How to Optimize Your
Relationship with Your Boss
Make your relationship with your manager a winning one!
Your relationship with your boss can be a wellspring of growth possibilities if
nurtured properly or a career minefield if left to go sour. Maintaining a good
professional relationship with your manager can make all the difference in the
type and quality of projects that get sent your way, in your career advancement,
in your relationship with others in the firm and in your overall reputation in
the industry even after you leave the firm.
1. Perfect Your Role
Your relationship with your manager will to a very large extent be determined by
your overall professional skills, attributes and success at the job you are
doing. A manager will take far more pride in the employee who constantly
produces quality work, meets deadlines and is pleasant to work with. Perfect
your job by knowing exactly what your manager's objectives for the position are
and then exceeding his expectations. Always aim to go the extra mile to show
that you are truly dedicated to the position and that you take your career very
seriously. This can include volunteering to help others when you have time,
taking on additional projects when you can afford to, cultivating unique skills
and coming up with new ideas to improve performance, win clients or cut costs.
Building a reputation for yourself as someone who does the job extremely well,
is professional, pleasant and always goes the extra mile will reflect just as
positively on your boss.
2. Communication
The importance of building an open dialogue with your manager cannot be
overemphasized. Maintaining an open channel of communication with your boss is
one of the key ingredients of a successful long-term relationship. The goal of
these communications is to build a professional rapport, gain visibility and
ensure an unhampered flow of information about the firm, the unit, your own
performance and any problems, concerns, issues, accomplishments on either side.
• Invest in building an open channel of communication early on. Get your boss
accustomed to your wandering into his office for a chat or scheduling a meeting
for yourself in his diary on a periodic basis. Do not wait for him to schedule
these meetings! Do them often and as casually as you can so that your meetings
with him become a routine part of his day, week or month. This will ensure you
do not end up piling up grievances, complaints and unanswered questions simply
because you don't have the guts to face your boss or have never taken the time
to build an open dialogue. Always go to these meetings prepared. Try to include
the casual and comical occasionally in these meetings to break the ice. Your
boss will appreciate it if, in addition to your professional issues, you keep
him casually informed of what is going on in the firm at your level, eg. the
marketing unit ae going away on a brainstorming weekend, the new temp appears to
be running a business of her own from her desk, the traders downstairs smashed a
phone at the coffee machine the day before etc. AVOID gossip; the goal of these
meetings is not trivialties, it is to build a comfort level and flow of
career-related information that promotes your PROFESSIONAL growth.
• Learn to listen to your boss. Listening to your boss means understanding the
tone as well as the content. Make sure you really understand both your manager's
directions and where he is coming from. Ask questions if you don't. Your boss
will generally set the objectives and vision for the unit and you will only
understand his philosophy and general business style if you really listen.
• Learn to cope with constructive criticism. Some bosses are psychological
bullies and criticism from such manager types is far more difficult to take.
However, most managers dole out criticism with the territory and you should be
prepared to handle the criticism in a professional manner and learn from it.
Constructive criticism should be used as a means to steer your professional
development and should help you avoid career pitfalls.
3. Manage His Expectations
Once you have a good grip on the job requirements and have a solid relationship
with your boss in place that is built on trust and mutual respect, you can begin
to manage your boss's expectations regarding the quality and quantity of your
work. This is an essential damage-control tactic if you are to avoid many of the
pitfalls that are essentially the result of poor assertiveness skills. Learn to
tell your manager that you are overburdened (only when you are of course). Use
words like 'we need an additional resource', 'I have to prioritize', 'I have a
more urgent deadline', ' I don't want to compromise the quality of the project'
to communicate your own time schedule and your existing workload. Always have a
list ready of projects you are engaged in and their priority so your manager can
more easily plan the projects he sends your way. You should focus on being
'productive' rather than merely 'busy' so your manager learns to respect your
prioritization skills and general work aptitude.
4. Reverse Feedback
Your boss has a boss and deadlines too, so learn to make his life a bit easier
by sending some reverse positive feedback his way when you can. Avoid the false
superficial kind of schmoozing but DO compliment or thank your boss whenever you
can - on something he taught you, a course he sent you to, a project he sent
your way, a project he didn't send your way, a tip he gave you or some other
form of constructive criticism he made, a resource he assigned you, a deal he
landed, a client he made happy, a new idea, a presentation he made etc. He will
appreciate the flattery if it is genuine and delivered professionally. He will
also be more inclined to help you in the future if you are appreciative of the
steps he takes to guide and promote you.