At one point or another in your career, you will report to a manager, the person you fondly - or not - call boss. The relationships that you create and manage, with both your immediate boss, and other company employees, are critical for your work success and career progress.
And, face it, whether you like it or not, you’re in charge of your relationship with your boss. No one will ever share as much concern as you do that the quality of the relationship helps you achieve your goals. At the same time, your boss has information that you need to succeed. He can’t do his job or accomplish his goals without your help.
The following steps will help you develop a positive, ongoing, supportive relationship with your boss - a relationship that serves you well, your manager well, and, as a consequence, your organisation well.
- The first step in managing up is to develop a positive relationship with your boss. Relationships are based on trust. Do what you say you’ll do. Keep timeline commitments. Never blind side your manager with surprises that you could have predicted or prevented. Keep him informed about your projects and interactions with the rest of the organisation.
Tell the boss when you’ve made an error or one of your reporting workers has made a mistake. Cover-ups don’t contribute to an effective relationship. Lies or efforts to mislead always result in further stress for you as you worry about getting "caught" or somehow slipping up in the consistency of your story. Communicate daily or weekly to build the relationship.
Get to know your manager as a person - He is one, after all. He shares the human experience, just as you do, with all of its joys and sorrows.
- Recognise that success at work is not all about you; put your boss’s needs at the centre of your universe. Identify your boss’s areas of weakness or greatest challenges and ask what you can do to help. What are your boss’s biggest worries? How can your contribution mitigate these concerns? Understand your boss’s goals and priorities. Place emphasis on your work to match his priorities. Think in terms of the overall success of your department and company, not just about your more narrow world at work.
- Look for and focus on the "best" parts of your boss; just about every boss has both good points and bad. When you’re negative about your boss, the tendency is to focus on his worst traits and failings. This is neither positive for your work happiness nor your prospects for success in your organisation. Instead, compliment your boss on something he does well. Provide positive recognition for contributions to your success. Make your boss feel valued. Isn’t this what you want from him for you?
- Your boss is unlikely to change; He can choose to change, but the person who shows up to work every day has taken years and years of effort on his part to create. Instead of trying to change your boss, focus instead, on trying to understand your boss’s work style.
Identify what he values in an employee. Does he like frequent communication, autonomous employees, requests in writing in advance of meeting, or informal conversation as you pass in the hallway? Your boss’s preferences are important and the earlier you understand them, the better you will work with him.
- Learning how to read your boss’s moods and reactions is also a helpful approach to communicate more effectively with him. There are times when you don’t want to introduce new ideas; if he is preoccupied with making this month’s numbers, your idea for a six month improvement may not be timely.
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