如果老闆任人唯親 你該如何是好

Karl Moore remembers the moment he fell out of favour with his boss.

卡爾•摩爾(Karl Moore)還記得他失去老闆寵信的那段日子。

He was working as a manager at IBM in Toronto when a new person joined his department. Up until then Moore had been part of his boss’s “favoured inside circle” — but suddenly everything changed. The transferred employee became his boss’s new right-hand person, the outcome of brutal office politics.

當他在多倫多擔任IBM的管理人員時，一個新人加入了他的部門。在此之前，摩爾一直都是老闆的心腹之人——但突然之間，一切都改變了。經過殘酷的辦公室政治鬥爭之後，剛調過來的那個人成了老闆最新的左膀右臂。

“Good news for the team but I was soon put on the bench,” said Moore, now a professor at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management in Montreal, Canada. It certainly wasn’t a fun experience — and it definitely made his job harder, he said.

“這對團隊來說是個好消息，但我很快就坐上了冷板凳。”摩爾說，他目前在加拿大蒙特利爾的麥吉爾大學索特管理學院擔任教授。他表示，那肯定不是一段愉快的經歷——顯然也加大了他的工作難度。

If your boss plays favourites — but you’re not one of them — is there anything you can do about it? And should you even care if you're never flavour of the month? After all, nobody likes a sycophant.

如果你的老闆任人唯親——但你卻不是他的親信——是否可以採取什麼應對方案呢？如果你始終沒有成爲老闆的心腹，又是否應該在意呢？畢竟，沒有人喜歡阿諛奉承。

Moore eventually made it back to being one of the favoured few. But it took some time waiting for “the new person’s halo to diminish a bit”. More importantly, Moore was able to change the tide after he delivered on a couple of key agenda items for his boss that were central to his success. “After about a year, once again the sun shone upon me,” he said.

摩爾最終重新成爲了老闆的心腹。但要等待“新人的光環消失”，仍然需要一些時間。摩爾之所以能夠扭轉局勢，更重要的在於他幫助老闆實現了幾個對其成功至關重要的目標。“大約過了一年，我又再次成了老闆的親信。”他說。

Falling out of favour for no good reason is a difficult turn to take. But, it doesn’t have to be permanent. Here’s what you can do.

在沒有正當理由的情況下失寵是一件令人很難接受的事情。但這未必會一直持續下去。你可以通過下面的方式化解危機。

Deliver

幫老闆實現目標

Think about exactly what your boss needs to succeed and look good to his bosses. Find a way to help make it happen.

仔細思考你的老闆需要藉助哪些因素才能獲得成功，並認真爲他着想，想方設法幫助他成功。

“One of the things that makes virtually all bosses smile on us is if we help them deliver on one of the top items on their agenda for the year,” said Moore. “If you can better understand your boss’s top three agenda items and help them achieve one of those, they will tend to nudge you toward the favourites category.”

“如果能幫助老闆實現他們的重要年度目標，幾乎所有的老闆都會欣賞你。”摩爾說，“如果你能更好地理解老闆的三大重要目標，並幫助他們實現其中的一個，你往往就會成爲他們的心腹之人。”

Sometimes it can be as simple as asking about priorities and then helping to make sure that at least one of them comes to fruition, said Moore.

摩爾表示，有時候只需要直接向老闆詢問他們最看重哪些事情即可，然後至少幫助他們實現其中的一項。

Boss as customer

把老闆當成客戶

For Andrew Wittman, a former marine, police officer, and federal agent, the solution is to change your perspective.

對於曾經當過海軍陸戰隊士兵、警察和聯邦探員的安德魯•維特曼(Andrew Wittman)來說，解決辦法是改變自己的視角。

“No matter where you work or for whom, when you approach work from the perspective that says, ‘My boss is not my boss; he or she is my customer or client’, everything changes,” said Wittman, managing partner of South Carolina-based leadership consultancy Mental Toughness Training Center. “You’ll instantly have all the power and control. You are merely leasing your services to the company. They are your client and you give them great customer service.”

