Seeing the Glass Half Full

Sacking your boss typically denotes a process of quitting your job and setting up your own business. However in the new age world maybe it could mean something else too? Is it possible that if both boss and his reportee help the reportee to sack his boss, both could benefit?

Sometime ago, my colleague came up to me at the coffee counter, and in a light vein stated, “I am tired; at home my spouse (ok that part is edited) takes me to task  to for small things, at office my customers can be demanding and then when it comes to my boss, the less said the better”. While ordinarily I would have heard this through without any comment, I couldn’t refrain myself from commenting, “why don’t you grow your business, so that you are the boss, and you have some direct reportees, maybe that would help relieve some of the pressures?"

This colleague heard me through and agreed that the suggestion was worth a try. He worked hard and luckily for him, his manager realized that if his reportee grew, the chances of his growth also grew.

It is usually said that “The optimist says the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty”. The question we need to ask ourselves is “what do we see?” The manger saw his colleagues’ glass as half full, and supported him. He realized that he could use the skills of his team to fulfil his goals of filling his own glass as well. The result, everyone grew.

Quite often, we are too focussed on ourselves and preserving our position and making ourselves indispensable. We fail to realize that if we do not help people in our teams to grow, we would be forever stuck in our current positions. If we help our reportees in their effort to “sack their boss”; we would also grow.

“We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better.”

― C. JoyBell C.

Managers need to help their team members to grow, and then only would they themselves grow. They have to help their team-members sack their boss.