I had wanted to do a series on practical Buddhism for our workplace but did not know how to start until I encountered a sermon by a Thai monk (Luang Por Jarun) recently. That sermon was translated from Thai into Chinese and I am happy to translate it into English for sharing.

The sermon contents by Luang Por are in yellow boxes. My comments are not coloured.

How to make your boss like you?

There are 3 types of bosses. [1] Employers, property owners, company owners [2] Supervisors, managers, directors. (My personal note: Those that are above us on the org chart) [3] Colleagues who assigned tasks to us.

In the previous post, we examine the reality of being an employee and working for people, and reporting to someone our superior. When our bosses like us, we enjoy promotions, pay raises, career advancements, and other perks. Being Buddhists, it is important that we practice right-livelihood. That means we refrain from harming others while earning a living. So how do we make our bosses like us without harming others?

1. If the boss has assigned tasks to us and we have already agreed to them, then we should complete them punctually without him having to remind us.

In other words, we have to perform our duty diligently without procrastinating. We try our best to complete our assigned tasks efficiently and quickly, without any fear that we will be given more work afterward.

This is very important because we demonstrate that we are honorable and not lazy. In that manner, we gain the trust and respect of our bosses. When our bosses have faith in us, they will likely listen to our feedback with more trust.

When I am in a supervisory role, I find it enjoyable to have such direct reports too. This is because there is one less thing to worry about as a manager. Being an ordinary person, it isn’t surprising that I have a better impression of such employees and will want to give them better opportunities whenever possible.

Another important skill as an employee is self-reporting. That means taking the initiative to update our bosses about the progress of our work. Informing them of any challenges we face or encounter, how we intend to overcome those challenges or whether we need any help to overcome those challenges. If we do that, our bosses also have less to worry about. This is because they trust us to keep them abreast of what’s happening at our level. In a way, we help remove the fear of uncertainty in their mind,.

To be continued.

May all be well and happy.