Presentations Can Impact Staff Buy-In

Powerful presentations are our most critical tools in an organisation today. We use them to build buy-in with our team members, to communicate our big ideas and connect with employees to inspire them into action.

Yet, the majority of the time, our presentations are bland and boring, and the only impact they have is to get staff running for the doors (if they haven’t already fallen asleep in their seats).

Our important and urgent messages are hidden in badly designed slides, complex paragraphs of information, and screens of bullet points that have no clear purpose or call to action.

While you may not be able to magically transform a poor presentation into a powerful one overnight, to truly educate or inspire your team to leap from their seats with glee (not to flee), here are some small changes you can start with.

Pick One Key Message

When you present, pick one clear message to structure your presentation around, and then repeat that message throughout to make sure the message sticks. It is that one idea, purpose or point that is the glue that holds everything else together.

Once there is a clear bumper sticker message then it’s easy to figure out what the key take-home message for the audience and what it is they should do as a result.

Anything else in the presentation that does not align to this message should be deleted, stripped out and banished. What gets left out of a presentation is more important than what goes in.

Make It Emotional

In business we’ve traditionally been thought to do the opposite; to just present the facts. But these days, the best presenters are those who can use a combination of facts and emotion to explain a future place that everyone in the organisation wants to work towards.

Use images that match your words and make your team feel an emotion, whether that’s excited, happy, angry or sad. You may use video in place of static images to make their message more memorable.

Remember, people buy from people they like. We buy based on how we feel about something – or someone.

It’s your passion and authenticity that will help you to bond with your team, so they feel like you’re all in this together, instead of you just barking out orders of what they need to do. That emotional pull is what will impact your team’s decision to “buy in”to what you are saying.

Be Honest

It’s important to not try and hire or cover up negative information or numbers. Nothing turns your team off more than when you lie about your financial position.

You need to treat your team as equals. Provide your employees with confidence going forward. Be future focused and take ownership of the problem.

Explain the steps you’re implementing to turn things around to minimise loss, and how your team can help with this too.

You need to be open and honest about where you are at right now, and what is involved in the journey to get where you are going – together. Leave them inspired, not deflated like it is their fault.

Bad slides and presentations are used like a security blanket to hide things under. So start with small changes to your content and attitude, and stop hiding and hoping for the best. Your team will respect you for that.

Source: The Star, 2nd Sept 2017

Building Trust, Boosting Productivity

An organisation that is committed to work-life integration has more productive and loyal employees.

Trust is defined as confidence in and reliance on the integrity, ability or character of a person or thing. Intuitively, everybody expects and exercises trust in his relationships.

Studies have consistently shown that high levels of trust bring substantial rewards. The Great Place to Work Institute, which has been tracking levels of employee trust in management for over 25 years, showed that the financial returns of the 100 Best Companies (with high employee trust) are better than their lower-trust peers.

Their long-term performance as a group is superior to that of comparable groups of companies such as the S&P 500. Apart from stronger performance and resilience in weathering economic downturns, other advantages include:

• Attracting better talent;
• Experiencing less voluntary turnover;
• Enjoying higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty;
• Fostering greater innovation, creativity and higher productivity; and
• Enhanced public reputation.

More companies are offering flexible work arrangements today to attract and retain talent and to differentiate themselves from competitors.

A culture of trust is crucial in ensuring the effective implementation of work-life integration programmes that will translate into real benefits for employees and employers.

Here are ways to enhance a company’s trust culture:

1. Set Clear and Mutually Agreeable Key Performance Indicators

Employers should help employees understand business priorities and encourage them to be equally clear about their personal priorities.

With all cards on the table, schedules and assignments can be arranged in ways that satisfy both sides. This way, employees are given specific goals but have autonomy over how to achieve these goals.

2. Keep The Communication Flowing

Companies must continually share their vision, values, business strategy and direction with employees and follow up on what they have been assigned to do. Employees should understand business objectives well to help bring the vision and strategies to fruition.

