Talking to the Boss

a                Talking to the Boss

¨             Did you want to review my project?

¨             I just completed the assignment. Did you want to review it?

¨             This is my first project and I was wondering if you could review it real quick?

¨             I think I covered all the bases, but could you do a quick check.

¨             Hi Roger, can we set up a time to discuss my progress so far?

¨             I was wondering if we can meet to discuss how I am doing.

¨             Can I get some feedback on my performance?

¨             Where do you think I need to improve?

¨             What areas do you think I should work on?

¨             Did you finish reviewing my project I completed?

¨             Hi Mark, this was my first project, and I wanted to know how I did so I can improve.

¨             Where do you think I could have done better?

¨             Is there any area that I could have done better?

¨             What should I do better for next time?

¨             What areas did I do well, and what areas did I do poorly.

b               Asking for more work

¨             Hi Mark, I finished all my weekly duties already. Do you have more work I can do?

¨             I’ve been completing my work early on a regular basis. Can I have more responsibilities?

¨             I have a lot of extra time. I usually double check all my work, but that doesn’t take much time. Is there any additional work I can do?

¨             I had extra time on my hands so I started investigating the network problem. If you don’t mind, I would like to work on this project to help the office productivity around here.

¨             I have been completing my work a day early every week. I know the reference material has been sitting there for some time. Would you like me to do that project, or did you want to assign another project to me?

¨             Hi Mark, the addition we made to the project made it difficult to complete by myself. If the deadline doesn’t change, I will need some help to complete it. Can you assign someone to help me out?

¨             I have spent every minute on this project and have been putting in serious overtime. This project is a lot bigger than we anticipated. I am going to need some help to complete it on time. Do you have anyone available to help me?

¨             The Alpha project has been eating so much of my time that I didn’t have much time to work on the Beta project. Is there anyone with extra bandwidth to help me finish the Beta project?

c                Complaining and Showing Frustration

¨             I can’t believe I messed that up. I don’t think I am stupid, but this is suggesting otherwise.

¨             I am so frustrated at myself. How did I not catch that?

¨             It’s frustrating working with Tim. I’m doing everything I can to help and I am trying to be understanding, but he is slowing our project down immensely.

¨             I’m having a hard time working with ABC Company. They are always late and the work they do has numerous errors. It is really frustrating because I have to spend a great deal of time proof reading the material. I recommend not giving ABC Company any more work.

d               Talking to your boss about another boss

¨             Hey Mark. I’m doing all the projects you gave me, but John gives me additional work. I don’t mind it, but lately it’s been too much.

¨             Hey Mark. John has been assigning a lot of work to me. I have a lot of current work I am doing, so I would like to know what work has more priority.

¨             John wants me to do the payroll analysis. He said he needs it by end of week. But didn’t you want the employee headcount finished by Friday? I can’t finish both. What should I do first?

¨             I’m having some problems with John lately. He is very critical and puts me down in public. I don’t know what I am doing wrong so I don’t know where I need to improve. What do you think I should do about this?

¨             John has been very difficult to work with. He is very bossy and expects everything to be done his way. I have been tolerating it because he is a manager, but some of his methods are wasting a lot of time. I always suggest other ways, but he will not hear me out.

e                Talking to Boss – Interactive Practice

¨             A: “Hi Matt, I finished the assignment on the documents. Did you get a chance to review them?”
B: “Yeah. I already reviewed them. It was pretty good.”
A: “Since it was my first project, I was wondering if I can get some feedback.”
B: “Well, you finished the project on time. And seeing how it was your first assignment, you did very well.”
A: “Thanks. If it wasn’t my first assignment, where do you think I need to improve?”
B: “That’s a fair question… I think you could have spent a little more time documenting the difference between Process A and Process B. You showed a lot of the similarities, but lacking a little on the differences.”
A: “I’ll keep that in mind. How about the structure? I changed the template a little because I wanted to add a section for recommendation.”
B: “I liked the addition. Usually people just enter it into the comment section on the bottom but having a clear section makes it stand out. That was good.”
A: “Was there anything else? I like to get feedback early so I can improve.”
B: “No problem. Everything else on the assignment was great. The only other tip I can give you is sending me more updates. If I knew you were stuck on section C for a while, I could have saved you a lot of time. So keep me aware on your status.”
A: “That makes sense. I’ll do that. Thanks for the feedback.”
B: “Don’t mention it. And good job on the assignment.”
A: “Thanks.”

¨             A: “Hi Mark. I completed Project A and didn’t have anything else to work on. Should I find something to do, or did you have something lined up?”
B: “I won’t have another assignment for you until next Monday. What will you be doing until then?”
A: “I’m not sure, I was thinking about investigating the reporting issue we are having, but that’s a low priority now. But if there is nothing else to do, it might be good to finally fix that.”
B: “How about John. He told me that he needed a little help on Project C. Why don’t you ask him if he still needs help. If not, then check out the reporting issue.”
A: “John? I’ve been meaning to talk to you about him.”
B: “What’s the problem?”
A: “I don’t want to be out of line, but he’s very difficult to work with. He looks over my shoulder all the time and doesn’t like how I am doing things.”
B: “Yeah. He is like that. I appreciate your feedback, and you are not the first to bring this up. Although he is difficult, he does get a lot of work done around here.”
A: “I completely agree, and I will continue to work with him as well as I can. I just thought I should let you know instead of keeping it bottled up.”
B: “I appreciate your honesty. But for now, you’re going to have to tolerate his methods a little longer. I’ll see if the director is willing to have a talk with John about this problem.”
A: “Ok. Well, I’ll go see what type of help John needs. If there is nothing, I’ll work on the reporting problem. Either way, I’ll send you an email letting you know what I am working on.”
B: “That would be perfect. Thanks.”
A: “Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”
B: “Ok. Bye.B: “I won’t have another assignment for you until next Monday. What will you be doing until then?”
B: “How about John. He told me that he needed a little help on Project C. Why don’t you ask him if he still needs help. If not, then check out the reporting issue.”
B: “What’s the problem?”
B: “Yeah. He is like that. I appreciate your feedback, and you are not the first to bring this up. Although he is difficult, he does get a lot of work done around here.”
B: “I appreciate your honesty. But for now, you’re going to have to tolerate his methods a little longer. I’ll see if the director is willing to have a talk with John about this problem.”
B: “That would be perfect. Thanks.”
B: “Ok. Bye.”A: “Hi Mark. I completed Project A and didn’t have anything else to work on. Should I find something to do, or did you have something lined up?”
A: “I’m not sure, I was thinking about investigating the reporting issue we are having, but that’s a low priority now. But if there is nothing else to do, it might be good to finally fix that.”
A: “John? I’ve been meaning to talk to you about him.”
A: “I don’t want to be out of line, but he’s very difficult to work with. He looks over my shoulder all the time and doesn’t like how I am doing things.”
A: “I completely agree, and I will continue to work with him as well as I can. I just thought I should let you know instead of keeping it bottled up.”
A: “Ok. Well, I’ll go see what type of help John needs. If there is nothing, I’ll work on the reporting problem. Either way, I’ll send you an email letting you know what I am working on.”
A: “Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”