Bosses Are Human Too

Many times when I found myself unhappy at work, it was because of my boss.

One did too many potlucks, one didn’t do enough. One didn’t give enough guidance and direction, another micromanaged every step of the way.

When we take a moment to realize we can’t change our boss and they are humans maneuvering through life too, it’s going to make work a lot less miserable.

One time, I was extremely frustrated by how my team lead was making decisions. When faced with the decision of who to send to a meeting, my team lead would decide based on who lived closest to the meeting location. In my honest opinion, that was ridiculous. The obvious choice would’ve been the person with the most knowledge about the meeting topic.

Another time, I was so annoyed when my boss asked me to write up my bullet points for my yearly evaluation, and he copied and pasted word for word what I wrote. It made me think he had no idea what I did day in and day out. Also, I wondered what my colleagues' evaluations looked like...were they accurate or did they take credit for things they didn’t do?

In the end, when I let these things bother me knowing that I couldn’t change my boss or team lead, the only one I was hurting was myself. I was the one suffering by feeling frustrated and annoyed. Most likely, my boss and team lead didn’t think twice about what they did. They made decisions. Were they right or wrong? Who can say? The right thing was to make a decision. Good on them.

We all have different beliefs based on our past experiences. It’s possible my boss thought my writing was so great that he couldn’t do any better! Maybe my team lead wanted to keep the burden from the team members that had to attend the meetings. Who knows why they did what they did, but I do know I have control over what I spend my energy thinking about. I may as well be positive, give people the benefit of the doubt, and allow them to be human too.

Want to discuss your relationship with your boss? Book a free 30 minute call with me.