What if your manager disappeared? You work your tail off to make her look good, and suddenly she’s missing. You might not see her for weeks. Or even worse, when you happen to see her, she acts as if she doesn’t see you? 

The key phrase here is ‘even worse’. That's the scary part! If your boss screams at you all the time, this may be hard to imagine. But it really could be even worse. Silent bosses are the most dangerous. If you want to know how to keep managers happy, you have to keep them noisy.

My wife’s cousin, Gabe, is the bassist in a band called “Disappointed by Candy.” But he also plays the bass guitar for several other bands, including “Jars of Clay”. In other words, he has multiple bosses. Now imagine he ticks one of them off, but they never tell him about it. What would Gabe stand to lose if they never use him again?

But That Doesn't Happen Where I Work

Gabe has several bosses. If you have a single boss, you have even more to lose. Like a sedated snail, the soon-to-be-silent boss will seemingly appear to put up with everything, until suddenly …you’re invisible.

Invisibility is a classic career casualty. You hear no complaint. Once you do, it’s too late. And it takes a mammoth effort just to hold on to your current job responsibilities, much less grow them.

Let’s look at it from another perspective. Your job responsibilities may have remained constant over the last few years. Naturally this doesn't ring any alarm bells. It may even be nice! However, if you've been watching carefully, your boss has probably grown her own career in the past few months or years. If your career has not grown along with your boss’s, you are actually LOSING OUT.

No matter how successful you are in your career, you will always have room to improve. Best of all, you will always have complaining managers. Don't deny that fact. Accept it and then do something about it.

The Reason Behind Your Invisibility

Back when we lived in New Orleans, my wife and I decided to try a new church. When it was my turn for communion, I looked in the cup and saw a very tiny piece of someone’s breakfast bubbling on the wine’s surface like a Pop Rock. It was absolutely disgusting. The person who gave me the cup saw it too, yet did nothing about it.

Now I knew I should probably complain. Not to get anyone into any trouble, but to make them aware of what happened so they could train people what to do if a piece of someone’s beignet finds its way into the chalice. But who would I tell?

Now Why Would I Bother To Go To All That Trouble?

It was easier to never go back. All that effort churches spend trying to get new people in the pews is wasted when people have to jump through hoops just to complain.

Most companies act precisely in the same manner. For one, they have no real complaint department. If clients are unhappy, they feel embarrassed to complain and because no route has been cleared to vent their feelings, they avoid it completely.

Then they leave.

Obviously, you can't wait for something to go wrong. As an employee, you should act as if you are your own company. You are responsible for marketing your brand, finance (what do you add to the bottom line?), product development, and you need to have a customer complaint department.

Your job is to find ways to get your boss to complain. When your manager complains, you not only get extremely valuable feedback as to what is important to him or her, but you gain insight into what may be relevant for many of your future managers as well. Best of all, empowered with a complaint channel, a well-trained boss will complain at every juncture giving you the opportunity to fix the problem before it is too late and regain their trust.

The Problem With A Complaint-Free Workplace

Many professionals cringe when they are told they have done something that is not up to snuff. They unwittingly send out signals that they are not open to negative feedback, and, as a result, they actually achieve their goal of a complaint free workplace.

But in an unpredictable world like ours, that goal is unreal. Even the best of intentions aren't much use when unforeseen and uncontrollable strikes. Most bosses recognize this. However, it's up to you to have a disaster recovery plan in place.

When I say that, I don't mean some grandiose 'in case of Armageddon' plan. Instead, assume something will go wrong and you will have a Plan B to fix it. The more you prepare for the worst, the less chance your boss will have to grow silent.

Mining for Complaints

1) Don’t wait for your annual review. Go ask your boss face to face. Do it regularly and make sure they feel free to let you know when anything goes wrong.

2) Complaining managers are precise. A face to face conversation eliminates the vagueness of the annual review form, or especially an email. Listen to them, act on their complaints. It's not that they want you to disappear. They need you to perform at a high level to do well on their own performance plan. Fix the problem and then let them know how you fixed it.

If you haven't done so already: (That's a clue!)

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