How to support your boss
Your career prospects often rely on how effectively you interact with and support your boss or others farther up the organisational ladder. In front of every competent person there will eventually be a vacant chair; and your boss will have a major voice in determining who gets to sit in it. Often, your success will depend on your boss's success, so he or she will need your continuing support. Keep these suggestions in mind if you want to support your boss…
1. Get to know your boss.
Find out all you can about your boss - likes and dislikes, quirks, expectations, interests, and prejudices. By observing and by asking others, get to know how your boss likes things done. Learn your boss's style of writing, for example. Is a succinct proposal on one sheet of paper preferred, or a detailed argument? Find out what's really important to him or her and make sure that's what you deliver. Or, as James Cribbin suggests, 'Study them to understand what catches their minds, stimulates their souls, and turns their stomachs.'
2. Keep your boss informed.
Keep your boss up to date on all matters you are responsible for, as well as other items that you find are needed. In other words, always anticipate your boss's information needs and questions. Press clippings and media releases can provide valuable data. Be sure to include a 'with compliments' slip with your signed, personal, but business-like message. Never let your boss hear good or bad news from others when it's your job to provide it.
3. Find out when and where your boss is most approachable.
If your boss is an early starter, morning may be the best time to meet for discussions. If your boss takes some time to warm up, the end of the day might be a better time. Learn to read changes of mood. The boss's personal assistant is often a valuable ally: timing can be vital.
And is it best to tackle your boss in the office, or over lunch, after work, or even at home?
4. Deliver the goods.
When your boss gives you a task, do you see it through to completion - or do you turn in a half-finished job with all the tricky bits left for your boss to tidy up? If you're asked to do something, do you do it promptly and thoroughly?
Successful people are usually busy: they agree to take on tasks that others find too challenging or too demanding of their time. If attracting the attention and respect of your boss is a priority, manage your time to give these additional tasks the priority they deserve.
Don't offer promises: just deliver. Don't make excuses when something goes wrong; just deliver next time. Be a tough self-critic, and always deliver the goods promptly and well.
5. Focus on solutions not problems.
Henry Ford is supposed to have said, 'Don't give me a problem; give me a solution'. You should also adopt this approach. Make it a personal rule to provide solutions, or at least options for consideration - never problems for the boss to solve. Bosses don't need messengers conveying bad news; they want to hear what you've done about any problem. So gain a reputation for being a 'doer', not a 'gonna'.
6. Demonstrate your loyalty.
Be as loyal to your superiors as you would wish them to be to you. When you honestly can, speak well of your boss to other people. Offer protection when necessary; serve as a buffer and absorb some of the shocks when you can prudently do so. Always help your boss 'to be right' without yourself being subservient. And, if you are fortunate enough to have one who deserves it, don't be too proud to express admiration for your boss. (Remember, however, to show equal loyalty to and openness about your colleagues as well, so that you don't earn a reputation as the boss's pet or the office crawler.)
7. Gain your boss's confidence.
If you're determined to support your boss, you should show that you can be relied on - not only to do your own job but also to help your boss to do his. So, whenever the opportunity arises, you should try to convey some of these messages:
- I'm happy to have you talk to me about your concerns and problems.
- I'm keen to be allowed to take some of the load off your shoulders.
- I have certain strengths that you can use.
- I'm always available.
8. Match strengths and weaknesses.
Have a good grasp of your own strengths and weaknesses as well as your boss’s. You’ll then know where you two complement each other, where you conflict, and where you need help. In other words:
Some of the finest collaborations, whether in business or the arts, come about because the individuals involved complement each other: the writer helping the speaker, the detail-thinker supporting the big-picture person, the late-night person spelling the early riser. If you are strong where your boss is weak and vice versa, the resulting team can be far more effective than either of you could be alone… A good working relationship with your superior is the foundation of being a successful manager.
