How do you get other people to change? The quick answer: Better to change yourself than spend time and effort manipulating someone else’s habits and behaviors.
Much of the counsel is doled out in organized chapters: Tackle the bosses first and overall solutions, describe different employee profiles (like ambitious, pleaser, hyper-sensitive, and three others), and match the two. The matching, quite frankly, doesn’t work well; essentially, it’s a repeat, in detail, of her tips for managing the manager. And, even with dialogue and case histories, it falls flat.
Perhaps the most overlooked section is the portrait of good bosses and good employees; the author provides a 13-question quiz (plus scoring comments) about work habits and beliefs that pinpoint who’s a professional, and who’s not. Those new to or re-entering the workplace will find her brief comments a positive North Star; for instance, becoming a problem solver and taking the initiative are, certainly, mindsets to emulate.
At the end, it’s the reader’s choice: Stay at your current job, using Dr. Nelson’s coping strategies or leave for another position. Following her positive, you-can-do-it guide could result in this outcome: “You’ve become the One who assuages your Bad Boss’s fears and answers those hidden desires. In so doing, you’ve become not just another faceless, nameless employee, but your Boss’s ally.”
The title will hook you, while the advice will start resolving manager-employee concerns and conflicts. GOT A BAD BOSS? offers good counsel for all facing problematic work relationships.
Reviewed by Barbara Jacobs for IndieReader.