How to manage your boss.

If your boss tends to be unfocused and all over the place, define the priorities that have to be covered first before meeting with him or her. Provide direct, respectful feedback that honors the behavior when issues are being over-processed.

If your boss loves to talk (“we’ll spend as much time as we need to ...”)
- go to meetings with a set agenda that specifies the desired result.
- maintain the offensive by keeping him or her focused on the agenda.
- start meetings on time and end them on time.

Build some goodwill with your boss at the start of a potentially contentious meeting by giving him or her some positive feedback at the very beginning.

Start by affirming out loud:
- I’m on your team.
- I’m here to help you, to make life easier for you.
- In the end, I’ll do whatever you decide, irrespective of my own personal feelings.

This will allow you to express your feelings and opinions more freely during the meeting.

If you work for an entrepreneur and want to raise an issue, you’ll probably have very little time to get his or her attention. It helps:
- to initially present the issue in summary form (less that one page).
- honor his or her personal style.
- if you’re dealing with visual person, use pictures and graphs.
- if your boss isn’t detail oriented, quickly present the facts - no big stories.

Realize you won’t change the boss’s behavior but you can change your mode of influence.

If you work for an analytical boss, let him or her hear it, see it, think about it, and have time to process it before you engage in a discussion to influence the outcome. Don’t present the answer first and then proceed to argue about it.

Most bosses don’t like to be blindsided or to be surprised by bad news in front of others.

If you need your boss’s approval, work on your presentation until you’re convinced that you’re convincing.

Sometimes, it’s easier to get the boss’s attention and cooperation in the morning before something has gone wrong and spoiled his or her day

Position yourself as a coachable employee. Give your boss feedback in this regard such as, “I heard you say that I was …… .I wouldn’t have thought about that on my own and I’m thankful to you for pointing it out to me.”