Bosses dont find you likable Here are13 reasons why

Bosses dont find you likable Here are13 reasons whyBosses dont find you likable Here are13 reasons whyWhile you might wish those days wzu siche a popularity contest mattered are over, the hard, cold truth is that being liked by those above you may make or break your career. As New York career coach, Carlota Zimmerman explains, likability can determine your life. From shopping to dating, whetherbei its getting a good deal on your dream home, or student loans, getting upgraded on a plane, to receiving faster care at the ER, likable people tend to move to the front of the line, she says. You want your babo to like you since shes the one determining who will get the opportunities necessary to achieve their career potential, and goals. You want your babo to like you so that when shes planning to attend that huge industry conference in Shanghai, she picks you to join her in first class. You want your boss to like you, so that when sh*t gets real - as the young people say - she can go to bat for you.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraTo make sure youre putting your friendliest foot forward, avoid these blunders that might make your boss wish someone else was doing your job.You give your boss a lot to manageUnless youre at the top of the totem pole or standing atop that glass ceiling at your own company, part of your role will always mean making your managers life easier. And while asking questions is part of learning and advancing your career, the more time your boss has to spend holding your hand, the more frustrated he or she might become. Your boss has a lot on their plate, and they dont have time to constantly babysit you. Micromanaging is leid fun for anyone, and though most employees say they dont like being micro-managed, if youre a lot of work, your boss probably feels like they have to use this method to get work done, explains career coach Colene Elridge . Instead of constantly asking for reassurance, smart employees figure it out or come to the boss with a succinct description of the problem and potential solutions. If you find it tough to resist the urge to ping your boss several times a day, Elridge suggests finding a coach or a mentor outside of your office to build your confidence. Gain the skills you need to more effectively do your job. Then find a mentor that can help guide you through your career. Mentors are great at helping you grow and develop, Elridge says.You fake it and dont produce resultsCongrats You earned an awesome promotion or finally got the lead spot for a project you wanted to spear. But now, the pressure is on dropping the tanzabend after a career growth moment can quickly make your boss doubt his or her decision. Though faking-it-until-you-make-it can work in certain cases, if youre throwing around fancy terms and answers, without actually understanding your responsibilities, you might make a big mess for y our boss to clean up. I cant tell you the number of organizations Ive worked with who have employees who dont do their jobs. Meaning, they do everything but produce results. Some blame falls squarely on the organization for notlage properly engaging their employees, but some falls on the individual. When you make the choice to not do your job, you make your boss have to work harder, and thats a key way to make them not like you. You were hired to do a job. Whatever the job is, there are expected results, and when you dont produce those results, theres a problem, Elridge says. Many people can stagnate for years at this level of middle management because they never learn how to stop bossing people and start leading people. How do you start to grow as professional, in a meaningful, impactful way? Elridge says its a slippery slope that might require some soul-searching to figure out why youre working where youre working, and what might be keeping you from being less than motivated. From there, baby steps are key. If you dont like the work, consider a career change. If youre just in a bit of a slump, pull yourself together and set a deadline. Momentum changes things. When you see yourself complete a project or task, you build more momentum to do better work, she adds.Youre not straightforward about things that dont workNo matter if its your dream job or just a starter gig to get you to the company you truly want to work for, there are going to be issues that arrive in every workplace. Though ultimately, its your managers responsibility to address workflows, gruppes or programs that simply arent working, its also part of your role to flag miscommunication or difficulties youre having. Why? When something goes wrong, productivity is the first to suffer. Any good workplace knows how to handle conflict. A workplace without conflict resolution skills is a recipe for chaos. It is not uncommon that people lack conflict resolution skills. Avoidance is not a tactic. Conflic t will happen, and though it can be uncomfortable, its not always a schwimmbad thing. If youre the type of person who avoids conflict or stirs up conflict in your office, my guess is your boss may not like you, Elridge says. Heres where its essential to put your creative thinking hat on by figuring out whats causing the trouble and how you might suggest fixing the issue to your boss. Approach your manager with a solution not just a complaint and let them take the reins from there.You dont impress himUsually, the bosss least favorite people are the ones who punch in the clock and contribute no more than they have to. Or they ask for more responsibility, but when asked to see a project through to the end, make excuses as to why they cant. The bottom line Promotable employees go above and beyond. So if youre not taking ownership for your own career path, why would you expect your boss to guide you along a highlighted, trackable path? Worst of all, if your boss has stopped coming to y ou because he knows he cant count on you, youre definitely not going anywhere in the company.There are only so many hours in the workday, and if your boss starts rolling her eyes, since shes just done with your discussions about why a project isnt finished youre in trouble. You want your boss