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One Thing You Can Do to Help Your Boss
In most situations, the higher you get in your organization, the more responsibility you have. The more responsibility you have, the heavier the burden.
That means unless you are the leader of your organization, the person to whom you report is probably shouldering more stress and burden than you are.
Conversations are being had above your pay grade, frustrations being handled beyond your scope, and stressful decisions being weighed (often between two good or two bad options) that you aren’t even aware exist.
And that’s okay. That’s the nature of leadership. Leading involves shouldering the burden so others can do more. Many times, leaders are stepping into situations that only they can step into, and dealing with things the rest of their team may never know.
So how do you help? Take the punch.
Taking the punch means when complaints, conflict, frustration, or tension come on the radar, you absorb the hit.
When someone is upset by a decision you know your boss made, take the punch. “Yes, I’m sorry, let’s figure out how to make that right.”
When there’s a problem you can handle or blame you can take in a way that keeps it off your boss’s radar, that’s a win for the team. Taking the punch means knowing that something is your…
