How to Stand Up to the Boss (And Not Get Fired) - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / How to Stand Up to the Boss (And Not Get Fired) - Introvert Whisperer How to Stand Up to the Boss (And Not Get Fired) As things go, one of the more difficult things to do is to confront or push back on the boss.   A lot of people won’t do it because they fear it would cause them to get fired or minimally get on the bad side of the Boss. While it’s an understandable concern, its also unfounded.   Your brain is making up false assumptions appearing as real (F.E.A.R.).   Unless you know without a doubt that your boss is too sensitive for well-executed confrontation, you need to add this to your toolkit. Let’s first look at reasons why Standing Up to the Boss, can be a good skill: a) The Boss isn’t always right   No one is ever 100% right all the time. On those occasions when the Boss is about ready to drive you or others over the metaphorical cliff, you are obligated to say something. b) Self-respect   You teach people how to treat you and if you allow the Boss (or anyone) to trample on your values, you are teaching them to disrespect you. Also, they will respect you for standing up for yourself. c) Unaware   You can’t assume the Boss knows all the facts or factors impacted by a decision. The Boss may make a decision that has consequences that they simply don’t know or understand.   The world is so complex these days that you can never fully grasp all of the implications of some decisions.   Do the Boss a favor and let them know. d) Not a mind reader If you were somehow ignored, disregarded or otherwise personally impacted by something the Boss did: you might be upset and they may be completely clueless.   This is not the time for passive-aggressive comments.   Those are unhelpful and often more offensive than coming right out and airing your grievance. Also, many people are very unaware that their behavior might be taken negatively so you will be helping the Boss to develop greater insight into their own actions. Let’s look at things you can do to confront the Boss and keep your job: i) Keep it private One of the reasons why anyone including the Boss will think you’re a jerk is to air your concerns in public. Always take any confrontation into a private setting.   It will be safer for you both to fully explore whatever concerns you have if they aren’t trying to “save-face”. ii) Keep it unemotional   Being emotional when you confront them will only set up the situation to go poorly. All humans have an innate tendency to mirror the person they are with.   If you approach them in a red-faced rant, you will be met with the same or worse.   Do your confronting when you can be level headed. iii) Don’t make it personal   Don’t do or say anything that disparages the Boss. Focus totally on whatever the issue is and leave personality out of it.   Also, don’t make the assumption that whatever your issue is was done specifically to negatively impact you.   Even if a decision did negatively impact you, the decision was made for different reasons. iv) Focus on the issue Approach the Boss as if you are there to solve a problem. If you focus on problem-solving, you will greatly avoid the Boss getting offended. v) Be specific You must present the issue in very specific terms. If you are too general or vague, you have nothing to solve and cause more confusion that you intend. vi) Talk about impact If there is a problem that impacts you or the business, make sure to outline what the impact is to whatever problem you bring to them. vii) Stay upbeat It helps to take a positive view of working with the boss to create a solution. viii) Accountability   Make sure that when you have reached solutions that you build in follow-up to keep you both accountable to each other in the process. ix) Pick your timing and your battles Just like with anything else you know timing can be everything. Don’t do something like confronting the Boss when they are ready to head out the door or in the middle of a crisis.   Also, keep in mind that not all issues are worthy of the confrontation compared to other issues you do want resolution on. x) Make the Boss your partner. Take the perspective that you are both there to get the work done and enjoy it at the same time.   If you can develop this skillset, you will be well regarded by every Boss you will have. Photo Credit â€" Pexels.com This article was originally published on CareerMetis. Go to top It comes down to your Strategic Relationships and understanding of how you build each one of these elements. I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my video that outlines all of this and meaningful actions you can take today!  Start watching now by clicking here! Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleashing your professional potential. Introvert Whisperer

8 Critical ACT-Math Strategies

