When problems arise at work, people often want to head straight for the bosss office to get them

straightened out. Coworker squabbles, project mishaps, unfair policies, stupid decisions by upper management, colleagues annoying personality traits managers are asked to deal with all of these issues. But before taking a complaint to your boss, you need to determine exactly what you want and figure out the best way ask for it. Otherwise, your manager may decide that youre a whiner. So here are some suggestions to consider before taking an issue to your boss.

1. Do a cost / benefit assessment. First, weigh the pros and cons of taking the problem to your manager. Can he really do anything about it? Will she expect you to be able to handle it on your own? Will he get mad and retaliate later? Do you actually expect action or do you just want to complain? If you cant see a clear benefit to involving your boss, you might want to reconsider. 2. Lose the emotion. If you are upset about an issue, calm down before talking to your manager. Bosses do not want to wade through four layers of feelings before getting to the problem. So if you are really angry or emotionally wound up, dont go storming into your managers office. Take a few deep breaths or vent to a c oworker first. When you talk to your boss, you need to be in a calm, businesslike frame of mind. 3. Consider the management point of view. Before taking an issue to any manager, you need to consider how it looks from their level. Dont expect them to automatically take your side or see it your way. Managers are usually focused on the big picture, the bottom line, and the need for coworkers to cooperate. So you need to think that way as well. 4. Decide what you want your boss to do. Never take a problem to your boss without also presenting a possible solution or a request for specific action. If you simply want to complain, talk to a friend or start a journal. Managers absolutely hate it when employees just dump problems in their lap. So before bringing up an issue, determine exactly how you would like your boss to help. 5. Present the business case. Whatever the problem, you need to determine how it relates to business issues. Managers are typically concerned about customers, quality, teamwork, and financial results. When talking with your boss, explain how your problem is adversely affecting one of those factors. Thats the best way to get his or her attention. 6. Focus on facts. Dont complain about others personality traits, make unsubstantiated assumptions, or inject your personal feelings into the issue. Describe the situation in a completely factual manner. 7. Look forward, not backward.

The main purpose of going to your boss is to create a better future, not to complain about the past. Use information from the past to inform the situation, but stay focused on what needs to be done to correct the problem. 8. Take group action for group problems. If many people are upset about a policy, decision, or coworkers behavior, then the whole group needs to talk to the boss. This will get more attention and make it clear that the concern is widespread. Never volunteer to be the messenger on a controversial issue. As you may have heard, messengers sometimes get shot. And if no one else is concerned about your pr oblem, consider whether its really worth taking it to the manager.

Lets be honest if you got to pick your boss, you might make a different choice. But in the real world, you dont have much say in the matter. And even a totally incompetent manager can make your life pretty miserable. So the more effectively you can manage your boss, the more pleasant your days are likely to be. See if any of these statements might apply to you: I tend to get into power struggles and control battles with my boss. I resent the fact that my boss has the power to direct my activities. I sometimes intentionally fail to do something that my boss asks or expects. I tend to feel somewhat anxious when I am with my boss. I am very hesitant about expressing disagreement to my boss. I often keep my ideas and opinions to myself instead of sharing them with my boss. If you see yourself in any of these descriptions, you may need to do a better job of "managing up" Consider these suggestions for improving the relationship: 1. Accept the fact that your boss has been given the power to direct your activities . This is true even if you are much smarter than he is, even if you should have been given her job, even if he is the most obnoxious loudmouth on the planet. You are stuck with this boss for the immediate future, so becoming rebellious will only make a bad situation worse. Accepting reality and working to increase your influence will produce better results. 2. Dont expect perfection. Managers are people, not androids, so they have an endless variety of quirks and eccentricities and odd little habits. Recognize your boss hot buttons and for heavens sake dont push them! Theres a name for people who annoy their managers on purpose masochists. If you have a wonderful boss who is a pleasure to work with, celebrate! Be grateful every day for as long as it lasts. If not, lower your expectations. 3. Study your boss management style and figure out what makes her happy. Look for clues that tell you how she likes work done or how she prefers to get information. If youre not sure what your boss expects from you, in terms of results, work habits, communication style, or

anything else, then dont try to guess ask! You need to find out ASAP. Any reasonable manager will gladly answer these questions and, in fact, will be pleased and surprised by your interest. 4. Try to make your boss look good. Produce quality results, meet deadlines, stay within your budget, respond to people quickly. Find problems that need solving and address them. Contribute new ideas and suggestions. Share useful information with your boss. And your own political power will grow when your manager tells everybody how wonderful you are! 5. Never, never, never complain to others about your boss especially to people outside your department or to your employees (if you are a manager). Strategizing with trusted peers about how to handle your managers more challenging peculiarities is one thing kind of like a group therapy session but trumpeting your unhappiness far and wide will only get you in trouble. 6. Give your boss a sincere compliment from time to time. Managers hear lots of complaints, but few employees ever bother to give their boss a kind word. Unless your manager resembles Attila the Hun or Adolph Hitler, you can surely find some quality worth praising. Mention it at some appropriate point. But lets be clear paying a sincere compliment is not the same as groveling or sucking up. 7. Finally, dont forget the old saying its not your boss who protects your job, its your bosss boss. Look for opportunities to interact with higher-level managers. If they know who you are and think well of you, then you will have enhanced both your political power and your job security

