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In episode 31 of “The JoyPowered™ Workspace Podcast,” JoDee and Susan discuss how to build and maintain effective relationships with your boss, executive team, and other leaders. Topics include the right and wrong ways to manage up and how to get your boss to trust you. Listener Rosemary wants to know if it’s okay to look at candidates’ social media during the hiring process.

It’s powerful to really think about managing up and to spend time and energy strategically thinking about how to work better with your boss and other leaders. It makes work more pleasant, and executive sponsorship is important for career advancement. Form relationships as far up the ladder as you can; sometimes your boss gets replaced, moves on, or retires, and if you haven’t spent time developing a relationship with the person above them, it can be an issue.

JoDee and Susan discuss a Wall Street Journal detailing the right and wrong ways to manage up, and add their opinions. First, figure out how your boss wants to hear from you; do they want to have a meeting in person, a phone conversation, or an email? Do they want an update every day, every month, or only when it’s going to negatively impact the business? If you bring a problem, offer at least one potential solution or a list of things you’ve already tried. Don’t take a boss’s abrasive behavior personally, but if they apologize, discuss ways to address issues differently next time. Understand your boss’s priorities – if you can help them achieve their goals, your stock’s going to rise. Finally, learn the unwritten rules of your workplace and what’s expected of you.

Next, JoDee and Susan discuss a Muse article about getting your boss to trust you completely. People need to be connected to the mission in some way, whether it’s major or minor; embrace the mission! Develop a positive relationship with your boss; you don’t have to be best friends, but it’s helpful if you like each other. Understand your boss’s goals; this goes back to understanding their priorities and asking them how you can help achieve their goals. Anticipate his/her needs, and never let him/her get blindsided. Tell your boss how to best use your talents and share skills they might not know you have. Honor your boss’s time; if you say you want 5 minutes, only take 5 minutes. Align your needs with your boss’s goals. Underpromise and overdeliver; be sure to set expectations of what can be done and how long it will take.

In this episode’s listener mail, Rosemary has been pressured to look job candidates up on social media and Google, and wants to know if it’s legal. JoDee and Susan discuss a 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruling rejecting the validity of using prior salary or salary history in setting the starting pay for job applicants.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Purple Ink, the HR consulting firm JoDee owns
• Susan Tinder White Consulting, the HR consulting firm Susan owns
• JoyPowered, JoDee’s first book
• The JoyPowered Family, JoDee’s second book
• “The Right and Wrong Way to Manage Up at the Office”, a Wall Street Journal article about how to communicate with your boss
• “10 Ways to Get Your Boss to Trust You Completely”, an article from The Muse about being a trustworthy employee
• Gallup, an organization that does research on employee engagement
• CliftonStrengths, an assessment that describes your top 5 strengths