Words Your Boss Will Never Say
by
Studies have shown that regardless of the industry, more than seventy five percent of employees list dealing with their immediate boss as the most stressful part of their job (Sutton, 2010). When asked to ‘rate your boss‘, we found over sixty percent of scientists would give their boss a C grade or worse. With a work environment like this, it’s obvious there are a few phrases most of us will never hear from our boss- ever.
Most of the time when the boss shows up in lab the anxiety level skyrockets. They’re usually there for a reason, and showering students and postdocs with spontaneous complements isn’t it. So imagine your surprise if, while sitting at your bench, the boss walks up and says one of the following phrases. Which one is the least likely to ever escape the boss’ lips?
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Have any other phrases your boss will never say?
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Reference:
Sutton, R.I. (2010). Good boss, bad boss: How to be the best… and learn from the worst. New York: Business Plus.
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Chandreyee
wrote on January 31, 2011 at 7:58 pm
My boss has said every one of these things and some on multiple occasions. She's not a scientist. Coincidence??????
chrisb
wrote on February 3, 2011 at 12:48 pm
Yes, I agree with you, but here is the kicker (and my boss isn't a scientist either): how often does your boss actually LEARN from any of these statements? The vast majority of my bosses learned these go-to phrases from Management Style for Dummies 101. This is the difference between academia and the outside world, from what I have seen – in the main in academia, these phrases never cross a PIs mind (not my two, anyhow), whereas in the outside world, while bosses think to say these things, they rarely follow through, or have any belief in what they say.
I have stood in my current bosses' office on several occasions and actually seen the light bulbs appear over her head as I tell her something she hadn't previously considered (that one of our projects may be dud, for example) – and the next week? I catch her making the same old mistakes again. Something about a leopard not changing its spots, I think…
@SamAlsbury
wrote on February 1, 2011 at 7:39 am
My boss is a scientist and does say thanks for your good work/hard work on occasion. I voted for 'If I see anyone in the lab at the weekend I'll be very upset' because he definitely wouldn't say that, but he also wouldn't say 'I'm in way over my head on your project' because it just wouldn't be true. I guess I'd give my boss a B!
NMF
wrote on February 2, 2011 at 3:12 pm
My boss is less than 10 years out from his own PhD program so he is pretty sympathetic- he remembers what we're dealing with. I've heard him say, recently, most of the above. He told us to take *some* time off for the holidays (especially when a last minute request from a collaborator had me in the lab right up to Christmas Eve), often thanks people for their hard work, and has admitted when projects are looking like a dead end. He even pushed to get a student a raise. That said, he'd never be upset to see us in the lab on the weekend, so that got my vote. He would also never say he's too into a project because he doesn't have the time to get too into any project!