HSL Constructor is one employer who believes in having an open door policy. New employees share their concerns with management through feedback forms and meetings with the management. Also, HSL advocates that to be trusted, one has to learn to trust others.

3. Focus on Relationship-Building

Employers should respect and support employees as “whole people” with important roles outside the workplace. By showing a sincere interest in the lives of their employees, managers will foster trust with their employees, enabling them to tackle their work-life conflicts effectively.

4. Engage and Empower Employees to Solve Problems

To build loyalty, managers need to actively engage their employees in contributing their ideas and creative solutions to solve problems and improve processes.

Empower staff to formulate solutions, and when implemented, give credit to those who contributed.

At Cherie Hearts, a local company that provides child and student care services, the focus on work-life harmony has resulted in a high-trust and loyal environment.

Members of the staff are encouraged to provide feedback and be open in communicating with the management and the human resource department. By doing this, the company gets the performance it wants, and the employees can meet their personal and family needs.

5. Walk the Talk

Good managers know that actions speak louder than words, particularly in how they encourage their staff to embrace work-life balance.

The commitment to rethink and redesign work processes and experiment with new work options that replace the office-centered work model will demonstrate to and instill trust in employees that their company truly cares for them. Many solutions become possible when employers think out of the box and walk the talk.

Companies that work on building up their trust capital will find that they do not have more balanced, engaged and loyal employees. They also experience higher levels of productivity and creativity, which in turn lead to greater profitability and enhanced corporate reputation.

Source: Singapore Straits Times/Asia News Network

 

Move Up The Ranks

Here’s how to show your supervisors that you are management material

The corporate world is competitive, volatile and unpredictable. The secret to scaling the corporate ladder is to move up one rung at a time so that you can manage each step effectively.

How can young professionals build enduring success and advance their careers to the next level – and keep rising? Here are points to keep in mind:

Inspire Trust

Bosses ultimately want someone they can trust to do a job for them. If they know the individual is professional, credible and works in the best interests of the organisation, then they will rely on him to take on a managerial position.

Managing is also about inspiring and retaining the leaders of the future, so bosses will want to ensure that their managers are able to groom those below them to provide a pipeline of future management talent.

Just being good in your job does not necessarily mean you will be a good manager.

This requires a different skill set and relies very much on your soft skills. Your bosses will assess his future managers on their potential people management and leadership skills as well as their performance in their current role.

Be Indispensable

You don’t have to shout from the rooftops about all the extra work you have done to get noticed. It is about making yourself indispensable.

Does your boss always rely on you? Does he turn to you frequently for help and suggestions? Are you making him look good? If you are being assigned specific projects, it is probably because your management feels that you are the most capable person for the job.

So focus on proving that your boss has judged your abilities correctly, and adopt a positive attitude at all times. Learn to take credit when it is due as this will help you climb the ladder more quickly.

You need to have regular “career chats” during appraisals and show you are ambitious by asking your boss what you need to achieve to move on to the next level.

Set milestones so that once you have reached them, you are able to point out that you have successfully accomplished what has been tasked to you to clinch that promotion.

You should also work on your soft skills by interacting, grooming and training your colleagues and new recruits as this will help hone your management skills and display your ability to take the next step.

Know Your Job

You are given a promotion not for the time you have spent in a role but because you deserve it. A management position often comes with serious responsibilities. You will be in charge of other people’s career and you need to be equipped with the right skills to manage and lead others.

Sometimes it is better to stay at a certain level to gain a thorough understanding of the role rather than look for quick promotions and set yourself up for failure. You should feel challenged, but you do not want a position that overwhelms you.

Lead Wisely

If your promotion is based strictly on merit, then your peers and subordinates should not be jealous.

As long as you are not advancing your career at the expense of your colleagues, you should be confident and proud of your achievements.

That said, it is always difficult when you and your colleagues have started off as peers but you are now their manager. It is important that you lead by example and make yourself approachable so they will come and discuss issues with you.

You need to be sensitive to their feelings and realise that although there might be some jealousy, you still have to do your job.