“無論你爲誰工作，如果你的工作視角變成‘老闆不是老闆，而是我的客戶’，一切都會改變。”維特曼說，他目前在南卡羅來納的領導力諮詢公司Mental Toughness Training Center擔任管理合夥人，“你會立刻擁有所有的能力和控制力。你不只是將自己的服務出租給公司。他們還是你的客戶，你需要爲他們提供一流的客戶服務。”

It’s important not to start feeling bad about yourself — or letting the idea of not being a favourite take over your thoughts, said Wittman. Otherwise, that’s all you will think about and you’ll lose out on opportunities to get ahead.

維特曼認爲，關鍵是不要氣餒——也不要讓‘老闆不器重我’這樣的觀念佔據你的思維。否則，你就會滿腦子只想着這件事情，從而失去繼續前進的機會。

“If you focus on making your boss a satisfied customer and making she or he look great to the higher ups, which will lead to being a ‘favourite’, your brain will sift through all the facts and data and confirm you are a favourite,” said Wittman. As a result, you’ll be less critical, be able to focus on solving problems more intently and act in ways that will naturally make the boss happy.

“如果你集中精力把老闆變成一個滿意的客戶，並讓她或他在上級面前表現出色，使之成爲上級的‘心腹’，你的大腦就會對所有事實和數據進行篩選，並證明你纔是老闆的親信。”維特曼說。這樣一來，你就會少一些批判，從而集中精力解決問題，通過更加自然的方式取悅老闆。

The inner circle

左膀右臂

Just because your boss doesn’t seem to like you doesn’t automatically mean other people won’t.

如果只是老闆不喜歡你，未必意味着其他人也不喜歡你。

“Try to get in good with the people who are the boss's favourites,” said New York-based Vicky Oliver, author of Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots. “Sometimes if a boss's pet raves about you, it can help ease the friction.”

“努力跟老闆的親信搞好關係，”《壞老闆、瘋同事和辦公室裏的其他傻瓜》(Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots)一書的作者維基•奧利佛(Vicky Oliver)說，“有的時候，如果老闆的心腹喜歡你，也有助於減少摩擦。”

And always strive to be a good team player. “If the crowd likes you, it can help sway the boss's opinion,” she said.

不僅如此，還要時刻努力成爲優秀的團隊成員。“如果大家喜歡你，也有助於影響老闆的觀念。”她說。

A fine line

把握尺度

Don’t go overboard fawning on your boss, thereby alienating yourself from your colleagues or making them resent you. For instance, if your boss tells a lame joke and you laugh louder than everyone else, that is just outright brown nosing, according to Oliver.

不要過分奉承老闆，並因此疏遠了同事，導致你變成別人憎恨的對象。例如，奧利佛表示，如果你的老闆講了一個蹩腳的笑話，而你的笑聲比別人都大，那就是公然拍馬屁。

“But if you come in with a solution to a problem that no one else has considered, that is simply shining on your own merit,” she said. And, spread the love when you do: “If you laud others on the team for helping you arrive at a solution, that is bound to score points with the boss and with your teammates.”

“但如果你針對一個問題給出了別人都沒想到的解決方案，那就只是展示自己的優點。”她說。另外，還應該儘量與人爲善：“如果你稱讚團隊裏的其他人幫助自己找到了解決方案，那就肯定能得到老闆和同事的認可。”

Keep your options open

保持自由身

Rare these days is a boss — or subordinate — who sticks around for life. So, luckily you are unlikely to be wedded to this person for eternity.

當今社會，能夠一生保持上下屬關係的人少之又少。所以，你應該也不太可能與此人共事一輩子。

You probably won’t like working for someone who plays favourites, even if you become the flavour of the month. But don’t let yourself fall into a workplace pit of despair over it. Instead, continue working hard and behaving professionally and show that you care about the team, company, and clients.

你可能並不想爲一個任人唯親的人工作，即使你自己恰恰就是他的心腹之人。不要讓自己因此喪失信息，反而應該努力工作，儘量表現得專業一些，展示出自己對團隊、公司和客戶的關心。

“At the same time, you should be working your way into a different position where the boss is a better one and so you can focus more on being great at your job and growing toward your next promotion,” said Moore.

“與此同時，還應該擺正心態，更加認可自己的老闆。這樣一來，你就可以把更多精力集中在工作上，並努力尋求下一次的晉升。”摩爾說。