I once had a boss who I’m sure was insane. I don’t mean to be insulting (although I’m probably being just that), but nothing else could explain her madly erratic behaviour, lack of judgement in making decisions and complete loss of memory when her decisions turned out to be the wrong ones. ‘Why didn’t you do that?’ she’d ask me when things blew up. ‘Because when I mentioned I was going to do it you explicitly told me not to and to do this instead’, I answered.

There was no getting through to her, and I’d have disagreements with her pretty much every day about the best way to go about things to get the right results. She didn’t listen, and I left within a month.

That’s an extreme case, but there have been times in other jobs when I’ve had to stick my head above the parapet and persuade all kinds of different management folks that I knew what I was doing and would get them the right results.

I know this is tough for people because I’ve struggled with it myself. Telling someone more senior than you that they’re wrong or that they should really try things your way is a scary thing to do, even more so when your boss or manager seems to have more experience and power than you.

While to some extent that’s true, that has nothing whatsoever to do with the value that you can add and the results that you can get.

There are 3 strategies I’ve used effectively that help massively when you need to stand up to your boss. Get these right, and the rest is easy.

Establish Trust
When there’s trust between 2 people it opens up honest discussion, because there’s no need for blame, ego’s, empire building or one-upmanship. If your boss doesn’t trust you, something’s very wrong. You were employed to do a job because you were the best person to do it, and if you’re not trusted to do it then why the hell were you hired?

If your boss doesn’t trust you, call him on it. Trust is earned by demonstrating capability, but if your boss isn’t willing to see that then you need to point it out. Let them know that you can do the job, that you’ve been doing the job and that they can trust you to do the job.

Establish Autonomy
When you’re able to get things done by yourself and off your own back it shows that you know what you’re doing. Owning your work, getting things done and delivering results rapidly builds a track record and demonstrates how capable you are. If you need to check in with your boss on everything you do they’ll have a disproportionate amount of power over what you do and how you do it – and you’ll undermine yourself all the way to your exit interview.

Establish Credibility
Credibility comes from establishing trust and autonomy, but it also comes from the quality of the work you deliver and the quality of the relationships you build. Deliver great work and have a strong focus on your relationships with your colleagues and you’ll attract credibility like a magnet.

If you get those 3 things in place, you’ve nailed it. Your boss will have seen how good you are at your job and you’ll have clearly established both the value you provide and the method by which you provide it. That makes it so much easier for you to call your boss on something and persuade them to try things your way.

If Your Boss is a Negative Swimmer…

Of course, those strategies are moot if your boss hasn’t given you the opportunity to establish them and if there are no clear signs that those opportunities are coming. That really sucks, because a managers job is to create an environment where you can do great work. If they’re not doing that they’re simply making things more difficult and getting in the way of their empoyee’s future – I sometimes call these kinds of people ‘negative swimmers’.

When you’re swimming you move forwards through the water, using your whole body to propel you; your movements are co-ordinated; your breathing’s in sync; you move through the water with power and grace. Negative swimming is the opposite of those things, and you end up thrashing around, expending twice as much energy, fighting for breath and swallowing half the pool.

Some people just don’t get it.

In that event you need to balance 3 things:

Raise it with your boss
If your boss is being unreasonable, micro-managing your work or getting in your way then you have the right to sit down and talk about it. You don’t have to put up with it.

Make an appointment for first thing in the morning and try to do things away from his or her office. Don’t point fingers, don’t blame and don’t get emotional – state your case and the facts as simply as possible. What happened? What was the result? What was the impact on you? What would make you better able to do great work?

Your boss is human and will have their own character flaws, priorities, workload and personal stuff going on, but also remember that you were hired because you were the best person for the job. Tell your boss just that.

Raise it with someone else
If raising it with your boss goes nowhere or if you want some advice before you talk, raise it with someone else. This could be a colleague you get on with particularly well – someone with whom you’ve established trust, autonomy and credibility with. Have an off the record chat with them to get their perspective and see how other people might have dealt with the situation.

Another port of call is HR. Again, you can do this off the record so don’t worry about getting heavy handed and having to kick off disciplinary procedures (although if it’s serious enough it might warrant it). As long as your boss doesn’t have HR in his or her pocket, they’re there to make the people side of the business work effectively and are ideally placed to advise on the situation and what might be the best route forwards. You don’t need to follow their advice, but do consider it.

Raise it with yourself
If neither of those discussions proves fruitful, you need to raise it with yourself – at the highest level.

Do you want to work in an environment where you’re not given the room to do your best work and where your views aren’t listened to? Do you want to be in a workplace that lands you with a whole load of stress and frustration? Do you want to be in a workplace where you learn to doubt yourself and lose confidence in your ability to do great work. You don’t need any of that, so don’t persuade yourself that you do.

Standing up for yourself starts with having confidence that you’re good enough to get things done in the way you think is best.

If you have that central belief then finding the confidence to stand up for yourself becomes easier. Of course, you need to watch that you don’t doggedly stick to your guns when the evidence clearly shows that another route is better – that will only undermine your trust, autonomy and credibility.

Listen to other viewpoints and consider other factors, but then make your decision and have confidence in it.