Should I Tell My Boss?
It’s pretty common for employees to complain about not getting along with their boss. In fact, studies have found 77% of employees who voluntarily leave their job cite their manager as the reason for leaving.
While we can’t speak to every scenario, personality, and potential conflict, we’d like to address one simple thing every employee can do with every manager that will help improve that relationship:
Keep your boss informed.
That’s it. Seriously.
Keeping your boss informed is one of the easiest things you can do to improve your working relationship. A large part of workplace conflict comes from miscommunication, so it makes sense that improving communication will improve your relationship.
This doesn’t mean you need to share every detail of your life, or even what you did over the weekend if you don’t want to. It’s always good to find common ground outside of work, but it’s not necessary to have a great working relationship.
What you do need to share are things that might affect your work or your schedule. Maybe your child is sick at home and you need to be there - let your boss know and keep them informed as to when you might be back and if that changes. Maybe you have a dentist appointment and need to arrive late one morning, but will work late to make it up - don’t just do it, let your boss know what’s going on and why!
What many employees tend to forget is that members of management are people with lives outside of work too. Sick kids, flat tires, dentist appointments and life in general happen to everyone. Most managers are understanding and willing to work with you as long as you keep them informed.
The other thing to keep your boss informed about is your workload and project status. Your boss is there to help you succeed and manage the job appropriately, which means they need to know what’s going on.
If you regularly update your boss about the status of your current project, they won’t feel like they have to check in all the time and you won’t feel like you’re being micromanaged. Likewise, if things keep popping up and you get behind, let your boss know! They can help you prioritize or reallocate some of the work or deadlines for you.
Your manager is there to help you succeed, and chances are they’ve encountered many of the same problems you might run into at some point in their career. Although many employees get caught in the trap of never asking questions or sharing problems for fear of being seen as inexperienced or incompetent, quite the opposite is true.
Your manager’s experience makes them the perfect person for you to turn to when questions pop up or problems arise, and they’ll be more than happy to share their knowledge and assist in figuring out the best solution. In fact, employees who aren’t afraid to ask questions and seek assistance are more likely to not only have better working relationships with their manager, but to move up in their careers more quickly.
You don’t have to be best friends with your boss in order to have a great working relationship. And if you feel like you have a toxic working relationship, there are things you can do to try and improve it. Occasionally, a personality clash is too great and you really do need to move on, but a majority of the time, there are simple things you can do to improve that relationship.
One of the easiest things to do is keep your boss informed about things that'll impact your performance and schedule, and about your workload and project status.