As your previous boss leaves for greener pastures and a new manager takes over, you’re likely eager to win them over. Many employees assume that, by being overly nice during a manager’s first few days on the job, they’ll be granted more leeway on future projects and will advance ahead of coworkers.
Although a proper welcome for the new boss is certainly in order, don’t be too nice. Overwhelming niceties will label you as a brownnoser and can prevent the employer from seeing a need to earn your respect. Here are a few more reasons why you shouldn’t go overboard on first day pleasantries.
Don’t be a Brownnoser
This likely won’t be the new boss’s first rodeo in the director’s chair, which means they’ll be on the lookout for brownnosers. Those employees who shower their new boss with gifts and praise are quickly called out as being fake and overly eager to please. By being labeled as a brownnoser, you’d simply cause the new boss to question your credibility and honesty in the future.
Showcase Your Experience
Rather than trying to win over the department’s new boss with false flattery, impress them instead with your experience. Flattery will quickly go by the wayside as the manager settles in and you become more acquainted. By showcasing your workplace strengths and finding ways to show the manager your abilities, you’ll win their confidence much faster and for the long haul.
Make the Boss Earn Your Respect
Respect in the workplace should go both ways between managers and their employees. Rather than trying to be overly nice to a new boss trying to earn their respect, let them sweat a little bit and find ways to prove their leading abilities.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should continually question the boss’s authority during their first days on the job. Rather, it simply means you should think critically regarding any workplace changes the new manager attempts to implement before going whole-heartedly on board with them.
Maintain Team Cohesion
Those employees who go above and beyond trying to sweeten up a new boss are essentially separating themselves from the existing workplace team. Most employees want to see a new manager earn their respect which can lead to those employees resenting coworkers who take everything a new boss says at face value. Maintain team cohesion by giving a warm welcome to the new manager and then get back to business by finding acceptable ways to incorporate the new boss’s ideas into the existing team culture.
Welcoming a new boss into the office can be an awkward time, especially if you meshed well with the previous manager who left the company. However, by being realistic and by not going overboard with the welcoming committee, you’ll find a way to work with the new boss in a more natural manner.
Do you have additional examples of how being overly nice to a new boss could be dangerous?
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