Tell Boss About Career Goals

Performance reviews and appraisals are not the only time when you discuss your career goals with your boss, the goals can be set either at the very first meeting when you join in a new job or a new team/division or anywhere during project changes or set up in timely recurring meetings throughout the year. Whether you had a great or a bad performance review for the last year, now is the time to ensure a more positive one for this year. Plan and prepare to meet with your boss on goal planning for the current year. Most of us just chuck it under the carpet or roll our eyes, wanting our best to delay as much as possible, either the goal setting meeting with your boss or discussing your performance review before it happens. But taking charge of your career is in your hands and you better be diligent and proactive about it. If you dont take control now no one would and the outcome may not be to your liking. Eric Jackson in an interesting article in Forbes says:

most employees dont know what theyll be doing in 5 years. In our experience, about less than 5% of people could tell you if you asked. However, everyone wants to have a discussion with you about their future. Most bosses never engage with their employees about where they want to go in their careers even the top talent. This represents a huge opportunity for you and your organization if you do bring it up. Performance management is as much your responsibility as your managers, well in fact more of yours. Your companys performance management system may be a real sucker or even one that changes every now and then (a personal experience when a previous years performance appraisal was very conveniently lost by the system. I ignored it then, with the who-cares attitude; but now realize the importance of what it truly means to be better informed of the performance management reports and what it means to visit them often to be on top of personal career development). Not tomorrow nor later today is the time to take initiate: if you have never had a goal setting meeting or performance review (whether new to the company or have been there for dontknow-how-long) now is the time. Managing your performance review and setting career goals with your boss strengthens your communication with upper management and brings forward your work and achievements within the company. You have to market yourself continuously to be visible as a valuable contributor to the organization, if you do not toot your horn no one else will so take charge now. Setting up a Meeting with your Manager Initiate a meeting to discuss on goal setting plans for this year. When? Ensure that you and your boss are not in a hurry to join another meeting or a Friday evening when all you have in mind is to be out of the office as soon as you can shake off that last task. Email request: Send a meeting request email or just walk in and talk to him/her about it. (Though it should very well come from your manager but why wait if that has not happened since long when you initiate you display abilities to lead and take charge of the situation). Start your Email or conversation on these lines (after the usual polite greetings and salutations): I want to meet with you to discuss the career goals for this year and to explore further growth opportunities within the company. During this meeting I propose that we take time to assess each other expectations on my current projects and also I shall have the opportunity to get clarifications on future prospects of my career development. Ask your boss for a convenient date and time for this meeting. Try to adhere to his timelines. Such a conversation or communication enables the management to see whats it in for them though rightfully they should be more concerned about how to develop the employee, but yet again if you are not in that set of environment it is important to realize that keeping on top of your career growth is your responsibility and in a way recession-proofs your career as well.

What and How to discuss with your Boss in this Meeting

Discuss in depth the expectations from the present and planned projects and keep the task measurable. Draft a process for continued communication or seek suggestions on how your manager plans on keeping track of the tasks and deadlines assigned to you. Dont be shy to communicate if the expectations do not match and/or you have a proposal to work on some other tasks within the team. Ask your manager on how the feedback system would work on the task accountability and appraisals going forward. The goal setting discussions should not be just one-a-year-discussion, take time to find out through your company policies if mid-year reviews are supported and ask your manager if he endorses multiple reviews (twice or quarterly) in a year.

Tip: Use good communication skills during this discussion and be a good listener. Post-Meeting Action Items

Document what has been discussed in the meeting. Prepare a concise outline and send your manager for approval, from here on it should be the managers responsibility to follow-up with HR to get your goals well placed in the performance management system of the company. But do not hesitate to follow-up a few days or a week later to find out how the process finally shaped up and if there are some action items on your plate now. Document again the final goals set and visit your performance management system if and when the need arises to update tasks on their status or add new ones. Further during the year your tasks and responsibilities may change, make sure that you edit it on the review system as well in your personal documentation.

Instructions
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Prepare what you are going to say to your boss. It is a good idea to write down all the pros and cons to giving you a promotion, then organizing them into controlled thoughts before beginning the actual task of asking for a promotion. You want to be able to present your request and reasons in a logical fashion backed up by sound facts. Make sure you are using factual arguments to present your case or you will make yourself sound foolish, which will defeat the purpose.

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Make an appointment to speak with your boss about the matter. The reason to make an appointment is that it is not good office decorum to just walk into the boss' office and explaining why you're a good candidate for a promotion without giving your boss a chance to prepare for the meeting. This type of discussion should also be allotted plenty of time, so both parties have an ample opportunity to speak and listen to what the other has to say.
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State your case clearly and effectively. Give yourself an opportunity to practice what you are going to say before the actual appointment time. This will give you the chance to make sure you are presenting all of the facts that are important to make an effective decision. Also, it can tell you if your statement needs to be shortened.

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Listen to everything your boss has to say. Take what they say to heart and try to learn from the feedback given. If a promotion is not in your immediate future, ask what steps you can take to qualify for one in the future. Show your boss you can learn from the experience