by Cody Hodge

Created on: August 17, 2009

Is sucking up to the boss a good thing? It is a double edged sword I will admit. Sometimes it can be the trick that gets your promoted, but other times it could be the one thing that can stall out your career. It really depends on who your boss is and what they are looking for. Some people just like to be the boss because you can hear people grovel all day, and others not so much.

People think that because they suck up to the boss that they are going to get places. At some point in time this might actually work out. Telling the boss that he is the man, or maintaining that you have thier back in a tough time can actually help out. Whether or not you actually mean it, a kind word out of the blue can make you look like an ally of the boss.

The key is to suck up to the right boss at the right time. If you are trying to win the attention of the guy who is shooting up the corporate ladder, then yes I say go ahead and do whatever it takes to get face time. If you are going after the guy who is going nowhere, or has no value to the company as a manager, I say that you should just chill for now. You have to know what you are going to do once you have the ear of the manager.

There is etiquette for sucking up as well. You don't want to act as if you have no ideas of your own, and the only way that you are going to get anywhere is to make people like you. This will only take you so far. You need to combine a little sucking up with a little bit of getting your own agenda passed through at the same time. Why use your boss as a vehicle if you have nowhere to go?

If you have to suck up all the time it can get annoying for both sides. Eventually your boss is going to realize that you aren't really that enamored with what he is doing, and you will get sick of having to suck up so much. It will be a lose-lose proposition after awhile so measure your words, and measure how you will use your sucking up to get ahead.

If you feel like you are talented enough to get ahead without sucking up a little bit you are wrong. It does take a little elbow rubbing with the higher ups, and it does take a little people skills to get ahead. But don't use your sucking up skills as the basis for getting ahead at work. Make sure you use your skills, and your people skills to get ahead. That is how the game is really played.

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