Ten Questions Ambitious People Should Ask About Their Boss
One of the things that people with highly successful careers often
have in common is a good manager, or a series of good managers. A good
manager will recognise people’s strengths, and help them grow. This is
especially important early in your career, where some quick ‘runs on the board’ can get you noticed and considered for other opportunities.
How
do you recognise the kind of manager who will boost your career? It’s
often easy to recognise the kind of manager who’s no help at all. If
you’re never able to make any decisions, you’re never allowed to try
anything new, and your boss never has a kind word to say to you or about
you, your manager may be killing your career.
More subtly, you don’t want your manager to be too nice. Do you
remember that teacher you had, who kinda let everyone slack off and
wrote them great school reports anyway? Everything goes fine until you
get another teacher, and then you realise that actually, there’s quite a
lot to know about algebra, and you never learnt any of it. Much the
same happens in the workplace.
Some people work ten years for a manager,
being told they’re doing great work and receiving positive performance
reviews every year. When that manager leaves, they find out they’re
unemployable. They haven’t kept their skills current, or they have bad
work habits that everyone knows about but them.
How do you spot a manager who will help you reach your career
aspirations? At the end of a job interview, when a prospective manager
asks if you have any questions, ask something like: “What do you do to
support the development of your staff?”. Or how about your current
manager? Ask yourself:
- When did my manager last ask about my career aspirations?
- When did my manager last discuss with me, what I need to do to achieve my career aspirations?
- Has my manager helped me set goals and make a plan that will help me achieve them? What has my manager done to help me put my plan into action?
- What skills does my manager have, that I would like to learn?
- What recent feedback has my manager given me about what I am doing well and what I need to improve?
- How much time does my manager spend coaching me (e.g. asking and answering questions about my work)?
- What work has my manager given me over the past year, that has pushed me out of my comfort zone?
- How has my manager helped me to build my profile (e.g. publicly credited me for work well done, or introduced me to more senior managers)?
- How else has my manager assisted me to develop?
- What skills have I developed over the past year?
Are
you happy with the answers to these questions?
If not, the
responsibility doesn’t just lie with your manager. You might need to ask
for more of what you want (e.g. volunteer for a difficult assignment,
or ask what you would need to do to prove you have the capability to
take on more challenging work). This does usually help. However, if this
gets you nowhere, it’s worth considering where your current job is
taking you. Ultimately, your career is your responsibility. But finding the right manager can make things a whole lot easier.
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