In our recent Manager Engagement posts, we’ve been sharing with company owners and executives, the importance of training, educating, and coaching their managers, in order to keep them engaged and motivated.

Some of you in management roles have shared with us that you’re unsure how to gain leadership’s support for implementing the development efforts we’ve recommended.

Your career is one of the most important aspects of your life. Whether or not your boss is involved in supporting you, it’s still up to you to take a leadership role in your career growth.

So, on this Labor Day, we want to support you in doing just that.

As we mentioned in the past few weeks, there are a few key areas to focus on, that can help you, as a manager, to feel more engaged and involved in your role. We’re resharing them below but with a view from your perspective.

1:1 Meetings

  • Discuss with your boss that you’d like to have recurring 1:1s with them so that you can collaborate on what success looks like, how you’re adapting to your role, what’s changed, or what should change.
  • Having this meeting time set aside is key so that you can connect regularly on your development, successes, challenges, and learnings.

Topics to Cover

Your Role and Responsibilities

  • To create a solid foundation for your career development, it’s important to gain a clear understanding about your role and responsibilities.
  • You’ll use this time to make sure your job description matches what the business needs and what you’re doing (will be doing).

Your Goals

  • Once the roles and responsibilities are refined, create a plan for your 30, 60, and 90-day goals, to clarify their expectations and vision of success.
  • In addition, it’s important to understand what items you should NOT be focusing on in these early months.

Accountability

  • Now that you’re clear on your role, responsibilities, and goals, get curious about how they’ll provide you feedback.
  • You’ll want to understand their communication style, and what to expect their feedback to look like when you’re succeeding and when you’re off track.

Your Leadership

  • Another key topic to discuss with your boss is the kind of support you might need in leading others. Being a great leader is all about the people. It’s important to learn how to bring out the best in your team, to create organizational success.
  • We’ve found that one of the most powerful ways to do so is by letting people know that they matter to you.
  • There are many other great principles to being a successful leader, so we encourage you to work with your boss to create a development plan for “the people stuff”.
  • Sometimes companies have internal leadership trainings, external workshops, or 1:1 coaching options (see the External Coaching section below). No matter what works for you and the company, it’s important to invest some time in this area.

Internal Mentoring

  • If your company doesn’t have a mentoring program, collaborate to create something that could for you and the mentor.
  • As we mentioned previously, an internal mentor can be someone “in your corner” who can advocate for your career development and advancement, introduce you to new networks, and share knowledge about navigating within the organization.

External Coaching

  • Our goal is to provide you with someone who is an objective advocate for your success and a support for you in your personal and professional wellbeing.
  • We work together to identify your priorities, strengths, passions, challenges, and definitions for success. Then, we support you in your success, by coaching you on various leadership and management best practices, that work best for you and your organization’s needs.

As you read through each of these suggestions, reflect on what’s missing from your work world. What do you need more of to feel satisfied and fulfilled in your role?

Whether you are an established professional
or new to the workforce,
taking a leadership role in your own career
means moving toward your goals
in a purposeful, disciplined way.

We encourage you to take a leadership role in your career today. Consider having some conversations with your boss to let them know the support you need to be successful.

Let us know how it goes!

If you’d like support
crafting and presenting
a development plan for yourself,
contact us today.