“I wish he would be clearer about how he wants this analysis done.”

“She tells me to use my judgement and then disagrees with my decision.”    

“He asks for too many status reports.  They take a lot of my time.” 

These are just a few of the hundreds of responses to my question, “How do you think your leader could improve?” 

Face it.  We are complex beings with wide varieties of behaviors.  Get any two employees, even high performers, together for two minutes to discuss their leader and you can be sure they will find something that irritates them.

So how do you handle the differences between you and your leader?  Do you become aggressive and openly defy decisions?  Sulk and become distracted?  Continuously whine to others and lobby against the leader? 

Do you act professionally by offering other options when you disagree while willingly accepting your leader’s methods? 

A departing staff member once said to me, “I enjoyed working on you team.  I did not agree with all your decisions or methods, but I don’t agree with everything my spouse does either and that has worked out pretty well.”

Put differently, if you were the leader, would you hire someone like yourself?