You may be driven and passionate, and you may manage the office like a boss. But there’s a chance you have a tendency to ruffle your employees’ feathers by being a bit overbearing.

Take the after-hours emails and house calls, for instance: Inc.com contributor Marla Tabaka says this can thoroughly creep out your staff.

“Even if they don’t see your emails until the next morning it’s somehow disturbing to know that your boss is up at 2 a.m. thinking up new ways to keep you just as busy as they are,” she writes.

Keep the nagging to a minimum, and follow Tabaka’s other tips to avoid becoming the boss your team loves to hate.

Conversely, if you’re not the boss, Avery Augustine of The Daily Muse says trust is the be-all and end-all of maintaining a well-functioning professional relationship.

For example, you may promise your superiors you’ll get that project in by the end of the day, but your overloaded inbox shows that’s totally unrealistic. The result? You’re left with no choice but to kindly request a last-minute extension.

Long story short: Your boss can see right through you. Drop the Eddie Haskell shtick and hold yourself accountable.

“When you ask for what you need, keep your boss informed, and take total responsibility for your work, you’ll prove to your boss that he or she can trust you with anything,” Augustine writes.

Tweet of the Day

3 pieces of advice for emerging association professionals from @CallieCady http://t.co/ekqAdrihZh #assnchat

— Multiview (@Multiview) March 24, 2014

Being goal-oriented, open-minded, and fearless: MultiView’s Callie Cady suggests that up-and-coming association professionals need to embody these attributes for their careers to flourish.

Other Good Reads

“Speaking, telling, and presenting does not usually lead to learning”: Velvet Chainsaw Consulting’s Jeff Hurt discusses what more conference speakers can do to enlighten and inspire their listeners.

“Get from the ‘why’ to the ‘what’”: Since online communities present endless opportunities, Socious’ Joshua Paul offers up a four-step strategy to help struggling nonprofits.

In a guest post for SocialFish, Amanda Kaiser emphasizes that a brand goes beyond the visuals that represent it, to something more foundational.

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