In the workplace, if you perform well, your boss may give you a raise or promotion. If your boss trusts you, they will definitely promote you and give you a raise. If you perform well but your boss doesn't trust or promote you, it's likely due to several shortcomings on your part.
1. Overestimating your own abilities and underestimating your boss's capabilities.
Specific manifestations:
- Because you perform well in a certain area, you think you are omnipotent, that you are the engine and the boss is just a light bulb, believing that the company's development is all your doing and has nothing to do with the boss.
- You think the boss is an idiot who knows nothing, and that they are just lucky to have such a capable subordinate like you. You even believe that the company would definitely not function without you, and that you are irreplaceable.
- You elevate your own abilities and belittle the boss's abilities in various settings.
In the workplace, the boss is the one who builds the stage and is the chief director. As a professional manager, no matter how good your performance is, you are at best an actor. Even if you are the lead actor, it is only for a certain period or in a certain play. No matter how good the script or how famous the lead actor, there comes a time for the curtain call. When you take your bow, other actors will come on stage.
In many cases: The value of the platform determines the value of the professional manager, not the other way around.
The fact that the boss knows you are doing and saying these things but still uses you shows that the boss has more depth and cultivation than you!
2. Gossiping and commenting on the boss's words and actions in private.
Specific manifestations:
- Among colleagues, you gossip about the boss's private life as if you were a gossip columnist or a private detective, seeming to know everything about the boss's personal affairs: how many children the boss has, which child has a birthmark, who the boss is having an affair with, who the boss has a grudge against, which employee is a relative of the boss, etc.
- In your circle of colleagues or outside of it, you comment on the boss's decisions and work arrangements. For example: the company's strategy is flawed, this month's target is too high, someone's job placement is problematic, or something was handled incorrectly.
People who gossip like this often add: "This stays between us, don't let it leak out."
Such behavior is usually an attempt to prove two things: A. That you know the boss well and are close to them. B. How wise and insightful you are.
Either way, it proves one thing: you are a rookie in the workplace! And a very green one at that! The workplace is like a martial arts world, and wherever there is a martial arts world, there is conflict. Your private gossip is a landmine, ready to explode at any moment.
Five thousand years of history have proven: the only secret that never leaks is the one kept in your stomach. There is no wall that doesn't have a crack. If you praise the boss behind their back, it may not reach their ears. But if you criticize the boss behind their back, it will definitely reach their ears sooner or later.
In the face of higher positions and power, your gossip can easily become a weapon for others to curry favor or attack you.
Workplace friendships and trust are fragile in the face of leadership and power.
When colleagues gossip about the boss, you should immediately and kindly advise them not to discuss the boss behind their back, not to spread rumors, and not to deliberately or inadvertently belittle the boss or damage their image.
Remember: In the workplace, those who gossip about others are the troublemakers!
3. Not upholding the company's image and reputation.
Specific manifestations:
- You receive a salary from the company but spend your time disparaging it. For example: complaining about low pay, poor management, bad working environment, inferior products, unhealthy team culture, lack of credibility, or even spreading the word that the company has no future.
- When competitors disparage your company's products, management, team, or even the boss, you either stay silent or even agree.
This behavior is like eating from the pot while preparing to smash it with a stone. In the workplace, if you disparage the company that pays you, you are selling your soul.
If you have worked at a company for over a year and still disparage your company and leaders in any setting, it's like spitting into the pot you eat from—you not only dirty the whole pot but also gain nothing. You also leave the impression of being low-quality and short-sighted.
The company's image and reputation depend not only on its hardware and software but also on every employee shaping a good employee image and work image from themselves.
When a Chinese person goes abroad, their words and actions leave an impression of the Chinese people. Similarly, an employee's words and actions represent the company's image and reputation.
As an employee, if you are dissatisfied with the company or leaders, you can raise it within the company, argue, or even resign, but you must not slander, defame, or harm them.
