You will recall that a few years ago, banks were calling us all to go and do KYC registration. KYC stands for ‘Know Your Customer’. This week, we have heard that Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) has also announced that we need to do KYC registration for our mobile phones. It looks like KYC is becoming ‘fashionable’ these days! But, at the bottom of this is the fact that a bank or telecommunications company needs to have full details of the name, date of birth, identity and home of the customer that they deal with. Otherwise, some customers can abuse the banking or telecommunication services and the bank or telecommunications company may fail to trace the customer when needed by them or by the law enforcement agencies.
What about at personal level? Especially if you are employed, have you done your ‘KYB’? Know your BOSS!!! You need to know your boss well. We are not talking of knowing his name, village, date of birth and all the other details that banks obtain and what the telecommunication companies will be registering. We are talking of knowing your boss in ways that you can best work together.
When you change jobs or when taking up a new job, it is important to find out a lot about your new boss. Ask the people that work with him or her. They will tell you what the kind of boss he is. Ask especially those that do well. You can still ask those that are not doing very well to also hear their views, but with caution. You definitely need to hear from those that the boss has ‘issues’ so that you can avoid having issues with the boss.
When you do good background information checks on your boss, you will be able to know that he or she likes. You will also know what he or she hates. This informs you to know what to do and what not to do when you start working. This way, you are likely to start your job on a good note. But your learning has not ended there. As you work with the boss, you will keep knowing more about him or her and you will keep adjusting how you work.
Some bosses tell you what they are like and what they like and what they do not like. Others do not tell you. Either way, you need to be constantly studying your boss. Even those who tell you what they are, they cannot manage to tell you everything. In fact, as per JOHARI Window in psychology, even the boss does not know all his or her four windows. There is a window to him or her which only others know. And there is a window which the boss and others do not know. Therefore, to have a good picture about the boss, you need to try and learn from the three available windows.
The first window is what he or she knows about himself or herself but others do not know. The second window represents what others know about the boss which the boss is not aware of about himself or herself. The third window represents what the boss and others know about the boss. The fourth is what we already talked about as the window representing what neither the boss nor observers know.
For the first window, you need to talk to the boss. You can approach any boss and ask him or her what he likes and what he or she does not like. Ask also what he or she expects you to do and how to do it. Be clear to understand the expectations of the boss. Do not leave it to chance. Then ask people around him also for the second window. Once you have these two windows, the overlap of the information represents the third window and you will have known as much as is practically possible.
You already did the bank KYC. As you line up to do MACRA’s KYC at the two mobile operators, try to also conduct KYB for your boss! This way, you will rise and shine! Good luck! n
