Cultivating a good relationship with your boss is key to your success in an organization.
That's why, when people approach bestselling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch concerned that they've fallen out of their boss's good graces, she asks them one simple question: "Has your boss had to explain your behavior to anyone lately?"
"If so," she tells CNBC Make It, "you've used up your boss's political capital, and that, I'm afraid, is the fastest way I know to make your boss dislike, resent and eventually want to get rid of you — even if you're great at your job."
Welch defines political capital as the "goodwill your boss has stored up at the organization by working hard, making friends, doing favors and delivering results." Building this capital is extremely important — it gives your boss leeway to ask higher-ups for opportunities and things your team might need, like "buying more time for a project or hiring extra people."
But your boss's political capital belongs to them. It's not, Welch warns, "a goldmine for you." She emphasizes that even if you are a hard worker, "you are borrowing money with a very high interest rate" every time your boss has to dip into the goodwill they've earned to excuse your missteps, from being late to making a costly mistake.
Yes, she says, delivering results at work can go a long way — but that's not the only thing your boss cares about. Welch explains that because your boss is also managing their own career, "every time you ask them to spend their hard-earned political capital on your account, your successes get pushed back further and further in their mind's eye."
"Eventually," she says, "they disappear altogether. And so might you."
Suzy Welch is the co-founder of the Jack Welch Management Institute and a noted business journalist, TV commentator and public speaker. Think you need Suzy to fix your career? Email her at gettowork@cnbc.com.
Video by Beatriz Bajuelos Castillo
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