New jobs mean new bosses. And, with growing frequency, old jobs can mean new bosses as well. It’s a quirk of our fast-evolving workplaces that an employee can “come under new management” every few months or so by dint of retirements, mergers, layoffs and resignations.
If you’re going to be introducing yourself to a new boss that often, it pays to have a strategy for how you do it. After all, this is the person who will control your fate in the job, not to mention your raises and promotions. Getting off to a good start is smart, for both of you.
Here are three steps for building your strategy.
1. Set the meeting. Ideally, your new boss would take the lead on this but if a few weeks go by without a meeting request, consider sending an invite of your own. The timing does matter, in that a “getting to know you” meeting which occurs months after the new boss arrives loses impact. When it happens sooner, the foundation is laid for communication patterns that both people can build on.
Sending an introductory email is a simple way to extend an invitation. For example, you might write, “Hello Joe, and welcome to the accounting team. I’m your senior receivables associate and I thought we could meet briefly to get to know each other. If you have time and want to connect in the next couple of weeks, that would be great. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
2. Prepare (and deliver) your message. It’s almost inevitable: A new boss saying “So, tell me about yourself” is the formula for instant brain freeze. One solution is to use your playbook from job interviews, which includes preparing answers in advance. The same strategy works in a getting-to-know-you meeting, although the information is delivered in a less formal way. Here’s one way to structure talking points about yourself:
“Well, professionally, I’ve been in accounting for most of my career, although I majored in business in college. I think that’s why I gravitate towards receivables, because I like the tie-in to business cash flow and client relations. On the personal side, my family and I live in the city and we like to do a lot of hiking and camping on the weekends. And related to my work here, the reason I really like my job is because I’ve been able to grow as a professional, but also join in some broader initiatives, such as our foundation’s volunteerism group.”
Did you notice the three-point structure? Professional background, a couple of personal data points, and something positive about the current work or workplace. The overall content isn’t meant to go in-depth. Rather, you’re providing enough details in an array of categories that your new boss can carry the conversation forward in whatever direction he or she chooses.
3. Ask about him/her. And now for the clincher. If you want to establish a pattern for your working relationship that goes beyond the top-down model, you’ll need to push on that invisible barrier. And yet, it’s tricky. Personal questions should be avoided, and background questions (“Did you get your degree in business too?”) can come off as challenging.
A good all-purpose question to safely bridge the gap would be, “How about you? What draws you to this work?” From here, your boss can go almost any direction without needing to share too much.
As a gentle reminder, unless your boss sets an agenda that includes business, it’s best not to use this conversation to cover multiple bases. Instead, set a future meeting or send an email if you want to discuss specific tasks or projects. The good news is that communicating on these points should come more easily now that you’ve laid a good foundation.
Along the same lines, consider setting a pattern to check in on a regular, but not necessarily frequent, basis. This might involve a meeting, or it could be as simple as a weekly or even monthly email, where you send a brief update on your projects. For remote workers and others who can’t rely on casual workplace interactions to build relationships, this process could become an essential lifeline to the manager.
Good job. Now you’re ready to meet your boss – and the next boss after that, and the boss in your next new job. It’s nice to check at least one stressful thing off your list.
Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.
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August 28, 2021 at 09:53PM
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Working Strategies: Meet the new boss, with increased frequency - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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