An attitude of arrogance or indifference is not going to win you any friends, but you also have to keep in mind that you are not paid to be their friend but rather, to be their team captain and lead them to achieve your organisation’s business objectives.

Keep Learning

Learn from your mistakes, as well as from those around you and above you. It is important to recognise  that mistakes will be made but as you gain more experience, you will make fewer errors or bad judgement calls over time, which will ultimately make you a better manager.

Observe the people you think are good managers and inspirational leaders and emulate their behaviour.

Constantly  share your ideas, thoughts and opinions with your people to motivate them. The  golden rule for management is: Be quick to compliment and slow the criticise.

Most importantly, spend time with your direct boss and ask for feedback regularly so that you can identify areas for improvement.

 

Get Creative

Creativity is not just for the chosen few – here’s how you can unleash your potential”

Creativity is a fascinating subject.

The word itself tends to evoke images of quirky weirdness, sidelining creativity to a fringe populace of misfits.

However, creativity is less about standing apart from the crowd and more about seeking – and finding – new ways to do things.

As we encounter the little problems of everyday life, the common response is to try and solve them.

Nobody likes being thwarted, so we seek to remove obstacles that are in our way. In trying to overcome these challenges, we automatically engage in a very creative process.

Far from being a special characteristic that is randomly bestowed upon a selected few, experts on the subject are finding that creativity is orderly and, by using a specific set of techniques, “teachable”.

A Good Habit

Creativity is, in fact, a potential that everyone has. At its core, creativity is a matter of expression.

How “creative” you are depends on how often (if at all) you engage in the following five habits which can be considered the “core competencies of creative expression:

1. Preserve New Ideas

You often marvel at new ideas, remarking at the seeming ingenuity of the author, while wondering why you never come up with similar breakthroughs yourself.

Chances are, you have, and it is more than likely that you failed to preserve the new idea or insight as it came to you.

By definition, something that is new falls outside of your normal operating awareness. This means that you hardly acknowledge, much less recall, having had that creative burst of insight.

Sometimes, when you have new ideas, you reject them out of hand, fearing that they may be too weird or advanced to be acceptable.

Therefore, to be truly inspired, you have to cultivate the habit of capturing new ideas as they come to you, without making snap judgments.

A good exercise would be to keep a notepad handy at all times to record new insights as they come to you.

Simply note it down first. Evaluate the idea later.

2. Choose Your Surroundings

Mixing in the right company is crucial to determining creativity.

A large part of creativity involves expressing ideas in different and unique ways.

Creative environments and people are often regarded as interesting because their unconventional take on things challenges and stimulates us.

Therefore, exposing yourself to creative people and environments will prompt your own ideas to become more diverse, which will in turn facilitate the birth of creative insights.

3. Challenge Yourself

It is not enough to simply immerse yourself in inspiring surroundings.

Like any skill, the only way to improve your creativity is to work on it.

Habitually tackling tough problems will help to promote creativity.

When solving challenging tasks, multiple skills and behaviours are engaged, competing with each other for attention.

As a result, interconnections form as the brain synthesises thoughts for a coherent solution, prepping it for new ideas that foster creativity.

4. Broaden Your Horizons

Learn as much as you can about subjects beyond your current scope of work.

Not only will you pick up nuggets of information, diverse knowledge also helps you form more interesting interconnections, which in turn boosts your creativity.

5. Don’t Give Up

Creative people are highly productive and disciplined.

As you unleash and cultivate your flow of ideas, you will encounter many that are downright impractical.

Even promising insights are worth something only if they can be applied in a practical situation.

The solution is to keep working on developing your creativity. The more ideas you have, the higher your ability to have more powerful insights, allowing you to become a better problem-solver.

Sometimes, new ideas need time to be understood by other people, and it is very common for new projects to face initial resistance.

When encountering setbacks, it is important not to give up but to continue with the habits that promote creativity.

Stay focused and disciplined to keep your creative juices flowing, and let the successes you have lead you to a more inspired and satisfying work life.

