OK, so the first workshop I attended today wasn’t specifically about Leo Cusimano, publisher of Dallas Voice. The workshop was on managing your manager presented by Bex Ahuja, vice president of training services at The Management Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
The workshop was packed indicating there are lots of people not happy with their bosses. What I learned is that Leo is doing lots of things right and we’ve had some employees who’ve done lots of things wrong.
As an employee, some of the things a person can do to “manage” their boss is to bring solutions, not problems. Also, understand your boss is human too.
What a great boss who understands he’s not perfect does is listen to ideas and work together to get things done. At Dallas Voice, that’s what happens.
When something is assigned, understand expectations. In some businesses, certain outcomes are expected. With writing an article that’s assigned, not so much. My best stories sometimes go against expectations, but I’ve seen some writers interview, get angry, even piss off sources to twist stories to fit expectations. Not the best outcome.
Ahuja also talked about good management including knowing who’s in charge of what. Several months ago, three writers at Dallas Voice collaborated on a story comparing the Ebola crisis with the AIDS crisis. Editor Tammye Nash was in charge, assigning pieces to us. We each contributed. Tammye compiled and edited. We each did some rewriting and the result is a piece we’re all proud of.
But it worked because each of us were clear with what we needed to contribute. According to Ahuja, that’s when things work best in business or for a non-profit.
