Manage Your Manager

So, you want to move up and don’t quite know how to make that happen… A critical part of growing is constantly finessing your upward management skills. (See more in my posting re: Are you an Assistant?)

Some tips I re-discovered lately:

1. The Boss as a Customer:  Your relationship with your boss is your most important one at work, it affects how happy you are and future mobility.

2. Communicate effectively: 
   • Meet regularly with your boss – come prepared with a list of agenda items to move through quickly.
   • Make sure that your expectations match-up – the worst is when you discover to late that you’re on a totally different page then your boss.
   • Tell your boss what you need – BE PROACTIVE, not reactive!

3. Try to Understand your boss – Observe how they act in various circumstances, how they respond to different communication styles and how they interact with their boss.  Learn from your observations and adapt your style to match what you see works.

Learning what makes your boss tick, not to mention what ticks them off, can help you improve the odds of developing a great working relationship that will lead to future (short-term and long-term) opportunities.

Comments

[Benjamin]

Love the idea of treating a boss as a customer. While seemingly a no brainer, I will definitely say that this is incredibly difficult in some situations - specifically when the boss takes every opportunity to steamroll opportunities for you to shine (talk about not on the same page!). I suppose this plays into learning what makes them tick and adapting without simply looking like you are playing along.

Either way, thanks for the tip!