Raising Money-Savvy Children

“Here are some tips to teach your kids good spending habits”

At a time when Internet banking, credit cards and online shopping are the norm, it’s not surprising that kids don’t have the best money habits.

Currently, just one percent of kids save their allowance, even though 61% of parents in America who give it to them hope they’ll learn about money, according to the American Institute of CPAs.

But if children think credit cards are the modern-day equivalent of a magic wand, there are ways to help them gain good spending habits before they swipe their way into debt and it’s too late.

Delay Gratification

This is a learned behaviours, said Susan Beacham, CEO of Money Savvy Generation, a financial literacy website for kids.

“It’s a muscle, and it’s something that gets stronger with use,” Beacham said.

A study published in 1972 known as The Marshmallow Experiment, which continues to be referenced today, found that children who can delay their gratification end up with higher SAT scores, lower levels of obesity, better responses to stress and other positive life skills.

Try it in the supermarket checkout line, when your child wants some candy. You can purchase it but not give it to her for a few hours. Or, you can tell your older child that you’re window shopping but won’t be making any purchases that day.

Discuss Needs Versus Wants

Try making this into an activity as you shop, suggested Beth Kobliner, personal finance expert and author of Make Your Kid a Money Genius.

Kobliner suggested doing this at the supermarket: “We might want chocolate milk and vege sticks, but what do we need?” she said. Correct answer: regular milk and regular vegetables, she said. In a store, the child might want a toy but needs a winter coat.

It’s also helpful for parents to curb their own habits: Have you ever caught yourself saying, “I need to race over to the sale?” Your children are listening.

Use Cash

The area of the brain associated with pain is activated when you see a high price, according to Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University researchers.

That’s why subscription services and unlimited usage plans have become so popular.

But using real bills and coins will make money feel tangible and real, for you and for your child, Kobliner said. And if it hurts, maybe you’ll both spend less.

Let Your Child Spend His Allowance

You may have a child who wants to spend all his allowance on gum.

“The key with allowance is to be clear and consistent, and after that, a little bit hands-off,” Kobliner said. “Let your child know how much money she’ll be getting, and how often, plus some general guidelines about what she should use it for.”

For example, Kobliner said, you may still pay for school clothing, but your child will have to use the allowance to go to the movies.

Ground rules about off-limit purchases should also be established.

“For some parents, that might extend to nixing a sugar treat-buying bonanza in the first place,” Kobliner said. “But one of the points of allowance is to teach kids about opportunity cost and to let them make mistakes with money that they’ll learn from.”

So if your child blows all of the allowance on candy but later realises the money could have been saved for a stuffed animal, he will hopefully remember it the next time when walking past the candy counter, Kobliner said.

Shop

While you’re shopping, teach your kids about the importance of comparison shopping and that using coupons can significantly decrease how much you pay for things, said David Bakke, financial expert at Money Crashers. You’ll gain a mini-couponer and a fantastic shopping partner-in-crime.

Motivate Your Team

Here are five ways in which you can keep staff morale high during a recession

During a recession, most people start thinking about their career. If you’re like most people, you will give some thought as to what the year might hold for you. Will you lose your job? Will you get promoted? Will you get a pay rise? Should you start looking around for something else?

If you think like this, the chances are the members of your team do so as well.

And if senior management sends you messages like “profits are down”, “we need to increase sales” or “we might have to rationalise or restructure”, you have your work cut out when it comes to keeping your team productive and motivated.

When people are distracted and stressed, they make mistakes, get into petty arguments and generally can make life in the office a living hell! This is not something that’s going to show you in the best light at the management meetings.

As their manager or team leader, what can you do to help the situation? Here are five ways to keep your staff motivated during a recession.

1. Communicate

Nothing stresses people out more than not knowing what’s going on. People are always willing to think the worst. Make sure your team can come to you and get answers.

