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Government Loan Scheme 2008

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How to deal with a bad boss

The uncontested, number-one reason why people are unhappy at work is bad management. Nothing has more power to turn a good work situation bad than a bad boss. Sadly there are quite a lot of them around. A recent British study accused 1 in 4 bosses of being bad, while a Norwegian study said 1 in 5.

According to workplace researchers Sharon Jordan-Evans and Beverly Kaye, when people quit, they don’t leave a company, they leave a bad boss. Surveys show that up to 75% of employees who leave their jobs do so at least in part because of their manager. In the exit interview dutifully performed by HR, employees may say that they got a higher salary or a shorter commute out of the switch, but in anonymous surveys the truth comes out: My bad boss drove me away.

The reason that having a bad manager is so bad for us is that managers have power over us. Managers can change our work situation, give us good or bad tasks, and, ultimately, fire us. This power imbalance is why a good relationship with your manager is so important.

The good news is that you are not powerless. You don’t need to quietly accept a bad boss - quite the contrary. If your boss is not treating you and your co-workers right, you have a responsibility to do something! And in many, many cases, bosses long for feedback from their employees - they want to know what they can do better.

Here are the steps you must take, to deal with a bad boss.

1: Assume no bad intentions.

While some of the things your boss does may make you unhappy at work, it is probably not why they do it. Until proven otherwise, assume that they mean well and are simply unaware of the effects of their actions.

2: Classify your boss

Which of these three categories does your bad boss fall into?

1. Doesn’t know he’s bad.
2. Knows he’s bad and wants to improve.
3. Doesn’t want to know he’s bad or doesn’t care.

Most managers who make their employees unhappy are simply unaware of this fact—nobody has ever told them that what they do isn’t working. Some managers know that what they’re doing is wrong and are trying to improve—these people need our support and good advice in order to do better.

Paul’s new boss was constantly critical and never showed any appreciation for a job well done. In weekly status meetings, he would only comment on deviations from the budgets and demand explanations and actions plans.

Well, Paul doesn’t stand for that kind of thing. He kindly but firmly let his new boss know that in order to be motivated he also needed positive recognition for the things he did well. The result: Over the course of three months, the boss has come around and now freely and happily comments on the great results Paul is getting. At their last status meeting before Christmas, the boss even spent five minutes praising Paul’s department for the work they’ve done and the results they’ve achieved.

But this may not always work.

I used to be the Public Relations Coordinator and Editor for a local non-profit organization. A couple of months before I threw in the towel my grandmother became very ill. After a phone call from a family member I was told to come to her bedside, as death was imminent.

I told my boss that I needed to leave for a family emergency and explained the situation and how close I was to my grandmother. My boss replied, “Well, she’s not dead yet, so I don’t have to grant your leave? And, I was told to complete my workday. Suffice to say I did not finish my workday.

There’s also the third category of boss: Those who steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that they’re bad leaders, or who revel in the fact that they make people unhappy at work. These managers are usually beyond helping and may never learn and improve. Get away from them as fast as you can.

3: Let your boss know what they could do better

Presuming your boss is in category 1 or 2, you must let them know what they can improve. This can be scary because of the power imbalance between managers and employees, but it needs to be done. Managers aren’t mind readers, and they need honest, constructive feedback.

4: Do it sooner rather than later.

If you have a bad relationship with your boss it’s vitally important that you do something about it as soon as possible. It can be tempting to wait, thinking that it might get better on its own, or that your boss might be promoted, transferred or leave. Don’t wait - sooner is better.

5: Choose the right time to talk.

In the middle of a meeting or as a casual hallway chat are not the best ways to approach the subject. Make sure you’re in a quiet undisturbed place and have time to talk about it fully.

6: Explain the effects on you and the effects on your work.

Be specific and tell your manager, “When you do X it makes me do Y, which results in Z? If you can show how his actions reduce motivation, hurt business, or increase expenses, you’re more likely to convince him that this is a serious issue.

7: Suggest alternatives.

If you can, explain what they could do instead and why that would be better. Suggesting specific alternatives makes it easier to make positive changes.

8: Make a plan and follow up.

Agree to follow up at a later date, to evaluate the new situation.

9: Praise your manager when he gets it right.

When your boss gets it right, remember to praise them. Many managers never receive praise because people mistakenly believe that praise should only flow from managers to employees.

You may be nervous about approaching your manager and giving them advice, but good managers are truly grateful for constructive, useful feedback, and will appreciate any opportunity they get to learn how to do a better job.

10: If all else fails: Get out of Dodge

If you’ve tried to make it work and can’t, it’s time to get away. You can go for another job inside the company (with someone you know to be a great boss), or in another organization.

And you?

What about you? Have you ever dealt with a bad boss? How did you do it? Write a comment, I’d really like to know!

The ABC’s of Self-Motivation

A – Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
B - Believe in yourself and what you can accomplish.
C – Consider things from every angle. Motivation comes from determination.
D – Don’t give up or give in. When Thomas Edison was working on the light bulb, he didn’t get it right the first time. Edison saw every failure as a success, because it channelled his thinking in more fruitful directions.
E – Enjoy your life.
F – Family and friends who support and encourage you.
G – Give more than enough. Don’t settle by doing just enough to get by. Always give more than is expected.
H – Hang on to your dreams. You may not think you are making progress, but dreams motivate you to meet your step-by-step goals.
I – Ignore those who try and pull you down. Don’t let other people to get the best of you.
J – Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself; the key to failure is to try and please everyone.
K – Keep trying no matter how difficult things may seem. When you are motivated you can eventually work past the difficulties, moving toward self improvement.
L – Love yourself.
M – Make things happen. Success will not fall into your lap. You need hard work to reach your dreams.
N – Never lie, cheat or steal.
O – Open your eyes. Opportunities for success are all around you. Look for things that will move your life in the direction you want.
P – Practice makes perfect. The more you do, the more you improve.
Q – Quitters never win. Don’t give up at the first hint of difficulty. However, it’s important to learn the law of diminishing returns and move in a different direction when you can go no further.
R – Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. It wasn’t raining when Noah started building the ark.
S – Stop procrastinating.
T – Take control of your life. Discipline or self-control is essential for personal motivation and development.
U – Understand others. Learn to understand first and then to be understood.
V – Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat without a rudder.
W – Want you dreams more than anything.
X – “X-tras” will make you stand out from others. When you are motivated, you tend to add to your life: extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends and so on.
Y – You are unique. Value your life.
Z – Zero in on your dreams and reach for them