8 Critical ACT-Math Strategies ACT SAT Prep and College Admissions Blog In this post we'll share 8 strategies for improving your score on the ACT-Math section. We have worked with hundreds of students, and these ideas are almost always helpful.These strategies are written ina “top 8” list format, but they aren’t necessarily in order. Depending on the student, any given strategy might be more or less effective. 1. Write all over the test booklet. Nothing you write will be scored, but this will have a huge impact on your score. This includes writing equations, drawing diagrams, and labeling angles or lengths when applicable. 2. Use the answers to plug into the question when possible. This is additional information they don’t expect you to use. Always start with the middle answer (C). Even if you do know how to work out a problem, this method, when combined with process of elimination, may be faster. 3. Don’t always go in order. Answer the easy questions first. Don’t fall into the trap of “doing the more difficult problems first, while I still have time.” Remember, you are trying to get as many questions correct as possible; that’s what earns you a high score. So, make sure you answer everything correctly that you know how to answer correctly, which means you should feel free to skip questions if you can’t think of how to even approach them. While the questions generally go from easy to hard, this isn’t always the case for your mathematical background. Circle the questions numbers that you skip to make it easy to return to them. 4. Re-read the last sentence of the question before answering to avoid simple mistakes. 5. Assume nothing. This often comes up in geometry questions. If you have a triangle that looks like a right triangle and would be easy to work with as a right triangle, you might be tempted to assume that it’s a right triangle. While that assumption might help you get the right answer, it could be a trap, or just a fluke. There must be information provided in the question that would allow you to know that the triangle is a right triangle. 6. Answer all the questions (with just a little bit of thought, even if you’re pretty much lost or completely running out of time)! There is no penalty for guessing. You can, at times, squeeze out 1,2, or even 3 additional points from simply making sure you leave nothing blank. Let me repeat. Don’t leave anything blank. Leave 60 seconds to randomly choose answers if you have to. But, even if you’re very short on time, thinking about the question just long enough to make a decent guess is much more beneficial than guessing completely at random. Think about it. With four possible answers, you have a 25% chance of getting the answer right by guessing randomly. If you can just eliminate two answers, your odds of success double. In other words, even if you don’t have time to start plugging in possible answers and checking to see if they’re right, the first step of the process of elimination can still help you get points. 7. Make abstractions concrete. Math tends to be difficult for many people simply because it’s so abstract. You can’t often touch and feel math. So, making something somewhat abstract more concrete can be a powerfully way to understand and comprehend. Think of how a grade-school teacher tackles division. It’s hard to really understand what 12 divided by 3 means until the teacher brings in twelve cookies and doles them out evenly to three students. ACT-Math questions can sometimes be made much more concrete by subbing in example numbers for variables. Learn to recognize when this is possible. 8. Proactively (and strategically, and calmly…) manage your time. On ACT-Math, you have 60 seconds to answer 60 questions. That’s one minute per question. Running out of time is one of the most common issues in this section. Many students feel they can do almost all of the problems, but they just can’t do them fast enough to score well. So, time management is a critical skill if you want to score particularly well. Managing your time is really just about knowing how often to look at the clock. If you look too often, you’ll distract yourself with the pressure it suggests. If you don’t look often enough, you’ll find yourself without enough time to finish a section, forced to guess more often than you should. Really, you just need to find some balance. Don’t let yourself give in to thoughts like this: “I’ve spent 1 minute and 28 seconds on this question, so on the next question I should spend 32 seconds to make up for the extra time.” This is at worst counterproductive and at best unnecessary. Questions don’t always take the exact length of time you might expect. That’s OK. However, you must remain aware of the clock so you don’t completely lose track of time. The goal is to know at a few checkpoints in a section whether you’re ahead, behind, or right on schedule so you can modify your strategy accordingly, possibly by making more estimated guesses or skipping more time-consuming questions. (Of course, if you have extra time, you can check your work more carefully.) In our next post, we'll address perhaps the single most powerful strategy. The process of elimination.