to identify you as someone who solves problems, whom she can count on, not as someone who makes her life harder, Zimmerman says. Working in an office, making deadlines, keeping a business on track is difficult enough. When you consider that people have their own lives, with partners, children, mortgages, parents, Netflix queues, you begin to realize that very few good managers want any unnecessary stress in the office.Instead of doing the bare minimum and offloading the rest to your boss, consider why youre feeling disconnected. Your issues may be legitimate, but if they are making it difficult to get work done, if theyre contributing to a tense corporate environment, you and your issues may n eed to look for a new job, Zimmerman suggests.You make it all about you Bosses have to oversee teams, and the employee who is always trying to focus attention on themselves is a distraction to cooperation. Derailing team discussions to talk about your own goals, dominating planning, and refusing to see the bigger picture of team progress rather than your own are all manifestations of this attitude. While this type of self-first behavior might make you feel like a powerful executive at first, it doesnt do much to build a relationship with your co-workers, or more importantly, your boss. This applies on a personal level too when other people are talking, listen. You might not be interested in hearing about their random trip to the Finger Lakes, but its in your best interest to listen, anyway, as a way to show respect for their experiences.Consider this people you work with have to spend a minimum of eight hours a day with you. Wouldnt they prefer someone who is pleasant to spend that time with?People want to work with people that they like, not just people who are competent. Make an effort to develop a good working relationship with your boss. This does not necessarily mean that you always have to go out to lunch together. But it does mean that you should try to create a spirit of camaraderie between you, Zimmerman adds.You refuse to do simple tasksMaking copies? Creating a spreadsheet? Sending notes post-budget-planning meeting? Under no circumstances should you break any ethical standards for a boss, but for routine requests, the answer should always be - as far as you can swing it - yes. You might not find all of his or her tasks to be necessary, but your role is helping your higher-ups to meet deadlines and goals, so its worth your effort. If you dont do it or do it poorly you not only make yourself look bad, but the team, too.Years ago, I had a client who, on the first day of her new job, was given a detail-oriented project. She didnt do it. Not only di d she not do the project, but she also spent time that could have been used to make her deadline, writing out a long letter of excuses and apologies. Needless to say, her management was furiousand within two months, that new job was only an old memory, Zimmerman says. You may not understand the reason for the deadline, you may disagree with it, but if youre really trying to climb the ladder, make the deadline.If youre actually strapped for time and cant do a deep-dive into data before 6 p.m.? Dont just cross your arms and refuse to do something. Show you can think strategically. Instead of saying, I cant do that, and expect the boss to fix it, point to facts and numbers and make a case for another way Because our budget cant cover this right now, its a challenge to get this project done. Have we considered hiring an intern or distributing the workload among other teams? Heres how that would work.You refuse to understand the struggle of bureaucracyIn very few cases does management re sponsibility mean snapping your fingers and getting what you want. Managing takes maneuvering. Being a boss is very often a matter of managing bureaucracy to get things done. Some bosses are good at it, and some are terrible. But whats never helpful is an employee whos constantly talking down the company or asking why something hasnt already happened by now, exactly the way that employee wants it.You can create major headaches for your boss and everyone else on the job if you dont understand bureaucracy. As frustrating as dealing with bureaucracy can be, there is a certain protocol that is expected, and if you try to bypass the workings of bureaucracy in order to get things done, you will ruffle feathers along the way, explains career coach Cheryl Palmer. Your boss will probably take the heat because of your bad decisions. This, in turn, will affect how the boss perceives you. The best thing to do is to learn how the bureaucracy works and work within the system.Not everyone is cut o ut for the corporate world though, Palmer notes. If you cant see yourself conforming to the bureaucracy, she suggests looking for a job in a small company where there isnt as much bureaucracy to deal with or working for yourself.You make your boss look badJust like you, bosses like to look good in front of their bosses. If you do a good job, they look good. But if you undermine your boss by badmouthing them unreasonably to teammates or their own bosses, they usually find out, and they see you as a problem. A few years ago, a friend of mine was going through a rough patch in her life. She confided in a friend of hers, an attorney who owned a successful small practice, and he hired her, on a part-time basis, to help him out in the office. Sounds great, right? It was, except my friend simply couldnt stop herself from biting the hand that fed her. Whatever the boss said, she had to correct him, or one-up him, or simply make it clear to him that he might be a well-to-do lawyer, but she had a Masters degree, and he owed her respect, Zimmerman shared. After two weeks, all his compassion had drained away, and the next time she corrected him, he came down came the ax.There might be times when you dont agree with your employer or you think you could do a better job than him or her, but as Zimmerman says your boss is the boss and he or she is in charge. If you cant bite your tongue, you might want to consider seeking another job, where you can be at the top, or a manager you vibe better with.This article was first published n July 17, 2017.