Only great companies have great employees; bad companies have bad employees. So looking down on the company is looking down on yourself.
When outsiders slander or attack your company, leaders, or products, you should bravely stand up to defend the company's and leaders' image and reputation.
In the workplace, upholding the company's image and reputation is the most basic professional ethics!
4. Forming cliques and creating opposition.
Such people are probably descendants of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, often quoting "Are kings and nobles born superior?" Because they have some achievements, they always think about "overthrowing the landlords and dividing the land," and always want to rebel against the boss.
Specific manifestations:
- Forming cliques, creating small groups, and having serious factional thinking. Within the group, members must only follow your orders; even if the boss gives orders, they won't execute them unless you nod.
You often challenge the boss, negotiate terms, and threaten to quit. You often say: "If this place doesn't appreciate me, there are plenty of others that will." If this plan isn't approved, if the boss doesn't support me, I'll resign, and I might even take the team with me. That's a blatant threat!
The boss wants performance, but also security. For the boss, security is more important than performance.
Even as formidable a figure as Nian Gengyao, who was the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Grand General of Pacifying the Frontier, and was also granted the title of Grand Tutor and First-Class Duke, was still executed by Emperor Yongzheng.
Nian Gengyao was executed for three main reasons: A. He was arrogant and overbearing due to his achievements; B. He was greedy for wealth; C. He formed cliques for personal gain.
According to historical records, one summer, Emperor Yongzheng visited the military camp and brought watermelons for the soldiers to cool off. The soldiers stood still and none of them took a watermelon.
Nian Gengyao said: "These are my troops; they only obey my orders, and no one else's commands can move them!" Then he waved his hand, and the soldiers immediately grabbed the watermelons and ate them.
Emperor Yongzheng felt deep fear and decided to kill him.
In the workplace, your performance is due to the boss giving you a stage and authority. No matter how good your performance, don't oppose the boss or negotiate terms.
If you oppose and negotiate, you make the boss feel insecure and lose face, and the boss will make you lose your position and future.
5. Always playing the good cop while making the boss play the bad cop.
Specific manifestations:
- You let the boss do all the dirty work while you hide behind and play the good guy.
For example: "I asked the boss to reduce your fine by 100 yuan, but he refused. I suggested a raise for you, but the boss disagreed. I think you're capable and recommended you for a supervisor position, but the boss didn't approve. I agreed to your leave, but my authority is limited, and the boss didn't approve." In short, you are the good guy and the boss is the villain.
- You let the boss take the bullet for you instead of taking the bullet for the boss.
There's a story: A boss and a subordinate were in the elevator, and the boss farted loudly. The boss said, "Xiao Li, what did you eat last night? That fart is so smelly." Xiao Li said, "It wasn't me." Xiao Li was fired that day. Xiao Li asked the boss why he was fired. The boss said, "You can't even take responsibility for a small thing like a fart, so what use are you?"
In the workplace, if you consider the boss's interests, the boss will consider yours; if you dare to take responsibility, the boss will dare to promote you.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Lü Bu was the top warrior, known as "Among men, Lü Bu; among horses, Red Hare." When he was captured by Cao Cao at Pizhou, even Cao Cao, who cherished talent, killed him without hesitation.
Why?
Because Lü Bu was disloyal to all his previous bosses. He killed his adoptive father Ding Yuan and his adoptive father Dong Zhuo, earning the nickname "three-surnamed slave." No matter how skilled in martial arts, no boss would dare to trust him.
In the workplace, all promotion first comes from trust, not performance. If you haven't done anything to earn the boss's trust, why should the boss trust you? Without trust, how can you be promoted?
Author: Wang Guanqun, top FMCG operator, founder of China's Performance Growth System, author of "Focus: The New Engine for Performance Growth in the Next 10 Years," and current chairman of Beijing Yingxiaoli Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd.
Source: Yingxiaoli (ID: yingxiaoli888)
-END-