By | Lea McLeod | www.themuse.com
If you didn’t already know, the most significant factor impacting your job satisfaction is your relationship with your direct manager.
Not surprisingly, clients often bring me stories about the difficulty of working with their bosses. It’s not always that these supervisors are bullies or tyrants; it’s simply that many employees don’t prioritize building a good relationship with their manager.
The value of a good relationship is that it gives you a solid foundation when stressful times arise. Without one, you don’t have the open communication and sense of trust needed to resolve issues between you quickly.
If they go unaddressed, these are issues over which you could grow fatigued and frustrated—and eventually, quit.
Instead, you should have a strategic plan to “manage up” and figure out how to work with your manager more effectively. No matter how good or bad your manager may be, it’s vital—and, honestly, it’s your job—to make this relationship work.
Why leave the quality of that relationship solely in your manager’s hands? Here’s what you can do to take charge and start managing up.
1. Embrace the Mission
Your job is to support your boss’ success. That’s what you were hired to do. Managers don’t want people on their team who drag them down. They look for people to make them look like rock stars. Understand and accept this as your mission.