Tackling Trust Issues

It is quite possible that certain employees are not trusted by the manager, and there is a lack of confidence in their abilities. The employees are given lower-quality work or are micro-managed.

To rehabilitate the bosses trust, one has to first clarify the expectations and ask specific questions laying down what they want from you.

• Once there is clarity, one needs to enhance the bosses perception about being competent, reliable and trustworthy. Playing on one’s strengths while correcting the weak areas is a good initial strategy.
• Have frequent check-ins to ensure there is no derailment, or to make any course correction.
• Provide a plan of action that is tangible, measurable and showcases your progress in a visual, clear way.
• Provide daily or weekly updates about your activities and try to appear bold and confident.

• Do not protest if you still get lower-quality work, as it may lead to the boss believing that you should not be given higher-quality work, just like before.
• Be transparent and forthcoming and the work with your boss rather than providing them with bad news at the last moment.
• Do not rush towards becoming a ‘hero’ right away, and try to make steady progress, demonstrating your competence.

Watch the level of eye contact to understand if there is a likeability problem between you and your boss. It is possible that your boss may not like you, or not relate to you, which is quite common.

Communication is key here, and one can find the areas that the boss is working on, or is interested in, and carry a conversation that can help both of you know each other well.

• Using palm gestures at navel height creates an unconscious connection between humans, according to a leading body language expert.
• This is because the region around our navel is a ‘truthplane’ and demonstrates that you are safe and trustworthy, with nothing to hide.
• Having a comfortable eye gaze while communicating with the boss, and sitting right in front of them provides a better connection than sitting sideways where they strain to look at you.

Humans have a negative bias and tend to create or personalize any problem even when there are many factors that are not in one’s knowledge.

Do not be a leech just because you have this hunch that the boss doesn’t like you. It also not a good idea to complain or gossip about your boss to others, as word-of-mouth is fast.

Work towards developing and strengthening your relationship with your subordinates, peers and colleagues.

Your boss will not be able to maintain a poor image of you when there are many who speak good about you. Invest in building deep professional relationships instead of being dependent on one person that does not seem to favour you.