I’ve written about this subject in the past, but it’s been years. Some topics can and must be covered regularly — resumes or interviewing skills come to mind, because styles change and readers need regular updates. Other career topics are classically important. 

I was reminded recently about the importance of the relationship with the boss when I had a chance to interview a candidate, Mark, who was having trouble with his job search. Mark’s a biochemical engineer, and his CV shows a solid undergraduate education with a Ph.D. from a top department — but unfortunately, two short stays at companies. Mark was getting nervous, as he was already several months into a job search.

“I just don’t know how to explain these job problems,” he told me in our interview. “Most of the time, the H/R staff asks me about why I left the companies instead of about my accomplishments. I know that I’ve been referenced, and it may be my boss who isn’t supporting me.”

As we went over his job changes in detail, it sounded like a mismatch in personal chemistry, at least in his last job. Perhaps some of Mark’s interpersonal difficulties could have been forecast by looking closely at the type of boss he was committing to.

Interpersonal Chemistry

After more conversation, it was clear that Mark had what Human Resources staff call an “interpersonal issue” . . .

“When they brought me on board, the need was for production capability for clinical trials,” Mark began. He was actually beaming when he spoke about this hands-on part of his job. “I had the knowledge they were looking for to get their research molecule into clinical production.” 

His enthusiasm diminished, however, when he described the people situation: “My boss was one of the three founders. He is the kind of guy who doesn’t understand much about engineering — he’d been a biology professor before taking off with this technology. Nothing that I did made any sense to him. I got that molecule into a partner’s pilot plant in less than eight months. Then, he later told me they needed someone with more technical savvy.” 

Of course, for a recruiter, it’s easy to help an individual understand the personal chemistry issues, because we’ve interviewed both the hiring manager and the prospective employee in depth. It’s much harder to determine when you are on your own in the process.

Key Factors To Consider When Matching Boss and Subordinate

I’ll use the four categories of work style fit that many recruiters and outplacement companies use in their practices, from the classic book Sacked! Why Good People Get Fired and How to Avoid It (Wiley, 1986) by author Richard Gould.

How the two people approach their work

Everyone has a different approach to getting the job done — few people plan and organize tasks in exactly the same way. For example, Mark is the sort of project leader who has a very casual, “take it as it comes” approach to getting things done. He relies a lot on intuition, which hasn’t often failed him, and he believes that his job is to be right there on the pilot plant floor with his laptop and cell phone. 

Mark’s former boss, on the other hand, prefers to have strong control of projects from behind his desk, and to have them planned in extreme detail right from the beginning. This guy’s roots as a scientist taught him to handle projects in a very analytical fashion, while Mark is entirely “get it done” focused.

Two natural antagonists are the cautious planners (Mark’s scientist boss) and the free and easy fast-movers (how I’d describe Mark’s approach). Executive recruiters know that matching the two together is a recipe for disaster, unless both of them are extremely forgiving and committed to the relationship. 

The “cautious planner” boss must be prepared to give the subordinate enough room to do the job with a minimum of structure. If you are a “free and easy” employee, you have to recognize that working through more structure doesn’t mean a distrust of your abilities.

How the two people think through a problem

Some people, like Mark, love problems, but what they love about them is to be right smack dab in the middle of them — to see the problem as it occurs, and to react accordingly. His boss loved problem solving too, but it was with immense detail and a great deal of paperwork, which Mark is averse to.

Mark has always had clashes with his bosses because he was so averse to paperwork. His philosophy about written reports was, “Give them the minimum that will get me by and then deal with the rest as it comes up.” That’s OK if you solve the problem, but to the person demanding reports and analytics, it’s insufficient. 

Thinking styles can clash when problem solving. “How do you work your way through a problem?” isn’t a bad question to ask a prospective boss if given the chance for honest dialog — it’s certainly a question he or she should ask you. If the boss gravitates to cold, hard facts and you are the kind of person who sees the situation in concepts and images, you may find an impasse in gaining agreement on new ideas. Those two styles may not work together well.

How the two people arrive at decisions

Two people can have the same final decision but get there via completely different routes. By now, you know Mark well enough to guess that his tendency is to go with his gut feeling. That would drive his boss up the wall.

“They hired me because they knew that I had the training necessary to accomplish the work. Why wouldn’t they trust that I’ll make the right decisions?” Mark asked me. While his approach to decision making may work fine for him, his mistake was that he had shown little flexibility. Working for a boss who arrives at decisions only after a great deal of analytical thought requires that you provide that boss with much more input than Mark ever did.

Natural antagonists are created simply by the speed of decision making. His boss viewed Mark as an “impulsive” decision-maker, and at the same time Mark seemed to be working for a person with decisiveness problems. 

How the two people approach other people

Perhaps you’ve taken a Myers Briggs course, or some other training program that teaches the different styles of interpersonal communication. The common ground for these programs is that regardless of which of the styles you fall into, it is not your style that counts. What is important for good communication is that you adapt yourself to the preferred style of your boss. 

If Mark communicates with his boss in a way that he (Mark) would like to be treated (as in the “Golden Rule”), there is going to be trouble. He must instead communicate with the boss in a way that the boss prefers. 

I helped Mark understand that with certain types of people he should slow down a bit and present his views in a more studied, objective manner — removing some of the passion and inserting more facts. Pace turned out to be one of his most important considerations when approaching others — he’s a very fast talker. One of the greatest skills that a person can develop is to be able to recognize the ways that others prefer to be approached — and then to be flexible enough to adapt when necessary.

Testing the Water

As Mark and I discussed his situation further, we found that he really had not explored these important interpersonal relationships in advance. In his past interviews, he had been concentrating too much on selling himself. Never did he ask about his prospective boss’s working style, management style, or attitudes. He felt that this was something to consider after getting an offer and even then he gave it too little attention.

As the economy has softened considerably, and interviews are much harder to get (and harder to succeed in), asking the right questions and doing the due diligence on future relationships can really aid your cause. I’d suggest you phrase questions about people who have succeeded in working well with that prospective boss, such as, “Tell me about one of your most successful people, and how that person’s work style dovetails with yours.”  

David G. Jensen is Managing Director of Kincannon & Reed Executive Search (www.krsearch.com), a leading retained search firm in the biosciences. You can reach Dave at (928) 274-2266 or via djensen@krsearch.net.