Teacher's Pet

There’s a new balance I’ve been starting to notice in my work life. A balance that needs a little help.

I was raised to respect authority. I was raised to do exactly as I was told. I was raised to be very careful and make sure I did things exactly how the authority wanted me to. This naturally carries over to my work.

However, through the years of experience I have in the working world thus far, I’ve noticed there are at least a couple different types of bosses. Bosses that like for you to do exactly what they want and to check in with them periodically to make sure you are still on the right track as far as their vision, and those that would rather give you a general idea and have you figure out the rest and surprise them with an amazing result. And then of course everything in the middle.

So I was raised to deal with the first type of boss, which is great, but I need to make sure I can show the other types of bosses that I don’t need hand-holding. Which I don’t, but it can come off that way when I check in with them for every detail. So now I need to spread my wings and soar, trusting my own judgment and defending my choices instead of looking to my boss for directions on where to go. I have a fantastic boss right now who I think is a combination but mostly on the latter side. It’s actually pretty exciting to give myself this freedom. Freedom of choice! Freedom to be involved in the creative aspects of the tasking process. The ability to learn different ways to do things and then propose a best solution, do it, and then defend it. I just see so much confidence and maturity in that now. I kept forcing myself to stay small and do exactly what I was told and not to go too rogue. But you have to do that to impress people! You have to make some decisions and maybe even convince your boss it is the right decision. Make smart choices and surprise people!

Time to start acting like an adult and not an obedient teacher’s-pet child!

I’m definitely not saying to go against directions or argue with the boss. Definitely not. But there is a balance between that and not making any decisions for yourself. Yet again, that balance is key, and I see that I have the right sort of boss to start applying this new technique. I’m pretty excited!