Equally when you have information that’s relevant to them, make sure you keep them all in the loop.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming that because someone was in the office when you were telling someone else about it that they were listening or even realised that what you were talking about was relevant to them. Have frank discussions and include all the people who are involved.

2. Be Honest 

You need to be as honest as possible with your team. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you divulge confidential information or discuss sensitive information inappropriately.

Being honest with them means explaining the reasons why things are happening. If priorities have changed, your team needs to know about it and when they understand the reasons why, they are generally a lot more co-operative than you might give them credit for.

They may not like what they’re being asked to do – take a pay cut or forgo a promotion – but if they understand why it’s important, you’ll get a much higher level of buy-in from them.

3. Lead by Example

It’s your duty as a manager to act as a buffer between your team and the management tier above you.

To keep your team motivated and productive, you may need to shield them from any politics, panic or doom and gloom, but more than that, you must lead by example.

Even when things are tough, you’ve got to hold it together, be confident and be decisive – this is not a time for dithering or procrastinating. As far as getting the job done is concerned, it’s business as usual.

4. Be More Strategic

At times like these, you need to be thinking ahead. Let your team deal with the minutiae and details.

If you allow yourself to get buried in day-to-day activities, you may find that all inspiration or creativity has been sapped from you.

When times are tough, the whole organisation is relying on its managers to spot opportunities, improve processes and find ways to get customers buying again.

You must keep yourself free to concentrate on the big picture.

5. Put a Lid on Gossip

Gossip has the potential to either damage someone’s reputation or cause widespread panic around the office, particularly if people are gossiping about looming redundancies, so the moment you find out about any gossip, deal with it.

The last thing you want is your best staff member to go and find another job because he thought incorrectly, that he might be made redundant.

Listen, by all means, to find out what’s going on, but don’t start rumours or get caught up spreading them.

Your team needs you now more than they have ever needed you before. They need you to be strong and to lead them through the period of uncertainty.

Right Here Waiting

Lost your clients? Here are six steps to win them back

When you lose a client, it is almost always because of service. Price is rarely the problem.

Before you try to win back that lost client, you need to examine the problem and figure out why you lost the client in the first place.

What does your client think was the problem? What do you think the problem was? If you work together again, is the problem going to resurface? 

Here are six steps to help you get back a lost client:

1. Give it some time

Don’t go rushing after the client. Let him think about the problem if there was one. This will also give you time to think over your approach.

Client problems are sometimes like lovers’ quarrels. Time will often heal the wound without you having to do anything else.

2. Provide a referral or offer your assistance

In the world of business, you run into people who need this or need that.

Keep your lost clients in mind for anything that can benefit them.

By knowing the needs of your clients, it is easy to make suggestions that can help them either with a referral for business or your assistance for any problem.

Your former clients will appreciate the gesture – and they may be one step closer to doing business with you again.

3. Do not sever communication

Keep former clients on your mailing list. Ask to stay on their mailing list.

If you send out newsletters, keep sending to them.

If you use e-mail to stay in touch with your clients, keep your lost clients posted too.

It also will not hurt to mention any good news concerning the client in the newsletter or e-mail.

4. Make it easy for the client to return

If former clients call, sound happy to talk to them.

If you meet them face-to-face, shake their hand and give them a big smile. This will remind them why they worked with you in the first place.

5. Ask the former client to solve a problem for you

If you are working on a community project and you think the client might be able to help you out, give them a call.

If you respect his taste in food, ask him for a restaurant suggestion for an anniversary dinner.

Ask about software. Ask about people. Ask about virtually anything, but don’t sound phony.

6. Thank the client profusely when he returns

Everyone likes to be thanked. People enjoy believing that they make a difference and that they are appreciated.

Show that appreciation to your lost clients.

It takes an effort to leave. If your clients feel wanted in the first place, it is almost impossible to have someone else steal them away from you.

Once they are lost, you just need to gently look after them by reminding them of your services, your appreciation of them and your knowledge of their needs.

Once you have them back, keep them and treasure them.

