Is it appropriate to be friends with your boss on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or other Social Media website? Are you friends with your boss or employee? According to a survey released by Reuters, in the article Facebook friend your boss? Americans say no, 56 percent of Americans said it is irresponsible to be friends with your boss on Facebook and 62 percent said it is wrong to be friends with an employee.
So, why do you think that the majority of Americans surveyed responded no? Well, let’s put it this way. Imagine your boss regularly takes one of your colleagues out to lunch, invites him or her to parties or personal gatherings on the weekends, but yet the rest of the team is excluded. How would you feel if that colleague of yours gets a promotion or a salary raise? The truth is that even if your colleague deserves that promotion and raise more than anyone else in your team, there will be some employees who may still think he or she got it because of preferential treatment.
Even if no one believes the boss is treating one employee better than the others, there is always the problem of someone crossing the line between business and friendship. According to Real Estate expert and business mogul Barbara Corcoran, in the article Can I Be Friends With My Boss? you cannot be friends with your boss or employee because ”friendships are based on equality, while a boss is always your superior.”
So, if we cannot be friends with our boss, does that mean we should be enemies? No. Top Contributors always find ways to get along with their managers, impress them and successfully sell our ideas to them. You want your managers to like you and think of you as a friendly and approachable person who gets along well with colleagues, and clients. You want them close to you just enough so that they think of you positively when it comes to promotion time. Remember that you do not want to appear as a suck-up to your boss and others. Faking friendship or sympathy will not get you far. It’s always best if you show real interest in the things you admire in other people.
Remember that there is no need to be best friends with your boss, but you still want to have a respectful, civilized relationship with them.
So, what do you think?
Regardless of what people say, you should be best friends with your boss. How else will you get a good raise? ;D
I think it is ok to be friends with your boss, as long as you know there is a line between a boss and a subordinate that can not be cross.
The botton line is that you should be friends with your boss without being friends with your boss in the eyes of everyone. Social skills are more important than any technical skill you may have.
Some people will do anything to get ahead. I personally cannot stand those who sweet talk their way through the job and have no skills what so ever. i hate ass kissing too, but I feel I’m forced to learn
I really enjoyed this post. You explain this topic very well. I really love your blog and I will definetly bookmark it
I saw the heading of your blog post – Friends with your boss on Facebook or Twitter? – while I was searching on the internet just a while ago. Would you mind if I put a link to http://thetopcontributor.com/TopC/in-the-news/friends-with-your-boss-on-facebook-or-twitter/comment-page-1/ on my site?