Lessons from a Hierarchical World

The other day, a young millennial in the family was complaining about his crazy working hours and the intransigence of his boss. I understood his concerns perfectly; there is no such thing as a perfect boss, I explained to him. Bosses need to exercise their ‘bossism’; and you need to ‘manage’ your boss by being the perfect colleague. Having spent nearly 4 decades in the hierarchical world of bureaucracy, with valuable insights from my father and a host of well-wishers within and outside the bureaucracy, I could speak with the wisdom of grey hair and expertise!

The golden rule to manage your boss is never to say ‘no’ directly. Whenever I raised concerns about rapidly unmanageable and often unrealistic targets at reviews, my colleagues, who had years of honing their skills at managing their bosses, would shake their heads in despair and admonish me later with wagging fingers! The trick, apparently, was to don a diplomatic mask and reassure, with a perfectly grave expression, the irascible senior that everything was on target and all-out efforts would most certainly be made, so that the desired goals were achieved. With the wisdom garnered from years of dealing with bosses, they foresaw, unlike me, a boss who was retiring before the financial year got over or was about to be replaced. Nevertheless, the important skill I was advised to follow was that all you needed to do ‘is reassure your boss that he, as always, was right!!’

Having said that, there are many exceptions to this rule, where a good boss is always engaged in dialogue, is receptive and encourages independent thinking and innovative ideas. I was fortunate to have several who, within the confines of a hierarchical setup, were right-thinking people, who saw the ‘bigger picture’ and who would most certainly side with you if there was a better way of improving efficiency and empathy. It is also worth remembering that one does need to appreciate the concerns of your boss; his support and his knowledge of the organisation are often many times yours. Eventually, I figured out that the opinion of the boss is invaluable, given the sheer experience. The hallmark of a good boss is one who will sit you down and explain why your way may not be the best way.

The second rule is to keep the boss always informed and engaged. If he has assigned a job to you, he needs to be apprised of the progress periodically, irrespective of the time taken to complete the task. My experience with a boss was to keep the to-do list given the previous day. The morning would start with the usual summons, followed by the phrase ‘uska kya hua?’ This was a rather deliberate attempt to catch you unawares, as you are left scratching your head, wondering which ‘to-do’ item he was referring to. After a few frustrating encounters of this sort, my counter strategy would be to start with the top agenda item and diligently proceed numerically down the list, till he interrupted to ask the relevant agenda item. The moral of the story is to be always prepared.

The third most important key is to help your boss understand your difficulties and compulsions, while appreciating his concerns. One of my bosses would send word for me at 6 pm and engage in phone calls thereafter or I would find him chatting with his visitors for the next hour or so. The moment I would say to him that I would come back later, he would signal that I should sit down and wait. Since I was handling 3 key charges in the Ministry and had personal responsibilities too, this was beginning to affect my work. After a few months, I sought time from him one morning and explained to him my challenges and that I would be better able to complete all tasks if I were told in the morning hours. He understood my predicament and only called for me late evenings, unless of course work exigencies demanded.

Other strategies which I could never quite appreciate and adopt include ‘professional management’. Some officers would breeze into the office at noon, walk straight to the boss’ room and proceed to eulogise him and his work style. If the boss happened to be a lady, then it could be anything from her attire (political correctness be damned) to her handwriting. By then, I would have received a few calls from boss asking for the absent officer but strangely, as that officer entered my room, instead of scowls that I was expecting, I would notice a huge grin. Otherwise, I would be summoned for some work by my boss, to be surprised by the companionable smoke they would be enjoying together. I could never figure out this art! These were the ‘officers for all seasons’; bosses could come and go; their style and flair remained.

At the end of the day, I explained to the kid that the boss is almost always right and that is why he is the boss!!

Views expressed are personal. The writer is a retired IRS officer who served as the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana