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10 Great Tips to Manage Your Manager · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Creating a good relationship with your manager is pretty vital if you want to be happy at work, get a bonus, get promoted and progress your career.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast I share 10 great tips to manage your manager.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: There are people just like you and me and by making their life easier and more enjoyable, you and your career are going to benefit.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles and I've spent 25 years working in corporates and household names through to SMEs at all management levels.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: I've had many great managers and a few terrible managers in my career with a whole range of personality types.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Learning how to manage my manager helped me enjoy being at work a lot more and it definitely helped my success.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides online business courses to help professionals, managers and business owners improve their performance.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if you like this podcast, please share it with friends and colleagues.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get straight into it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: My first tip to managing your manager is to do a good job.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you are delivering what you say you are going to deliver or what you need to deliver, your manager has less to worry about.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to be doing an amazing job, though of course this does help.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: But being average compared to your peers or better is enough.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Average and above puts you in the category of helping your manager rather than being a problem.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: My second tip to managing your manager is to learn what your manager wants from you.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: It is very hard to do a good job if you don't know what good looks like in your manager's eyes.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: So go through your job with your manager, ask what they want from you in each area, set objectives and goals together, and agree what okay looks like and what good looks like.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Get your manager's input.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Keep asking for feedback until you are confident you are delivering what your manager wants in the way that they want it.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: My third tip is to understand the pressures your manager is under.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ask about their work, what projects need to be done, what requests are coming in from their manager, what their current challenges are.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Listen carefully to what they say.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ask what you can do to help and tailor your work to help alleviate those pressures as much as possible.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Take opportunities to help your manager look good.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: My fourth tip to managing your manager is to bring solutions, not just the problems.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Bringing solutions shows you are taking responsibility for the problem, not just dumping it on your manager's lap to sort out.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: They will be busy too with their own challenges, so don't add to the list.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Bringing solutions will build your manager's confidence in you.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Your manager will appreciate your effort to create a solution and it still gives them the opportunity to input or put forward their own preferred solution.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: My fifth tip is to learn how your manager prefers to communicate with you and tailor your style accordingly.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is your manager very hands-off or do they tend towards micromanagement?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Do they want to meet face to face or would they prefer email updates?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: How often do they want updates, or do they just want you to deliver the results?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Do they prefer diarised, formal, one-to-one meetings, or for you just to drop by?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ask your manager what they prefer.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Observe or ask what others around you are doing and what seems to work best.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: My sixth tip to managing your boss is to make sure that there are no surprises.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Managers hate surprises because they can't account for, plan or implement a solution if there's a negative surprise.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's a positive surprise, it may cause them problems with their boss.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: No one likes surprises, so keep regular communication with your manager and be honest.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Judge how often and what you tell your boss based on the situation.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Just make sure there are no surprises where at all possible.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: My seventh tip is to take responsibility for managing the relationship with your manager.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Your boss is a person with interests, hobbies, possible family and so on.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Get to know them.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Learn what they do outside work and get them talking about it.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do some homework.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone likes talking about things that they care about.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Taking a few of these steps means that you're going to be helping them to like you, which will result in an easier, more enjoyable professional relationship between the two of you.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: My eighth tip to managing your manager is to take on work that will reduce pressure on your manager.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: This might be looking after a project or helping a team member learn about an area that you already know about, or coming up with solutions to a set of problems instead of your manager doing it, or it might be just day-to-day tasks that just needs to get done.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Look for opportunities to help take pressure or work off your manager and ask for the work.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Expect to start small and get bigger as your manager gains confidence in you.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: My ninth tip to managing your boss is to give your manager positive feedback.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this is not about sucking up, which can have a negative effect.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: The higher you climb, the less feedback you get.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Your manager will appreciate the feedback on what is working for you and when they do something well.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Positive reinforcement works.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Make use of it.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone likes compliments that they have earned.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: My tenth tip to managing your manager is don't complain about your boss to colleagues.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Your manager will not do everything right.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: They will annoy you at times and be a pain.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Don't succumb to the temptation of venting your negative feelings or frustrations to colleagues around the water cooler.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: It is unprofessional and it won't help your standing with your colleagues, and it will probably get back to your boss at some point undoing a lot of the good work you've already put in.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Resist the temptation to talk badly about your boss at work.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Vent to friends or others outside of work if you have to.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: I have two bonus tips for you that will help if you've worked hard at the ten actions already mentioned and things are still not going quite as planned.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: My first bonus tip to managing your boss is don't try and fix or change your boss.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Your manager sets the rules, not you.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: You will not be able to change your boss.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: If things are not great or even bad between you and your manager, ask yourself what can you change about what you do to improve the relationship.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that this is not easy to do, particularly if you're angry about how you've been treated.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: But be honest with yourself.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Change what you can about what you are doing to improve the relationship.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: This really is in your best interests.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And my second bonus tip, if you've done everything that you can and your manager has it in for you for whatever reason, then take steps to document everything.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Keep key emails and examples of your treatment.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Write notes about key conversations that have happened straight after they've happened with dates, times and locations.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Keep this information on your own computer or disk drive, not the work computer.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Whilst this may seem a little drastic, if you have to take the situation to HR, you'll have a lot of evidence to back up your version of events and the behavioural issues of your manager.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Documenting events will help you get a much fairer outcome for you.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So there you have 12 key actions that you can take to help you manage your manager and build and maintain a great professional relationship with your manager.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Having a good relationship with your manager is absolutely in your best interests and it will impact your happiness at work, the bonus you get, whether you get promoted and how quickly your career progresses.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: A good relationship is absolutely in your best interests.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do everything you can to build a good relationship.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Do visit us at enhanced.training and take a look at the courses and resources to help you manage your team more effectively.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you like this podcast, please share it with friends and colleagues.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.