Why Good Work Can Still Disappoint a Boss
Many people have worked for a boss who seemed hard to please. You finished the project, it was good, and the reaction was flat. Or you raised a problem early, the way you were taught, and the boss seemed annoyed that you brought it up at all.
Often the work was fine, and the way it reached your boss did not fit how that boss likes to hear about work. Each style of boss has a picture of what good work looks like, and it covers more than the result. It covers how often they hear from you, how much detail arrives with it, how bad news is brought to them, and whether you argue in the room or afterward. A boss who leads with D and a boss who leads with S can read the same status update in opposite ways.
This lesson shows what each style of boss counts as good work, how to give each one an update, how to bring bad news, how to disagree and how to ask for help. You do not need your boss to take a test. The behavior you see every week is enough to tell you which way to lean.
Your boss judges your work partly by how it reaches them. Matching the delivery to their style lets the quality of the work show.
Read the whole lesson
This lesson is one of the premium lessons included with WiredType Plus and Pro. The rest of it shows how to spot your boss's style, what each style counts as good work, how to give each one an update and bad news, how to disagree and ask for help, and practice scenes with feedback on every choice.
See what Plus and Pro includeWhat the full lesson covers
- Four signs of your boss's style
- Good work, as each style of boss sees it
- Updates and bad news, for each style
- Disagreeing and asking for help
- Your own style as the person reporting
- Practice: four scenes with feedback