Every company expects its employees to work towards achieving business goals and taking the organisation from 0 to 1. That’s ‘Business 101.’ But, ensuring that employees work in a happy and healthy environment where bosses and their aides maintain a jovial yet formal relationship, that’s ‘Business 101 – Extension.’ This will not only increase the productivity and morale of the employees but build respect and trust between one another.
With this, we’ve listed six effective ways to build a better relationship with your boss and harness positivity for the greater good.
1. Take The First Step – Set Up Frequent One-on-ones
Agreeable, bosses have more work to do and many battles to fight. They’re always caught up between meetings or building growth strategies. Amidst the hustle, it’s quite humanly for them to miss out on taking updates or just generally catching up with what’s going on.
So, take the first leap!
Block your manager’s calendar for an hour, at least once a month. If you’re working in a remote-first scenario, this becomes all the more important. Use this time to talk about the ongoing projects, and any initiatives or ideas for the future, and just check in to make sure you’re on track with the goals and strategies of your boss.
2. Maintain A Positive Work Ethic
If you’re not very good at building communication, one of the best indirect ways to build a relationship with your boss is by keeping them up-to-date with the ongoing activities on a daily or weekly basis. Regularly demonstrate the success of your work. This is one effective way to show your boss that you’re someone they can count on and see as a value-add to the team.
3. Ask For Feedback
Another way to build a healthy relationship with your boss is by asking for feedback on a regular basis. All bosses may be different, but one rule applies to all – they love employees who’re open to feedback and willing to learn from their mistakes. This is also an excellent way for an employee to grow their skills and look through the lines to understand where they could have done better.
However, this doesn’t mean bothering them for every small thing you do.
Set up calls every few months or after the completion of a big project. This is enough to show them that you’re interested in growing without being a pain in their lives.
4. Share Your Innovations And Initiatives
Every manager wants a team full of motivated, productive, and proactive employees. They love and appreciate it when their subordinates come up with innovative and out-of-the-box ideas to help the organisation grow.
Have any ideas that you believe can add value to your organisation, do not hesitate to share.
Set up one-on-ones or share your ideas over communication channels or emails and let them out. Being innovative and taking initiative shows your boss that you’re invested in the company’s growth, and that’s enough to lead the path to a better relationship between the two of you.
5. Extend A Hand Of Help
As said earlier, your bosses have many battles to fight on a daily basis. They may seem strong and on top of things, but they do need your help and support to emerge victorious.
So, be a sport!
Extend a hand of help and relieve them of any extra burden that may be keeping them from achieving their goals. Perhaps a presentation that they’re trying to complete, or an event they have to plan. If you have the know-how to take care of the issue, explain it to them. Handle a portion of work so that they don’t have much on their plate. Even if they turn you down, the fact that you took an initiative to help take their load off is enough to break the hierarchical barrier and build a healthy relationship between the two of you.
Being a boss is not easy. It comes with its own challenges. The least you can do is break the ice and help them during their tough times.
To Wrap Up…
Every relationship takes some time to brew, especially when it’s between a boss and their subordinates. But, frequent conversations, timely project completions, healthy feedback, and most importantly having a level of respect for one another are enough to break the conventional barriers and build a healthy and happy workplace.
As people, as organisation, our goal should be to build an informal yet goal-oriented relationship between managers and their subordinates. We should ensure we are taking significant measures in this direction. The essence of being a good boss lies in encouraging everyone to interact with one another and eliminate the orthodox thinking that comes along while working in an organisation.
Note- All views expressed are personal opinions
