to learn “how to live with NOs”
- Learn to enjoy “lack of excitement”
- Appreciate boss for his work ethics and imbibe what you don’t have
Dogmatic boss
- Things that you would observe
Like the case of aggressive boss, you do not need to dig to discover things about him; these would be auto-visible.
- Very set pattern of thinking and doings
- Tough and rigid
- Courageous to carry forward his conviction against odds
- Poor listener; he may appear to listen, but actually not
- Conventional but complex
- Impervious to others’ feelings
- May command respect of top bosses
2. Things that you should do
- Listen to him attentively, while looking into his eyes
- Extend your full support and try to win his heart
- Bestow your appreciation for his focused approach
- Tell him that you are custodian of his vision
- Now, seek his blessings to do things differently and flexibly
Dealing with action dis-oriented, submissive and pragmatic bosses
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