Some call them evaluation, others bilateral, still others "let's have a chat". Whatever your meeting in which to "take stock" of your work is a great opportunity. So build your career.
Senior managers are increasingly aware that employees want a flatter organizational structure and better access to opportunities. Even you who are reading, with your awareness. build your career.
These types of meetings are an excellent opportunity to involve company management and refine our understanding of the company in which we work. They are also a valuable opportunity to show your colleagues (and your direct reports, if you have any ..) that you take these moments seriously. For moments like this, you have been putting bricks to advance your career.
Whether you are in a large company or a smaller group, having a few carefully formulated questions on hand can ensure that you are perceived as a committed, thoughtful and well-trained person.
Communicating with our boss is not always that easy and as Kerry Petterson, co-author of the book Crucial Conversations argues, there is a widespread fear on the part of employees of making mistakes in asking the right questions to the boss.
This is why employees often choose silence, when in reality dialogue is important and the art of asking the right questions can also help to move up the ranks.
Here are the questions:
- How do you measure success?
- What are the skills I need to develop to achieve career advancement?
- What are my strengths that can help me make a career?
- How often is performance evaluated and who is in charge of it?
- What growth opportunities are there in the company?
- What can I do to help you?
- Did I get it right?
- What are the priorities that need to be focused on?
- Can I take this responsibility?
According to Edith Onderick-Harvey, president of the consulting firm Change Dynamics Consulting, you should first ask your boss what are his parameters for measuring success: it is useful to know what his priority scale is and identify the values ​​to which the boss gives heavier weight, plus profits.
It is also important not to have any hesitation in making sure that you have understood the objectives and assignments well.
At this point direct questions are triggered, aimed at very frankly signaling one's career ambitions: if we want the boss to keep us present at the right time and in the right place, it is essential that he is informed of our ambition.
Finally, green light for questions like: what can I do for you? He needs help?
If and when the question occurs at the key moment, the leadership shift will happen much more naturally.
Ivonne Chirino-Klevans, professor at Walden University, stresses that understanding the mechanisms that regulate one's work is crucial for achieving success and therefore advises asking, very explicitly, which are the most important areas to develop to advance in the profession and which are the real possibilities of growth within the organization.
Finally, as Rachelle J. Canter argues, one must always remember the crucial request: "Can I take care of this task?"
This question is fundamental to create opportunities in which one can demonstrate and enhance one's talents, signaling a spirit of initiative and resourcefulness.
In fact, one of the pervasive risks for employees is precisely that of being too relaxed, delegating and waiting for the boss to take care of their career.
Nothing more wrong: the boss has too many thoughts and everyone has to think for themselves at build your career.
