The Secret to Ensuring Success at Work

Here’s one tip that can make you shine at any job now or in the future. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, how far along in your career you are, or how long you’ve been in your position. Ready for this tip? Here it is: get to know your boss.

That’s it? Yep. Your boss holds the keys to the castle. He or she decides on your workload, your future projects, and your future promotions. Understanding your boss is the first step in establishing a healthy professional relationship that can benefit both of you. Here’s how to do it.

1. Find out what’s important to your boss.
During a typical workday, what makes your boss happy? What frustrates your boss? If showing up at 8 AM on the dot every day is something your boss does, it’s likely you’ll make him or her happy by doing it too. If wasteful meetings are something that drive your boss crazy, be the person who shares an agenda at the beginning of a meeting, takes thoughtful notes, and assigns next steps at the end of each meeting.

2. Help your boss reach his or her goals.
Your boss has a boss that he or she is trying to make happy. So when your boss pushes your team hard on a certain project or a certain goal, it’s because he or she is being held accountable for it by someone higher up in the company — maybe even the CEO. Help your boss hit those numbers, achieve those benchmarks, or get those results. Be part of the solution, not the problem and word will get to the higher ups that your boss couldn’t have done it without you.

3. Understand your boss’s language.
Your boss has a preferred style when it comes to communication. Figure it out. Meetings or no meetings? Emails or phone calls? Formal weekly check-ins or laid back updates only when needed? Should you take the reigns or let them show you the way? This might not be your preferred style of communication. But if you want to make your boss happy and get promoted — and don’t we all? — then it’s worth making it your style.

Image via Luz/Flickr.