Seek to Understand Your Boss’s Goals, Priorities, and Pressures

It is a simple step, but many of us do not take the time to ask. If you don’t know or understand your manager’s goals, you may focus on the wrong tasks and waste valuable time. Simply ask: “What are your goals, priorities, and pressures?”

One supervisor I worked with was not forthcoming. He prided himself on being a chess master, “thinking many steps ahead.” He thought that keeping his moves to himself was a strength. This technique was actually a dirty trick used to disorient and destabilize others while he consolidated power. In The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene cites “law three: Conceal your intentions: Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelop them in smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions it will be too late.” If I and the boss’s other direct reports knew where he was heading, we would have been better positioned to help him achieve his goals. He declined, which was frustrating for me and all of his direct reports. Don’t be a boss who keeps your moves to yourself.

One of my best managers at the firm would challenge me with field promotions. I wanted to be a leader, and she wanted to train future leaders, so our goals aligned perfectly. She would give me opportunities for stretch roles where I could act like a manager before I was a manager. Later in my career, she asked me to serve in executive roles while I was still a senior manager. The brilliance of this approach is that I could try new roles knowing that when I encountered challenges, there was no harm, no foul. Stretch roles were treated as lower-risk learning experiences. The added benefit of this approach was to build confidence in myself and my supervisor that I would be successful at the next level. You don’t want to be promoted too early only to fail.