11 simple ways to make your boss love you
- In general, your boss will love you if you do great work.
- But sometimes it helps to use time-tested tricks to make your work stand out.
- Those tricks include asking for advice, saying "thanks," and taking vacation time.
Every manager and every workplace is different, but speaking generally, the best way to get your boss to like you is to do great work.
That said, if you're looking to really bowl them over — and potentially even become their favorite team member — there are a few simple strategies you can use.
Business Insider looked into scientific research and expert opinion and came up with 11 tricks to help you wow the higher-ups.
SEE ALSO: These 9 behaviors separate star employees from everyone else
Try to solve problems on your own
In his 1948 book "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living," Dale Carnegie includes an anecdote about Leon Shimkin, who was then a general manager at publishing house Simon and Schuster.
Shimkin told Carnegie that he'd devised a way to drastically cut meeting times: He informed his team that they couldn't present any problems unless they'd first tried to think of a solution.
Impress your boss with your problem-solving skills (and spare everyone from hearing you drone on) and only bring dilemmas to meetings when they've proven absolutely unsolvable.
Always demonstrate your value to the company
Your boss doesn't need to hear about how you want a promotion because you want a more prestigious title. If you're asking for anything — a title bump, a raise, or more responsibility — show how it will benefit your boss, and the organization as a whole.
As counterintelligence expert Robin Dreeke previously told Business Insider, you always want to ask yourself: "How can I inspire them to want me?" Sometimes it's not enough to do stellar work. If you want your boss to love you, you'll have to demonstrate how you're critical to their personal success — and the company's.
Tweak your communication style to match theirs
Again, part of your job is to make your boss' job easier.
As professor Michael Watkins told the Harvard Business Review, it's on you to find out early on how your manager prefers to communicate. Is it Slack? Email? Face-to-face conversations? And how often should you check in?
Watkins also said that if there's a mismatch between your style and your boss' style — for example, one of you prefers to check in more often — it's important to have an open conversation about that.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider