How to help your career by helping your boss

Having a strong and supportive working relationship with your boss is just as important as working hard to succeed in your career.

Helping your boss to be perceived as smarter will help you to achieve success, here’s how:

Be an early adopter and share your knowledge

There is a common misconception that keeping your head down is the surest path to success

Keep up to speed with developments in your field, such as the latest trends, products and innovations. There’s a lot of great free advice, information and insights available on the internet, so make time each week to do your research.

By adding to your knowledge each week, you’re making yourself more of an asset to the business. Over time, your boss will turn to you every time a challenge or problem arises.

Seek out new challenges

There is a common misconception that keeping your head down and getting on with your work is the surest path to success.

It’s not. By being quick to offer a suggestion or to volunteer to take a project on you are forcing your boss to take notice of you and see you as an equal partner. Show you can be depended upon and you will soon see their confidence and reliance on you grow.

Keep open regular channels of communication with your boss

Be seen, be heard

You have to make yourself be seen and heard in the workplace. Keep open regular channels of communication with your boss. Make them aware of the hard work that you are doing and exciting ideas that you might have for the business. By conveying that you have big aspirations, and by thinking outside of your remit, you are showing your boss that you are the shining star in the team.

Strive to constantly create a solid working relationship with your boss – expressing gratitude is a small step you can take towards empowering them and getting yourself noticed, for example.

Spread positivity

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, but always phrase them in a positive way. So, avoid asking questions like, “What will happen if we don’t get this project completed on time?” Instead, ask what the team can do to work smarter – or, even better, offer a solution.

Always focus on the solution and not the problem. This will help temper your bosses raising stress levels and reiterate that they can count on you.

Opening doors of opportunity

Always focus on the solution, not the problem

Waiting until your boss is around before showing off your knowledge or sharing your expertise is unlikely to go down well with colleagues – and they will start to resent you as being a schemer. Be willing to help or offer advice to workmates as well as your superiors and you’ll be seen as a valued team player. This can help to open even more doors of opportunity in the future.

Make the lives of those around you, and your boss’s in particular, a lot easier. Foresight is one way in which you can do this. Anticipating questions and concerns that your boss might have, and being able to answer them efficiently, will make them appreciate having you around.

A final thought

Making yourself a source of knowledge and insight will help endear you to your boss and other colleagues. If you’re the first person that your boss thinks of approaching when they have a question or a challenging situation, then you’re also most likely to be the person they first suggest for a promotion.

It’s all about making yourself an asset rather than a liability, in as many ways as possible.