making the most of your manager

src: Making the Most of Your Manager • Katrina Clokie • YOW! 2022 - 2022-11-19

Abstract

Salaries

• understand the market salary data
• understand your salary band
• understand the salary review process
• ask your manager

Promotions

• understand the promotion process
• identify what gaps you have
• agree on goals with your manager
• demonstrate consistent change

Learning

You can ask some questions to your manager, e.g.:

• what have you read recently?
• any conference you recommend?
• what skills have been most beneficial to you?
• do you have any networking advice?
• are there any networking groups you think I should join?
• do you have tips for networking online?
• is there anyone in your network who would be a good mentor to me?

Sponshorship

Make your manager your sponsor, as a sponsor will start to feel like personally invested invested in your career and want to be advocating for you in places where you are not present.

Sponsorship is built from trust and relationship.

You want your manager to use his social capital to advocate for you and your career.

How to give your manager feedback

SBI:

• situation: anchor time and space
• behavior: observable action
• impact: what I felt / thought / experienced

Ex: During the annual salary review in October when you didn’t recommend that I got a pay increase, I felt kind of disappointed and that you didn’t value my work.

Build a manager voltron

from: When your manager isn’t supporting you, build a Voltron

Ex:

• pushes me out of my comfort zone
• have more experience than I do
• routinely delegates stretch projects
• work in a different field / discipline
• has excellent communication skills
• has power and wants to help me grow
• navigate politics well
• gives me helpful feedback
• is a great coach
• has a completely different leadership style
• has a skill set I want to learn
• is a fresh set of eyes in this environment
• has experience holding hard conversations
• is good at rallying and aligning others
• makes me feel heard / seen
• is a great teacher
• effectively sets strategy
• is great at managing their time
• is the kind of leader I admire