In a world that claims to strive for gender equality, it might be a simple affair to have a female boss. However, all of this looks good and right only on paper, for in reality, women who are up the career ladder, face several issues from their subordinates. Let us analyse this with an example.
A female boss of a company is said to be empathetic to her employees. Outside the mandatory professional relationship, she also has a fairly informal rapport with her colleagues outside office.
While it all seems rosy on the front, there is a problem lurking, one that is waiting to explode. Her associates, with whom she goes out once a while, tend to take advantage of her ‘easy-going’ nature, and use the same at office.
This leads to an understandable discomfort for the woman, who is confused as to how to make them understand.
This puts the female boss in a tough situation, as she feels if she gives them the leeway, this would tarnish her reputation as an unbiased manager.
As popular blog marcandangel.com states,
“Other employees see me favouring their peers over themselves and quickly become displeased. My credibility is lost. If I take the necessary disciplinary action, I personally feel horrible. It’s this kind of attitude that quickly eats away at the relationship and dismantles all levels of the trust and respect one has constructed in the past”.
It may be noted, at the same time, the woman cannot easily take a decision on this, which is to fire the said employee right away. Reason being she has already developed a personal equation with him or her, and sacking the person might lead to unwarranted emotional trauma.
All this can be completely avoided, if the employee had shown a little bit of awareness and sensibility.
A simple thing needs to be kept in mind, the rapport the boss shares with you outside office, should not translate into ‘leniency at work’.
Learning to draw a line between personal and professional relationships, is not a difficult task. Just because your senior is a part of your home parties and get-togethers, it does not mean you could get away with being lethargic or irresponsible in your work.
If this is the way employees were to behave, and if the senior is someone who believes that ‘fostering of an informal relationship can increase overall employee moral and ambition’, then this would be a deviation from her principles, which she would not be too happy about.
This would reflect on her work, and ultimately on the co-workers. Also, the gender of your boss should not lead the employee to assume that she would be ‘soft’ towards her associated.
Next, another tip in the rulebook is never, we repeat, never share the conversations you had with your boss, with your friends at the workplace.
It apart from being a breach of trust, would also reflect a poor attitude of yours. If she comes to know of your shenanigans, she would think twice of sharing her stuff with you. More than this being considered as a behaviour unworthy of an employee, it is also not the way to behave as a friend.
As marcandangel puts it, “If your boss likes you, she will be willing to spend more time assisting you, training you, and ultimately promoting you. The choice is yours. You can lose your credibility, or you can place yourself on the fast track for promotion”.
So ultimately, the choice is yours.
