Make That Boss Happy
Managing Your Boss's Expectations: 5 Things To Think About.
"The more we manage expectations, the better we can manage the future."
Stanley L. Boswell, Jr.
It's almost always useful to understand and manage our counterparts' expectations, especially our Boss's.
It minimizes the chance for disappointment and maximizes the chance for satisfying the Boss.
Here are five tactics to consider, practice and get good at (and, where possible, get in writing):
1. Confirm boss’s expectations.
Duh! But far too often we think we understand (when we don't) or we're afraid to look dumb is we ask for confirmation/clarification.
2. Get commitment on priorities.
Here we want to make sure that the new task is important and valuable enough to replace one of your current Top 3 tasks. If so, then one current task has to be re-assigned, delayed or killed.
Don’t commit to new tasks until priorities are re-evaluated.
3. Reach common agreement on what = success.
Again, here we just want to double-check that our clear understanding of what success looks like matches the Boss's. We don't want any nasty surprises at the end.
After you do your due diligence:
4. Get commitment on how best to reach success.
It's always a good idea to make sure you and your boss are in alignment on the parameters of action, as well as no-gos.
5. Get commitment on resources needed for success.
While this is a tricky one, make sure the boss understands what the various outcomes could be depending on the resource
allocation for each scenario. Make reasonable high-ball estimates.
Each of these tactics is useful, and the more you can score, the easier it is to manage your boss's expectations and make her happy.
Be Your Absolute Best. Manage Expectations.
Boswell Communiction Training
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. photo credit: Tima Miroshnichenko
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