Read Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know Online
Authors: Geoffrey James
Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know (4 page)
Once you’ve convinced the boss that you’re competent, it’s time to make yourself invaluable. To do this you’ll need to deliver what your boss wants—even before your boss knows he or she wants it.
Over time, of course, you can observe and learn, but it’s smarter to get things moving more quickly by asking questions that will help you understand your boss’s way of thinking. As a side benefit, your boss may be flattered that you’re interested.
Use the Internet, the grapevine, and the boss’s admin to learn about the boss’s work history. When appropriate, find opportunities (such as during lunch or off-site meetings) to express a healthy curiosity about your boss’s experience.
Apart from the fact that most people enjoy talking about themselves,
bosses find this kind of inquiry valuable because it provides them with opportunities to explain the logic of their decision-making processes.
“I was on the Web learning more about our industry and I noticed that you presented at [name of event]. I’m curious: what response did you get?”
“Your admin mentioned you used to work for [name of firm]. I’m curious: what’s the most valuable thing you learned from that experience?”
“I hear you used to work in the [name] industry. I’m curious: what are the main differences between the way that industry works and the way ours works?”
The ideal situation is to have a boss who looks out for your interests even during difficult times. This protectiveness is nurtured when the boss thinks of you not just as competent but as a kindred spirit.
Therefore, if you want a better relationship with your boss, it never hurts to cultivate an interest in (and maybe some enthusiasm for) something that also interests your boss. Ideally this should be an interest or activity that segues nicely into the work experience.
For example, if your boss likes to talk business while playing golf, learn to play. If your boss loves science fiction, ask which books are his or her favorites and then read them. If you think about it, you do this kind of thing all the time in your other relationships. Why not for the boss?
Your goal is to get to know the boss without being creepy or smarmy. It helps if you remember that bosses are human and, as such, truly want you to understand what makes them tick.
GETTING YOUR BOSS WORKING FOR YOU
COMMUNICATE
what you need in order to do your best.
KEEP
your manager informed of your progress.
MAKE
a case that you’re doing a useful job.
ENSURE
that everyone knows how you contribute.
UNDERSTAND
your boss’s goals and desires.
FIND
and cultivate a common interest.
4
How to Use Your Performance Review
Most people treat performance reviews much as students treat report cards—as a way to find out how well they did when it’s too late to do anything about it. That’s naive, because your performance review is not a report card but a tool for you to get what you want.
If handled correctly (as shown below) the “review” part of this process will be either a formality or a victory lap. Then you use the meeting to set expectations for the future and extract promises that will advance your career.
Every time you get a new boss or after you read this, schedule a one-on-one meeting with him or her as soon as possible. Ask the following questions:
1. What are your expectations of me over the next year?
2. How will you measure whether I’ve fulfilled them?
3. If I exceed those metrics, what do I get?
Your goal is to get your boss to be as specific as possible on all three points. If you do not have this conversation, when your next
performance review comes around, you will be blindsided, because you’ve only been guessing what’s expected of you and assuming what reward you’ll get.
Whenever your boss makes you a promise, listen carefully to how that promise is worded. It’s one thing for a boss to say, “Do this and I’ll promote you” (which seldom happens), and quite another for a boss to say, “Do this and you
might
get a promotion.”
Whenever you hear vagueness in a promise, ask a question that, if answered truthfully, will remove that vagueness. Example:
Boss
: Complete project A by August and you’ll be in line for a promotion.
You
: Assuming I do so, what’s the likelihood of the promotion on a scale of one to ten, with ten being a sure thing?
If the boss can’t or won’t provide specifics, you can assume whatever promise is being made is meaningless. In business, a promise is only a commitment when it has measurable details connected to it.
Take detailed notes on the conversation. Afterward, send an e-mail to your boss thanking him or her for being so helpful, and also documenting the specific commitments made on both sides.
If you fail to document the conversation, there is a very good chance that, come performance review time, your boss will have changed how you’re being measured and forgotten whatever promises were made.
Throughout the year, send update e-mails to your boss, based on your original “here’s our agreement” e-mail, documenting both how
you’ve been tracking against the boss’s expectations and the metrics by which those expectations are being measured.
These updates are essential because they force you to pay constant attention to exceeding the agreed-upon metrics and keep you from being distracted by side issues. The updates also force your boss to explicitly state whether and how the metrics have changed in response to changes in business conditions.
If your boss changes the expectations or the metrics, set up another one-on-one—ostensibly to discuss the new expectations and metrics, but actually to make it clear that you still expect to be rewarded based on whatever work you’ve already accomplished.
This is important because bosses sometimes change employee metrics in order to avoid fulfilling commitments. For example, a sales manager might promise you a bonus if you beat your quota, and then raise your quota when you’re about to beat it.
Boss:
You’ll now be measured on the profitability of the company rather than the amount of usable computer code you produce.
You:
I understand the new metric. However, I’ve outperformed our agreed-upon metrics for nine months now, so I expect to get a raise, regardless of our company’s financial performance.
Boss:
We’re changing your sales quota so that it’s fifty percent larger for the current year.
You:
I will try my best to beat that goal! However, I expect my bonus to be paid based on my outperforming of the current quota.
Most bosses hate writing performance reviews. You’ve already made the job easier with your periodic reports, so it only makes sense for you to offer to take that burden off your boss’s shoulders and onto your own.
Most bosses will be more than happy to let you write the draft. If your boss demurs, do it anyway, but send your draft as “inputs” to your performance review, which is much the same thing.
As you write the draft (or “inputs”), stick to the facts of how you’ve performed relative to metrics, as documented in your periodic reports. Do not characterize your work as “superlative” (or the like). Leave that part for your boss.
Include, as part of the package, the e-mail documenting the agreement you made with your boss in Step 1. That way your boss will be aware not only that you exceeded expectations but that you remember what was promised you.
With all the groundwork you’ve laid, your performance review will probably end up being a formality. You’ll get a high rating, a pat on the back, and the reward you were promised.
However, even if you follow all the steps above, you may end up being blindsided. Examples:
“I can’t give you that raise because there’s just been a salary freeze.”
“I can’t send you to that trade convention in Hawaii because you didn’t do [activity that’s being mentioned now for the first time].”
“Your promotion is on hold because [situation based on corporate politics].”
If you hadn’t laid the groundwork, all you would be able to say at this point would be, “Oh. OK.” However, since you
have
laid the groundwork, you’ve now got your boss in a position where the boss has reneged on a commitment, which means the boss
owes
you.
As calmly as possible, restate the fact that you’ve exceeded the boss’s expectations and that the boss made a specific promise to you in the event that you did so. Then ask the boss what he or she
is
going to do, like so:
“I understand that there’s a salary freeze. How are you planning to get an exception in my case?”
“Since this is the first time I’ve heard of this goal, I’m confused about how you expected me to fulfill it. So if you’re not sending me to Hawaii, what
are
you going to do for me, since I exceeded the expectations that you set at the beginning of the year?”
“That sounds like a tough problem. Since the promotion is now outside your control, what about things that are inside your control, like comp days? Rather than the promotion, how about an extra week off this year?”