by: ismckenzie.com

Youths face the biggest challenge – Jameel

"I will revolutionize education system – Dr. Hassan"

Former Justice Minister Mr. Mohamed Jameel has said that youths of Maldives face the biggest challenge in our society today. He made the statement speaking at a meeting of the Maldives Reform Movement held yesterday night at Social Center. The meeting was held especially for young people.

Mr. Jameel addressing the audience said the reason why young men and women of our society are seen idling on the streets is due to lack of suitable policies. Mr. Jameel said if the youths of this nation are not made responsible people then there would be nobody else to work for the development of the nation as well as to bring reform to the country. Mr. Jameel said Maldives said was country which is openly engaged in the destruction of its youth and in this regard it is the number one in the world.

“We don’t have any confidence whether a young girl can go to a shop next door to buy something and return home safely, we are even afraid to send out our boys for even for 5 minutes, children who fail from school are children are considered to be of no use to the society” said Mr. Jameel.

Speaking at the meeting held yesterday night Dr. Hassan Saeed, former Attonery General as well a leading presidential hopeful, said that opportunities provided to the youths must be “open opportunities”. He said in a government led by him, major changes would be brought to the education system of the country. He said in a leadership of 30 years only 1300 scholarships were provided and in government led by him 1800 scholarships would be given out annually. He said work will be carried out to increase the quality and standard of teachers and instructors.

Some members of the audience also expressed their opinions and views at the meeting. They said it was time for a change in leadership and called on all youths to support their work to bring a young and capable leader to the country.

Tourism Training Island bid documents to be ready soon - Ministry

Tourism Ministry has revealed that work on bid documents on Tourism Training Island will be completed in the next two to three weeks.

Mr. Mohamed Waheed Assistant Director General at the Tourism Ministry speaking to Miadhu Daily said that in order to encourage more Maldivians to take up carriers in the tourism industry and to provide them with necessary skills, Training Schools are to be set up in the north and south of the country. Mr. Waheed said that the concept of the Training Island and other necessary logistics on the bid documents of these training establishments will be complete in the next week.

The tourism training center in the north is to be set up Hdh. Nolhivarum and the training center in the south is to be set up in Gasgadufinolhu and Bodufinolhu of Laamu Atoll.

Ministry says when the training resorts are established it will have a bed capacity of 150 to 200 and will have all the modern conveniences plus administrative offices, lecture rooms, classrooms and accommodation blocks for students and staff.
Additional points will be awarded to proposals which contain agreements from schools of international reputation to conduct training in these resorts say the Ministry.

Ministry also says during the first year diploma courses acceptable to Maldives Accreditation Board will be held and that during the third year degree courses will be held. Ministry also revealed that these resorts will take up training of foreign students as well.

Empowering women through tourism

The positive contribution of tourism to women empowerment can only be determined if poverty reduction and the enhancement of women’s dignity and role in the work place are addressed. These are among the issues in UNWTO’s action plan to empower women through tourism, unveiled during ITB Berlin 2008 in early March. The Organization is committed to play a leading role in economic empowerment of women in the tourism sector.

The Action Plan has to be regarded as part of UNWTO's "triple commitment" objectives, in the framework of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals:

• tourism should benefit the poor;

• protection of our environment and

• empowerment of women.

Under the guidance of H.E. Mrs. Nilofar Bakhtiar, recently appointed UNWTO Special Advisor on Women and Tourism, the Organization has initiated procedures and established mechanisms to ensure that women really benefit from tourism.

"I want to enable women to become socially and economically empowered. More than anything I want this initiative to address issues of poverty reduction and give women a chance to earn a living with equity and dignity," said Mrs. Nilofar Bakhtiar.

UNWTO Deputy Secretary-General Taleb Rifai, said that "Ranging from 60-70 %, the percentage of women employed in the tourism sector is already relatively high; our joint action, will let us also improve the quality and conditions of women's employment in tourism, as well as create increased economic opportunities for self-employed women and micro-entrepreneurs."

During ITB Berlin, more than 70 tourism representatives, including the first female Minister of Tourism from Palestine, H.E. Ms. Khouloud Daibes, as well as H.E. Ms. Maha Kathib, Minister of Tourism of Jordan, participated in a discussion following UNWTO's presentation of its Action Plan for the next two years.

The plan encompasses the following activities:

• Establish a multi-stakeholder TASKFORCE;

• Put in place of a DATA COLLECTION system, including desk research and case studies;

• Initiate a BIENNIAL UNWTO-UNIFEM REPORT on the situation of women in tourism;

• Expand the website www.tourismgender.com into a PORTAL to serve as a global knowledge sharing e-network;

• Build INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS about opportunities for women in tourism

• Call upon UNWTO MEMBERS to take vigorous steps to support gender mainstreaming in national development processes so as to achieve women's equality in the tourism sector;

• Foster a NETWORK of activists, ambassadors and advocates and experts in gender issues from around the world.

Source: UNWTO