Job & Career Hack: Leverage Your Boss
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An element of being a better employee is being proactive and intentional about your career path and career development.
One of the most valuable things you can do for your career is to be proactive, not reactive, when it comes to advancing and moving up. Take responsibility for your own growth and momentum. One way to do this is to leverage your boss and the other leadership in your company. Your boss should know what job you want, and so should your boss’s boss.
Don’t sit by and wait for something to happen for you
“Don’t leave it a secret about where you want to go in the company or your career. Your boss can potentially be a big advocate for you to advance, but not if they don’t know what you want.”
I think that it’s a mistake to wait around for a role or position to open up, and then go apply for it hoping to get it. Be intentional. Take it upon yourself to be proactive and have a conversation with your boss about your career, where you want to go next, and where you eventually want to end up. Don’t wait, do it now.
Clarification: This is not you going and begging for a job, or kissing up to win the favor of your boss. It is about you taking responsibility for your own growth. Don’t leave it a secret about where you want to go in the company or your career. Your boss can potentially be a big advocate for you to advance, but not if they don’t know what you want.
This can be as simple as saying, “This is the job that I eventually want, so what would it take for me to be a shoo-in for that position?” It’s an opportunity to ask for some feedback around how you’re showing up as an employee, to learn some areas of opportunity for you to improve, and what your boss or the company would need to see from you to have confidence in your ability to be great at that next role. Maybe that’s additional training or more exposure to the roll you want. If that’s the case, pursue that.
This isn’t playing politics, it’s about personal accountability. Ask for feedback, and then take that feedback and guidance to heart in how you show up.
There are two reasons that this approach is valuable:
1. Ambitious, intentional employees are a benefit to companies.
Any employee with an attitude of, “I want to be exceptional, I want to grow and learn, I want to improve,” is obviously valuable to a team and organization. That attitude usually comes from people who have higher self awareness, emotional intelligence, and a receptiveness to feedback and change. All important traits in humans that operate well on teams.
2. Your boss can become your biggest advocate.
“Just by human nature, when we help someone towards what they want, we feel more attached to them being successful.”
If your leader knows what job you want, and you're asking them for guidance, and advice and coaching to help you get there, then you create a dynamic where they have more of a vested interest in you accomplishing what you want. Just by human nature, when we help someone towards what they want, we feel more attached to them being successful.
In many cases your direct boss, and/or their boss has a hand in where you go next in the company. It’s obviously a smart move to have your leaders be advocating for you.
What about fairness and favoritism?
An important question and an important point to address because I want this to be crystal clear. This can and should all be done with a high level of integrity.
This is a conversation that every single person on a team can have with their boss. Yes, even if they’re all on the same team with the same boss. A leader should be able to give advice and guidance and feedback to every single person about how they can improve and what it would take to be prepared for the role they want in the future.
“That doesn’t mean that the leader should pull strings or end up giving a position to someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
That doesn’t mean that the leader should pull strings or end up giving a position to someone who doesn’t deserve it. It is simply a proactive conversation about how that employee can improve and what they need to do to set themselves up for success.
A leader shouldn’t feel obligated to hand someone a position, and an employee should not feel entitled to one just because they had the conversation. It is still up to the employee to show up, be excellent, interview well, and earn the position.
It’s your career, own it
Throughout your career conversations will happen about you, above you, and it’s a good idea to make sure that you're on people's radar and in their minds. You’ll never know all the ways this might open up opportunities for you that otherwise wouldn’t happen. It may not always be getting the position you want, but maybe it’s a stretch assignment or chance to lead a project or program, which can be a great way for you to show what you can do.
It’s a great move, and you can do it today.
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This article was created by keynote speaker Galen Emanuele for the #shiftyestribe. Free leadership and team culture content centered on a new focus every month. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Shift Yes Tribe at http://bit.ly/jointheshiftyestribe
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