You just finished interviewing at a company you like. You like the boss. You like the team. You like the environment. You like the pay. The only thing standing in your way is getting a formal job offer. So what are you probably overlooking that is likely to make you happy at work? It is your boss, stupid. More specifically, the technical competence of your boss. Just because you like your boss doesn't mean she is the right boss for your work happiness and career growth. In fact, you have to ask some hard questions to see if you will be happy and successful working for her. Don't be too quick in pulling the trigger. It is your career at stake. So what should you be looking for in your boss? According to the HBR article, "If Your Boss Could Do Your Job, You're More Likely to Be Happy at Work" you have to make sure that your boss meets the following three key attributes: 1) Can your boss do your job? 2) Did your boss work his or her way up through merit? 3) Do workers think whether your boss is technically competent? Technical competence is not only crucial for your future boss but even the CEO of companies. If you look at the top five tech companies, they all have CEOs who got to the top mainly because of their technical competence, which includes Tim Cook of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sundar Pichai of Google, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. To become an outstanding business leader, they all added leadership skills, communication skills and business acumen to get to the pinnacle of the corporate world. The authors of the HBR article write that in their study of 35,000 randomly selected employees what stood out was that "many factors can matter for happiness at work – type of occupation, level of education, tenure, and industry are also significant, for instance – they don’t even come close to mattering as much as the boss’s technical competence." Also, they discovered in their study that when employees got a new boss who was technically competent, the employees' job satisfaction increased. When you think about it, this study makes much sense. Employees are happiest when they make meaningful progress in their work as was pointed out in the book The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer. Their research "revealed that the best way to motivate people, day in and day out, is by facilitating progress—even small wins." I believe having a competent technical boss can help you make progress since she is a resource readily available to assist employees. You must consider this situation before accepting a job offer since companies don't have resources readily available as they tend to be very lean with their staffing. I can attest to this since when I worked at companies, the projects that gave me the most satisfaction were those that were managed by a competent technical boss who could help me make progress with my projects. On the contrary, I was very frustrated working for a boss who was not technically competent who played favorites in securing resources. In some cases, I lost motivation that resulted in my leaving the company. Next time when you are interviewing for a job, you have to consider that your job satisfaction and career success may depend on your boss being technically competent who also must possess outstanding leadership skill and excellent business acumen. So don't join the company because you have heard a lot of good things in the media, but also make sure your boss is both good and technically competent. You rarely get a chance to straighten out your career so be careful. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jay Oza is a writer, speaker, executive coach and a student. He has worked as a programmer, a technical sales consultant and an alliance manager before reinventing himself. He volunteers for Hire Heroes USA mentoring and coaching experienced military veterans get executive-level jobs. He is the author of Winning Speech Moments: How to Achieve Your Objective With Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere. Please download the free speech checklist and the free speech workbook to help you with your next high stakes speech. I will add you to my newsletter list so I can provide you tips, techniques, and insights on speaking and other related subjects every two weeks. You can reach him at joza@winningspeechmoments.com.
1 Comment
7/5/2018 08:53:31 pm
When it comes to great quotes, you can expect a lot from Mr. Peter Drucker. It seems like every word that comes out from his mouth came genuinely from his heart. By the way, it's hard to be successful if you don't have the means to make it possible. Aside from your self- determination, it's really important that you also have your plans on how to do it! All factors should align to make all these moments perfect!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJay Oza Archives
July 2023
Categories
All
|