Meeting with the Boss

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How to meet with you Boss

Your objective when you meet with your boss is to provide them information about your team, your results and your projects. Additionally, you want to share improvement ideas, gain their support and get some coaching from them. It’s very important that you meet with your boss once a week and have the meeting scheduled as a reoccurring meeting. 

The meeting should be in a private office or conference room. You want to be able to share the good, the bad and the ugly with your manager and get some coaching on how to handle those tricky employee situations and since you will be discussing company employees, it is critical that you have the meeting behind closed doors. 

Bring a typed agenda and two copies of it, one for you and one for your boss. Don’t let this meeting follow the whims of your memory, but instead follow a clear agenda of topics. Having an agenda shows your boss that you value their time and you appreciate their insight and coaching. The agenda format can be basic with just your name, date and a bullet point list of topics to discuss. However, never put an employee’s name on the agenda. If you are going to discuss an employ, just disguise it with a bullet point like “department personnel”.

Now regarding the meeting requirements. The only prep you should need for this meeting is the agenda. You will be the facilitator of this one-on-one meeting and it should be an engaging meeting. If someone from outside walked into the room, they wouldn’t be able to tell who is leading the meeting. It is a collaborative meeting whereas a topic is brought-up and then it is openly discussed. 

Start the meeting with some friendly conversation. You can talk about shared interests, vacation plans or fun experiences. You don’t need ground rules, but, take some quick notes as you discuss things. I don’t usually worry about the time. I’ll take as much time from my boss as they’ are willing to provide me, or until we exhaust the agenda.

In follow-up to the meeting, expect that you will receive all of the action items and that your boss will receive none of them. Whatever action items that you do receive, make sure you add the actions to the agenda for your next meeting because you want to discuss your progress against those action items.

I found that the meetings with my boss always provided fruitful outcomes. I gained alignment on my initiatives, overcame organizational obstacles and dropped projects that my boss didn't support.

Keeping in lock-step with your boss helps you to soar!

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