How to "Ensure" that the Boss Is Always Right

This is not a 10-ways-to-ensure-that-your-boss-is-always-right post. I have not reached that enviable level of blogging as yet. There are actually bloggers around who constantly produce top-5-ways, best-7-methods, etc etc.

My post has just a 1-point agenda which will always work to ensure that your boss is always right.

OK before going into it, why should you be interested? I ll give you a simple answer. Because...the Boss "IS" always right. The only thing that you need to do is to get in line and make him know that you are absolutely behind him and whatever he needs will get done.

So when I use the word "ensure", it doesn't mean that you played any role in making the Boss right. Please don't think you had anything to do with that. He has been and will always be right. "Ensure" is more about how you can let him know that you did as required and the objective was achieved. This may or may not be the project's or the task's objective but it certainly was the required objective as far as the boss is concerned. Isn't that what really matters in the end?

So now that we have realized the importance of ensuring that your Boss "IS" always right and also learnt indirectly how to climb the corporate ladder, lets get down to the lesson.

I ll explain this with some illustrations. For any project you can really have just two methodologies. Yes this is a post on the theme of 1) What not to do... and then a drum-roll...and voila...2) The RIGHT way to do it. NO gimmickry...

Ok here is the first illustration...

As you can see, this the traditional way of doing things, not always successful. In fact mostly unsuccessful. In this approach, you would set up your project plan, time-lines, get approvals at different milestones, keep working hard which is synonymous to painting the target. Your boss will shoot the arrow at project closure which may or may not hit the bull's eye. It mostly doesn't. If it gets within the 20% range of the bull's eye, it would be a successful project cos there is no such thing as a perfect project.

There is a variant of the above strategy where you would be holding the board and trying to catch that arrow after the boss has already thrown it . Agility plays a big role here. You have to follow the arrow and try to catch it at the center. Tough job.

If your project has multiple drivers or bosses, I wish you luck. You will need all of it. Such projects if applied with the above strategy could easily end up as the following....

So is there any better way? Something that is applicable to all projects? My friends, I am happy to tell you that there is and it might as well be the best management lesson you may ever learn. Thanks to a senior colleague of mine, I have a great solution. This will work perfectly in the worst of situations and will yield a 100% result. Yes 100% !!! I am not holding anything back. Do you want to know? Here it is....

Yes people. This is a proven and tested method. Build your project around what your Boss wants. Leave everything on one side. Your project management skills, plans etc. These are all irrelevant to the eventual goal. Follow the standard practices and show your sweat but ensure that you are drawing the bull's eye around the arrow rather than hoping that your boss's arrow hits the created and placed target board.

There you go. One of the best management lessons you could learn. You want to thank me? I am sure you know by now how you can do that? What are all self-employed part-time bloggers really looking for? I hope you get the message ;) I can't give any more hints or I wont get paid.



Thanks MAYG for the wonderful work with the illustrations and of course many thanks to one of my senior colleagues for yet another brilliant management lesson.

See you all at the top of the corporate ladder soon...I ll be waiting... :)