WORKPLACE SPECIAL........... When the BOSS gets tough...

When the BOSS gets tough...   ... THE TOUGH GET GOING. AND NOT NECESSARILY  OUT OF THE JOB! Tough bosses often invite unsavoury monikers like 'Hitler' and other nicknames, but ask yourself this under which boss did you learn the most? If you had to name the boss who made you go farthest to improve your skills and performance, would it be the one who went easy on you or the one who gave you nightmares? Chances are, you've reluctantly pointed towards the boss who never let you take it easy. The truth is, if you're great at your work and you're ambitious  about moving ahead, you have everything to gain from a tough boss and very little to lose. Elango R,CHRO and head, emerging geographies business  unit at Mphasis,  agrees, “I love tough bosses. They bring creative tension, push the envelope and test boundaries. This helps the team explore hidden capabilities that might exist out of their comfort zones.“ Often, the perception of 'tough' lies in the mind of the employee rather than  the behaviour of the boss.“Leaders do set high standards for their employees and this may make a manager look like a tough manager; however, that may not be the case. It is up to an employee to understand the  requirement and perform accordingly,“ opines Rachna Mukherjee, chief HR, Schneider Electric India. Ram Menon, founder and CEO,Avaamo, adds his two cents,“The word 'leniency' brings forth images of school and your teacher. This is not about disciplining employees and being tough or lenient. It's about helping each employee to  reach hisher maximum potential and having empathy for other human beings.“ However, bosses would do   better to be tough in terms of the results they demand rather than the route employed to attain these results. Vimal Raj Abraham, head of branding  and solutions marketing, Servion Global Solutions, points out, “Most of us like  to be given the long rope. When employees are comfortable with the way their bosses are leading  them, they tend to respect them more and work  harder. This, in turn, leads to strong business results.“ A ground rule to being tough is be tough on the work produced, not on the persons themselves. Because that's when it starts to get toxic. “Why do people quit? While there may be hundreds of reasons,I see  people quitting 'managers' more often than they quit 'companies'.  When we end up having bad bosses who don't know the difference  between being tough and just being dirty we end up losing good  talent. Bad managers cause billions of losses every year in the form  of attrition!“ warns Abraham. Thus, a tough boss isn't someone who's out to make your life difficult. Ankita Shreeram TAS 7OCT15