Hiring Women In The Workplace

Women are part of the untapped workforce that employers need but often sidestep

Women today have been described as the main driving force behind decades of growth.

With technology and education within reach, women have infiltrated the gender barrier over the decades, and are now able to ascend the corporate ladder and start their own business ventures, which were previously dominated by men.

It is estimated that women account for more than half of the world’s output. By 2025, the number of women in the workforce is expected to surpass men by 2 to 11. In the United States alone, women hold 49. 1 per cent of the nation’s jobs, while in Asia, the female labour force participation has been growing steadily over the last five years. Nonetheless, more can be done to encourage women, particularly those who have been out of the workforce, to come back to work.

Workplace Diversity

Diversity in the workplace is key to maintaining an organisation’s competitive advantage. Research has shown that a diverse workforce not only promotes creativity, but also encourages critical analysis. This is helpful in improving company practices and services. The positive vibe will help to attract the best talents and develop the company’s brand as an employer of choice.

Talent comes in all shapes and sizes and from various backgrounds and lifestyles – new mothers and mature women with grown children included. Such diversity can bring positive change to the organisation. For example, in a traditionally male-dominated industry, women can not only bring a refreshing change to the workplace but also present alternative perspectives.

With the current economic climate and widespread retrenchments, skill shortages are prevalent in some industries while those who were spared the axe are faced with greatly increased workloads. Women rejoining or entering the workforce, especially trained professionals who have been upgrading themselves, can help to bridge skills gaps.

However, while many women are keen to enter or re-join the workforce, they face unique challenges such as the fear of prejudice from employers or the difficulty of translating their skills in raising children and managing the household to the corporate world.

The Glass Ceiling

According to a study by the University of Texas in the United States, the top three reasons why women exit the workforce are family-centric – personal or familial obligations, excessive work hours that prevented them from meeting familial obligations and the personal choice to be a stay-at-home wife or mother.

Recessions will compel many women to enter or rejoin the workforce to supplement the household income. However, many of them will find themselves disadvantaged primarily because they have been out of the workplace for some time and their skills are no longer relevant.

Furthermore, with employers’ more stringent hiring requirements, these women face fierce competition from the retrenched, fresh graduates and mid-career switchers.

Additionally, women’s obligations to family are also seen negatively by some employers who equate family priorities to lack of commitment. Such perceptions also hamper women’s opportunities to advance their careers.

Paradigm Shift

To attract and retain valuable women staff, there must be a paradigm shift where mindsets are concerned. Working mothers and older women can still contribute to the organisation, given a supportive work environment to help them balance work and family commitments.

During tough economic times, flexibility can bring some of the best talent to fill in the gaps, especially if hiring permanent employees is not an option. Studies have shown that organisations with high levels of flexibility reported strong job satisfaction.

For women who are keen on returning to the workforce full-time, part-time or flexi-work can also be implemented as a gradual transition to full-time work. For working mothers, flexible working arrangements can help them manage their familial obligations without compromising their responsibilities at work.

Additionally, career-development or leadership programmes not only motivate working mothers, but also demonstrate how they are valued by their employers. Such practices will promote loyal staff while building up the employer brand.

With a supportive network and family-friendly environment, working women can more easily attend to their personal lives and individual career goals. Being more focused and committed at work would mean they are able to contribute to the organisation to the best of their abilities.

 

 

Tips To Improve Performance Management

 

The following tips are associated with high performance businesses. The tips will also help businesses to maximise efficiency in the current economic environment.

Strategic Planning

A formal process for strategic planning will help the business to perform better. If staff continually participate in the generation of ideas, the business will have a better chance of success. However, if your business is focused on maximising efficiency, you are more likely to be successful if your planning process is less formal and there is less staff participation.

Strategy Implementation

Strategy should be implemented and controlled through a combination of budgets and performance management systems (such as the Balanced Scorecard). Businesses focused on maximising efficiency should use their performance management systems to monitor and manage deviations from targets and hold management and staff accountable for pre-determined targets.

