The Boss Style

Prompt: Describe a former boss you have had, or your current boss.  Did you learn anything from them?  What type of management style did they have?

A former boss that I had was great, but very passive. She would go about her day-to-day business, and the only thing that mattered was that you complete your daily tasks. We, in the department, did that, plus more. However, our extra efforts were never acknowledged. We always went beyond performing responsibilities that were never a part of our job descriptions. It was always recognized, but never appreciated. Upper management filled her ears with what they felt was right. When it came to supporting her staff, she always sided with what the boss wanted because, from our eyes, she believed that was the right way to go. It became frustrating towards the latter months of my employment that my efforts to be the best employee I could be diminished.

I have had my share of voicing my opinion since Day 1. I truly believe in having a constructive atmosphere to work in, but I always felt that management ought to deliver positivity in the office. A company should always value their team. Therefore, when expressing my "concerns" to my boss, it always felt that I, as she has specified previously, was not a "family" thing to do.  A complaint of discomfort with an employee's conduct towards me was deemed yet one more issue for them to deal with. In the end, it became, to some degree, a matter tucked away given that I was now branded as trouble.

Ultimately, I no longer work for the company.  This supervisor shall resume finding success, along with upper management, with the team they have built.  I am on a continued journey to discover my place in the workforce.  Overall, what I take from this knowledge is that I should never doubt myself to regain happiness.  I devoted the last two years at this establishment deeming myself worthless and unaccomplished on a daily basis because I had lost confidence as a person, and not an employee.  For me, the lesson I walk away is that family supports each other.  She wanted us to be a family, but support was never there.  It is a two-way street...