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5 Ways To Keep Your Boss Happy With Better Communication · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sharing five ways to keep your boss happy with better communication.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Before we dive in, ask yourself how happy is my boss with me right now?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: What score would you give your boss against this scale of 1 to 10?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Where?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Zero is very unhappy with you, has no clue about your work, doesn't know your strengths or anything much about you, and doesn't demonstrate they care much or are interested in who you are.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: On the other end of the scale, 10 is where your boss is very happy with you, knows exactly what you're up to without being a micromanager, fully utilizes your strengths and plays to your interests wherever possible and demonstrates that they care and are really interested in you.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: What score would you give your current boss?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you're scoring below a 7, I am sharing five ways to move your boss's happiness and interest in you towards a 10 score through how you communicate.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to work harder, you don't need to suck up or pander to your boss, you just need to change how you communicate with your boss and how often.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: The five ways to keep your boss happy with better communication are firstly use their communication style.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, proactively over-communicate.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Third, be clear, concise and progress-focused.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, question, understand and respond.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then fifth, commit to no surprises.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: For each, I'm giving you practical actions that you can start doing today.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is not theory, this is tried and tested actions that I've used very successfully for decades.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: 13 promotions in as many years prove these work.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: I coach senior managers and leaders on how to improve relationships with their boss and other leaders to win promotion.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Improving how they communicate is one of the most important factors.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone can use these actions no matter where you are in your career, from just starting out all the way through to board level.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: So the first way to communicate to make your boss happier is to use their communication style.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: To make your boss happier, learn what communication style works best for them.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: This might be quite different to your preferences.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Think about when and with what method to communicate to your boss.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Or third, you could book in weekly one-on-one meetings and for a much more structured approach.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or fourth, getting updates before 9am or after 5pm, say.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe they want daily updates, or is it weekly, or is it ad hoc, or is it a combination?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Find out by observing what other team members do, particularly the ones that your boss likes.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Ask your boss what they want.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Experiment to find out what combination works best.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: As well as the method and the frequency, think about the style of communication.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: For example, here are four different styles that you could use.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, a concise and direct communication of results and progress for busy bosses.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Keep it short, snappy and factual.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, you could use a detailed and analytical communication style to prove to your boss the points that you are presenting.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Show your boss the data so they can see for themselves.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Third, you could use a very visual style, you know, using graphs, charts, dashboards and similar to show progress and results.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is great for very visual learners to get updates fast.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, use a collaborative style where you are chatting with your boss and asking for input and validation so they feel part of the process.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: You are likely to use a combination of different styles and approaches.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Most bosses want you to be solution focused when communicating and be supportive of their goals and workloads.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Always experiment and find out what style or combination works best with your boss.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides resources and courses for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've included links to additional resources in the podcast description on keeping your boss super happy with you and how to improve your communications with peers and stakeholders within the workplace.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do take a look at these.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: The second way to communicate to make your boss happier is to proactively over-communicate.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: I've learned the hard way early in my career that not keeping your boss informed about what you're up to is dangerous to your job security.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: If your boss doesn't know what you are up to each day and doesn't have an opportunity to input into decisions, actions and solutions that you are considering before you take them, you're probably not communicating enough.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: If in doubt, overcommunicate rather than undercommunicate.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I always preferred face-to-face communication, usually by popping around to their desk.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then I would use the phone, and then lastly, I would use email or chat methods.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: The reason being is that face-to-face is the best way of building relationships and email and chat is the worst.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Good relationships matter to you personally much more than your boss.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Put in the effort to make sure your boss knows exactly what you're doing and working on at all times.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Don't wait for them to ask, proactively and assertively seek them out and tell them.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: The third way to communicate to make your boss happier is to be clear, concise and progress focused.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly all bosses that I have worked with were much more time poor than I was.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: The more senior, the more time poor your boss is as a general rule.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Most bosses I had wanted to know what was happening quickly without being confused or having to ask a ton of questions to draw it out.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Before speaking to your boss, work out exactly what you want to say in terms of updates.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Always be progress focused so that you can quickly explain where you are against goals and targets.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Put what you have to say into say two to five bullet points.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: If it is longer than that, cut it down to a few bullet points.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then go speak to your boss.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Keep working on making your communication clear and concise, and you'll have a very happy boss and very valuable communication skills too.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth way to communicate to make your boss happier is to question, understand and respond.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Questioning, listening and understanding is the other half of communication.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know what your boss's goals are, what their pressures are and what they are working on, you won't be able to support them very well.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: The more you can support your boss to achieve their objectives, the happier that boss will be with you.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So ask your boss questions about what they are working on, about what goals they need to achieve, and about what challenges they are thinking about a lot of the time.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Listen carefully to what they tell you and understand their position.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Then take action to help solve some of their problems.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Start small and work upwards.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Take actions that will reduce their pressures, reduce their need to solve specific problems, reduce the communication they need to do to team members, and reduce their involvement while still getting the routine results needed.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Ask questions, listen and understand your boss and their needs, then take action to help them reach their goals.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of little helping actions are every bit as important as the bigger, more visible actions.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: The fifth way to communicate to make your boss happier is to commit to no surprises.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Every boss hates surprises, even the good surprises.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can remove surprises for your boss by thinking ahead and communicating what is happening.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Be realistic and be honest.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: If something is going badly or is really late, tell your boss as soon as possible.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you're well ahead on certain deadlines, tell your boss so they know that you might be free earlier.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: When your boss gets very few surprises from you, because you are communicating a lot and in a way that your boss likes, you are likely to have a very, very happy boss.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Commit to no surprises for your boss.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So in summary, work at your communication with your boss, keep your boss informed and involved in your work, and you'll get a ton of benefits, including a better relationship with your boss, secondly, great job security, third, probably a bigger bonus and pay rise, fourth, better promotion prospects, and fifth, great influence over your work and opportunities.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: These are all very useful professionally to you, and they actually make turning up to work a lot more enjoyable.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to visit us at enhance.training, go to resources and take a look at our guides on keeping your boss super happy with you and how to improve your communication with peers and stakeholders within the workplace.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: So do take a look at these.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on five ways to keep your boss happy with better communication, please email me at support at enhance.training and I'll get back to you.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.