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Showing posts with label lieutenant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lieutenant. Show all posts
How your Boss talks to his/her Superior: #8 - The Minister
The Minister differs from the Lieutenant in three key ways. Firstly, they have their own agenda, and enough power and/or a weak enough Superior to pursue it independently. Secondly, they have reasonable expectations of the Superior’s job in the near future and are brave enough to try and encourage that. Reagans, Hitlers, Kennedys and Krushchevs are all prone to have Ministers rather than Lieutenants. Thirdly, it is often blurred exactly who is working to whom. The strongest Ministers with the weakest Superiors frequently have managed to get the Superior facilitating their own agenda rather than the usual way around.
How your Boss talks to his/her Superior: #7 - The Lieutenant
Sometimes your boss will be a true Extension (or maybe a Praetorian) of the Superior. You can generally spot this because there will appear to be a natural relationship between the two, without any of the curious or artificial giveaway-behaviours of the other types. Again, Maos, Thatchers and Saddams are most likely to have Lieutenants. This can be very good news. If you are nicely ensconced as a Praetorian of your boss, and that same or similar relationship applies up the chain, you are likely to find yourself brought into contact with the Superior in a positive way, and possibly even begin to be treated as an Extension of the Superior instead of just your boss: promotion is just a stratagem away
How your Boss talks to his/her Superior: #5 - The Press-Officer
Expected at all times to express the Superior’s opinion. With Superior’s who are weak on the party-line, or just weak, particularly with Reagans and Krushchevs, the Superior will usually ensure that questions in this area (or most areas) are thrown over to the Press-Officer. Phrases such as “where do we stand on that one, Jack?” and “do you have the latest on this?” give the game away. Be careful not to confuse the Press-Officer, who is just a voice, with the following types (Minister, Lieutenant, Agent on Earth) who have real power
Understand the relationship between your Boss and his/her Superior
Superiors (see previous posts) are often quite different when acting as immediate bosses instead of visiting nobility. Remember that your own boss...
- ...will not see them as a remote figure in the way that most others do
- ...is concerned about them as a boss in the same way that you are concerned about the actions of your own boss
- ...has evolved a strategy for dealing with them, which may well involve quite different behaviour from the behaviour displayed to you in “boss-mode”
The last is the key point, and so it is worth a brief discussion of survival styles available to a boss when working for each kind of Superior. A little observation when the opportunity presents itself (i.e. while you are being silent in the Superior’s presence) should quickly reveal your boss’s choice. We begin by classifying these boss-survival styles, and then consider which of them work which each kind of Superior. They are:
The next posts will look briefly at each in turn.
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