How Employees Can Get the Boss’s Attention
When was the last time you felt seen and heard by your boss? As an employee, you devote your precious time and energy toward the success of an organization. You might have your own internal motivation for working hard — such as passion for certain types of projects or ambition to reach certain heights in your career — but even so, you definitely want to be sure that the higher-ups are paying attention to how you are contributing to common goals.
If you are eager to gain recognition from your boss, here are a few tips for catching their eye:
Understand Goals and Expectations
Too often, organizations do not include explanations of expectations during employee onboarding. As a result, many workers toil away without fully understanding what their superiors are demanding, which means managers are perpetually disappointed with their teams’ work. When you are hired, you should ask for clarification on the goals and expectations associated with your role, and you should open up communication about expectations with your direct boss during performance reviews phrases.
Go Above and Beyond in Your Work
Once you know what leadership expects from you, you can blow those expectations out of the water. As long as you can maintain a positive work-life balance, you should find ways to push your performance beyond what your boss has come to anticipate from their team. You can volunteer for additional responsibilities and take on challenges that other workers might be less interested in tackling. Your willingness to pick up slack will endear you to both your boss and your fellow coworkers, who will appreciate a team member who goes above and beyond.
Provide Solutions, not Problems
Any time you encounter an obstacle to completing your work, you might be tempted to go to your manager to report the issue. After all, if this problem makes your job more difficult, you want your boss to know about it. However, before you report your concern, you might spend some time thinking about how you or your organization might solve the issue. Then, when you do meet with your superior, you are saving them from another headache and sure to receive ample praise.
Be Accountable to Your Mistakes
To err is human, and while you do not want to consistently make major blunders, you should recognize that a few mistakes here and there are bound to happen. In fact, the sooner you take accountability for your mistakes, the sooner you can rectify them, learn from them and move beyond them. If your mistakes affected anyone else in your office, you should apologize and strive to make it right. This level of maturity and professionalism is sure to elevate everyone’s behavior in the workplace and catch your boss’s eye.
Actively Engage With Performance Reviews
A performance review is a rare opportunity for you to speak candidly with your boss about your performance. In most workplaces, you will be expected to provide a self-evaluation, which helps your boss understand your perspective on your effort and achievements in the period since your last review. You should take full advantage of this experience, absorbing your boss’s feedback and providing your own insight into how you are contributing to company success. Likely, your boss will recognize and appreciate your attention to detail during this meeting and observe you more closely during your day-to-day work.
Offer Feedback on Leader Performance
Just as you need a regular critique of your performance to improve, your boss needs feedback on how they are leading your team (or not). Providing feedback to your boss is a delicate process that requires you to be equal parts confident and respectful. Even if you provide feedback in the most thoughtful and effective way possible, your boss could still react negatively; it is important that you remain unemotional and committed to your work while they mull over your criticism.
In truth, you should not need to work especially hard for your effort to be seen or heard by those in charge. The best employers have effective employee recognition programs in place to remind managers when to give praise and rewards to workers, to keep the workforce happy and productive. If you feel consistently ignored by your boss, you might consider relocating to an organization known for supporting its staff with the recognition they deserve.