Information Sharing

Businesses should seek to encourage greater information sharing between management and staff by using performance management systems more intensely., rather than budgets. Using performance management systems may also encourage staff to direct their attention towards emerging opportunities.

Organisational Structure

Mechanisms to improve coordination across an organisation should include task forces, project committees and cross-functional teams. Staff autonomy is also considered important in an effective organisational structure. For businesses focused on maximising efficiency, the structure should facilitate top-down management. This can be delivered through operating procedures and targets. Flatter management structures generally yield better results.

Human Resources

If the values of individual staff members are similar to those that underpin the objectives of the business, then the staff member will be more likely to act in accordance with those objectives. The business should therefore endeavour to select staff with values similar to those of the organisation and ensure their ongoing commitment to those values. To help achieve this, the business should consider formally codifying and documenting their values, purpose and direction.

Measuring Staff Performance

Measures of performance, such as the quality of products and services and social responsibility, should be used in conjunction with measures such as financial performance and customer satisfaction to measure staff performance.

Staff Compensation

Research suggests that performance improves when a part of the staff compensation is contingent on the achievement of targets. Businesses with high performance management systems tend to favour objectively determined compensation based on short-term performance outcomes.

Management Policies and Procedures

Staff activities and risks taken by staff should be limited by the use of codes of conduct supported by sanctions for any breaches. Businesses should also consider reviewing, guiding and restricting staff action on projects through frequent reviews conducted before the projects begin.

What Makes Your Boss Tick?

“Figure this out and you will be happier at work”

The art of management involves managing relationships upward as well as downward in your organisation. To be able to progress in your career path, achieve results and to make a name for yourself, you will need to learn how to manage the relationship you have with your superiors. 

Take A Long-Term View

Do not expect to manage the working relationship with your boss overnight. All good things take time to develop. When you get to know your boss better and are familiar with his preferences and quirks, you will be in a better position to form an effective management strategy.

Study Your Boss

Ask people who know about his preferences. Is your boss a task-master? Is he expressive, amiable or analytical?

Remember the principle that people like people who are like themselves. When you communicate with your boss, do so in a way that says you understand him and how he likes things to be done.

Pick The Right Time

Learn to read your boss’s mood. A good source of information is the boss’s secretary or a good ally.

Some bosses like to start off their day in a whirlwind of meetings and activities, so mornings may not be a good time to ask them to deliberate on a decision. Approach them after lunch, after they have been through the tough issues in the morning.

Others are in a good frame of mind at the start of the day, before they have had to deal with complicated matters. Get in your request early.

Keep Your Boss Informed

Update him on the progress you are making on your projects, the results achieved, the challenges or problems you are facing and what your recommendations are.

Learn the technique of breaking bad news in small doses. If something goes wrong, explain the what, why and how and let your boss know what you are going to do to fix it. Ask his opinion if your boss is the controlling type.

Be Open, Loyal and Frank

Help your boss look good, buy you don’t have to be subservient. Let your honesty surface and be a man or woman of your word.

Admit your mistakes and ensure they do not happen again. Be reliable and do what you say you will do. Walk your talk.

Deliver On Your Promise

When the boss asks you to do something, do it promptly and thoroughly. With every problem encountered, provide solutions or alternatives for consideration.

Be ready with as many answers you can think of. Bosses like people with initiative and a “can do”attitude.

Work Together

Your boss is different from you, so conflict is to be expected. Seek agreement on the easy issues, and then work collaboratively on the larger problems. Do not be aggressive; don’t make your boss lose face.

Show Perseverance

Accept challenges and don’t be afraid to put forward your ideas. If you sense that your boss is showing resistance, don’t keep on pushing. Retreat for the moment and approach the subject again on another day.

Be Confident

Act with confidence, even though you feel less than competent when something goes wrong.

Take responsibility, don’t blame other people and have a solution ready. You still might get a telling off, but it is likely that your boss will have fresh respect for you.

At the end of the day, if you establish a mutually respectful working relationship with your boss, your climb up the corporate ladder will be so much smoother.