Dealing with your co-workers and bosses is sometimes a nightmare. If you’re fortunate enough, this wouldn’t be a problem. We sometimes see the people in our workplace as a barrier to our goals. They seem like an obstacle for the career goals you set yourself. If this is a common occurrence to you, here are five questions to ask your boss to advance your career.
If you fail to see your manager eye to eye, set a one on one meeting with him/her. This allows you to gain an insight into their perspective as part of the organization. Better yet, ask them these five essential questions.
What’s the most important achievement you wish to accomplish in your current role?
Asking your manager this question allows you to see through his short-term goals and motivation. It paints you a picture of what your career goals should be. For example, your manager told you that she wishes to make your team the number 1 earning team for the quarter. Your goals should be aligned with the achievement of her goals.
If you want to advance your career, you should be willing to help others in advancing their careers too.
What are your career goals?
This is similar to #1. However, this question paints you with the long-term goal of your boss. Does she want to become the youngest VP? Is she aiming to start her own business in a few short years? Knowing her long-term goals lets you understand why she makes certain decisions.
A common example is your boss might endorse your whole team in a project you have little idea of. You might not understand why she did so. Maybe, she was positioning herself in a place extremely visible to the top executives.
What can I do to make you more successful?
This is a more straightforward question to ask your boss. When you ask them this question, it gives them the idea that you are all hands on deck. You will be able to exert energy in the right places because you now know what tasks are a priority.
Plus, this gives them the mental note that you are serious about helping them achieve their goals as leaders of an organization.
What is something that I can do differently?
This is an essential question not only for your boss but for you as well. When you ask them this, you give them the idea that you are critical of yourself. They get the idea that you take your work seriously and that you want to be better.
Most bosses do not take note of every single thing that their employees do. Great bosses do this regularly. By asking them what you could adjust for them, you suddenly make the impression that you are being observed by them. The next time they’ll see you, they will observe if their recommendations went through and that you are doing them religiously.
They will think of you as a mature individual that hears out others’ sentiments.
Why did you hire me?
Remember when your boss asked you why they should hire you. Now’s the time to ask them the reasoning behind your acceptance. This will give you an idea of their thought-process over the course of your stint with the company. Did they hire you because of outstanding quality?
Gathering data by asking this question allows you to find out their expectations from you. You will have an idea of the things that they expect from you the minute you sit on your desk. Use this to your advantage. The data obtained can give you some ways to achieve your own career goals.
Again, no man is an island. One of the most effective ways to advance in your field is if you open yourself to helping others in achieving their goals.
Now that you are on track to advance your career, read here about building your own networks.
Opinions expressed by AsianBlurb contributors are their own.
Darnell Bradford is a serial entrepreneur and motivational speaker. He founded D-Bradford Industries in 1999 and since, has been involved with various other entrepreneurial endeavors.
