While still a student, I was introduced to a principle that has served me very well over the past few years. It's the concept of "managing your manager," or in other words, learning how to speak your boss' language and thus becoming a more valuable and productive commodity.A mentor who worked with me on campus told me about his experience when he had first started working in a job. He talked about how it seemed like his boss didn't value his work or his ideas, despite his best efforts to become an asset. After roughly a month of employment he didn't like his job and his boss made it clear that he needed to "step up or step off."
What was interesting about this situation was that that man was doing everything he was supposed to be doing and even more, but it didn't seem good enough. As he reflected on his predicament, he realized it wasn't so much that he wasn't doing the right things, he just wasn't communicating them in the right ways so his boss found them valuable. And so he became a disciple of managing his manager. Within a few short years, he became assistant director and found a great deal of leeway in his job. The key was not in what he was doing, but how he was communicating it.
A recent article on SparkVictory outlined five tips to making your boss happy. These tips are perfect for learning how to manage your manager. The following is my interpretation of their list, however, you can read their entire article here.
1. Understand how your boss likes to receive information
Remember, your boss probably gets a lot of communications in one day. Make it simple for them to receive and understand your communications. This may be as simple as a distinction between personal visits, phone calls, emails or memos (ah, archaic communication at its best), but it also has to do with syntax. You were taught in high school and college to spread out your words so the one-page paper became five, well guess what, you were ill-equipped for the professional world. Make it simple and the point. On a similar point, tailor your communication to meet their needs first. Help them to see why what you are telling them, asking them for, or passing by them is important to their needs, your organization's needs and therefore how it meets your needs. In short, speak to them how they want to be spoken to.
2. Adapt to your boss' management style
Some bosses like to hear everything you are doing, others don't. Some want a report after you have made photocopies, others wouldn't want to hear about it unless you had learned how to split atoms in your cube. Learn the difference. If your boss is the type who likes to micromanage and be informed, there is probably a reason for that. See if you can figure it out and then work to those needs. Be diligent and observant, and your manager's style will become clear. Often when a manager is hard to deal with, you can avoid those problems by just changing a few tactics in the way you interact with them.
3. Ease what worries your boss the most
This is one of the largest flops that young professionals make. Your boss has lots of concerns (and many you may not every realize). If you can figure what those are and speak to them, you will make yourself a clear asset to them. Ask yourself about your boss' position. Does she report to others? Is his boss detail oriented and a little controlling? Does she have to make budgetary decisions or have other areas of responsibility? The more full picture you can see his or her position, the better you will be able to speak to what concerns them. Other big questions include: What is the overall culture of the company? What do the executives value? Do people fear making mistakes? Does my boss feel job security? Again, by understanding more, you can accomplish a lot in helping you boss. Remember, when they feel empowered by what you do for them, they will most likely return the favor.
4. Ask for more responsibility
This can be tricky, because you don't want to come off over-zealous. Find ways to make yourself available for side assignments, but don't become an ever-eager ladder-climber. Make your skills apparent, especially if they aren't skills that others have or that you were hired for (not not juggling). Sometimed you will find that by making your skills available, your boss will see the depth of your
5. Offer your boss feedback
Scary right? Being at the top (even it it's only the top of your department) can be a lonely place. Don't lay on the criticisms, but make suggestions on how things can improve. Make positive comments about the things you like and help your boss to feel supported. Your boss will respond well if you work with them in a confident manner, but don't get too close, as etiquette dictates that mingling too closely with a superior can cause issues as well.
In the end, managing your manager involves, above all else, being perceptive and responding accordingly. So, if you are a week, month or year into your job and don't feel like your work, no matter how good, is doing the trick, remember it may not be what you are doing, but how you are communicating it. And that mentor of mine? He and his boss ended up getting into business together and becoming great friends, so I suppose these principles work pretty well.
Contributing: Chris Giovarelli & Tijs Sirrine
Image: Chris Giovarelli
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