Key points are highlighted like this:
important An important note.
caution A caution.
confusion A confusion or reminder.
In addition, you’ll find examples highlighted:
exampleAn example or scenario.
doAn illustration of something that’s recommended.
don’tAn illustration of something that’s not recommended.
Seen in the best light, a new manager is a new opportunity to take stock of your place in the company and start fresh. But like any transition, getting a new manager has the potential to feel difficult or disorienting. The relationship between yourself and your boss is one of the most important professional relationships you can have, so it’s important to do all you can to start off on the right foot and stay the course.
You’re ultimately responsible for your own career, but your manager has more influence over your career trajectory than anyone else in your company, so it’s critical that the two of you work well together. They sit above you in the organizational hierarchy, which gives them power to make decisions that can affect your career, both positively and negatively. This relationship has far-reaching consequences, such as which projects you work on and the opportunities you’re given. Many say that your relationship with your manager is the single biggest factor that affects your job satisfaction.
That’s why the position you’re in—welcoming a new manager or even starting a new job yourself—can be so nerve wracking. There’s a lot on the line professionally and when it comes to your quality of life. But don’t worry—we’re here to help.
Some managers are great to work with, but others may prove more difficult. Some of this can come down to personality, working styles, expectations, or company culture. No matter how good or bad your manager is, it’s your job to make the relationship work. There’s no one way to do that, but certain foundational skills, tips, and tricks can help make sure you’re doing everything you can to work well together.
This guide is for anyone, regardless of industry or career level, who has a new manager and wants to make the most of it. Read on to learn how to understand your manager’s style, position yourself for short- and long-term success, and align your goals so both of you can succeed.
When you first hear you’re going to get a new boss, it can be a lot to process. Perhaps you had a great working relationship with your previous boss, or perhaps you did a happy dance when you found out you no longer had to work with them—either way, change is happening.
It may feel tempting to just keep on keeping on, and that’s great up to a point—the work still has to get done, of course! But to best prepare for this transitional crossroads, there are a few things you can do to make sure you’re ready for what’s next.
Process Your Feelings
It might seem like emotions aren’t included in your job description, but it’s okay to have emotions in the workplace. You’re a human being and the more you can acknowledge whatever you’re feeling, the better you can hit the ground running.
You could be upset that your boss is leaving, concerned that you keep getting passed over for opportunities, worried about your own job security or the strength of your company, or even relieved. Whatever it is that’s on your mind, take the time you need to think through what’s happening inside your mind and heart, and process your feelings.
Do Your Research
When a new boss enters the workforce, usually they don’t come with a lengthy description attached. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things you should know! You don’t need to don a trenchcoat and use a magnifying glass to sleuth out clues, but doing your research on both the situation that resulted in new management and the new manager you’ll be working with are great ideas.
There are several benefits to this approach. First, the more you know the lay of the land, the better you can position yourself in that landscape and the more you can help your boss navigate their decision making. Second, it’s always a good idea to understand who it is you’re working with. Maybe you’ll find out you have professional contacts in common, that you have children who are similar ages, that they hate the color blue, or they’re an avid table tennis player.
These can all seem like random bits of knowledge, but they all achieve the same goal: connection. Check out their LinkedIn, see if they have written any thought leadership pieces, ask around to friends, family, and colleagues, or do a good old-fashioned Google search. Whatever you find could be surprisingly helpful, just make sure to keep your interest and delivery genuine and authentic.
important Doing your research is important, but there is such a thing as digging too deep. Think like a hiring manager, not a private eye—you want to have just enough information to be able to connect on a professional and personal level, but not so much that they have to check their password protection or privacy settings.
Lead From Where You Are
The best way to get off on the right foot? Recognize the situation you’re in and how you can make the most of it. Consider how your role can be helpful to your new manager—though they will likely go through a formal process to get to know the company, it can take a long time for a new manager to know the ins and outs of an organization or department.
You can see this as a chance to take charge. Consider what you would want to know coming into this new role and work together with your colleagues to prepare from a team perspective. By preparing them for success, you prepare yourself to continue your own success, as well.
You’ve done all you can to prepare—good job!—now’s your chance to make a good impression. Though you’ll likely have some team meetings to get the ball rolling, here are some great ways to hit the ground running during your first meeting with a new manager.
Bring your to-do list: Part of your job is to educate your new manager about exactly what your job entails. Bringing a list of your current projects and highlighting any projects you’ve recently wrapped can help them understand not only what you do, but what help they can provide.
Clarify expectations: The best-case scenario is that you leave this meeting with your new boss knowing exactly what they expect from you. Good areas to touch on include: how frequently they need updates, how your performance will be measured, communication requirements, and more. Be specific and feel free to state what you’ve found helpful in the past.
Ask questions: You likely have a million questions to ask, but be careful not to overwhelm them. Use this as an opportunity to share information about yourself and position yourself as a resource for your new manager. Questions to consider include:
What should I know about your leadership style?
What does success look like to you?
If I need help or have questions, what channels do you prefer I use to get in touch?
Do you have any pet peeves?
What’s one thing I can focus on in the next week, month, year?
What questions do you have for me?
Make their job easier (or at least try to): Establishing yourself as a helpful resource is a great way to kick things off. From the small things like where people eat lunch, to the big things like company culture and organizational vision, everyone does better when they know they have someone on their team.
Trust is an important foundation for working well with your manager. If you can’t trust each other, your relationship with your manager will break down and your job will be more difficult than it needs to be.
If your manager can’t trust you can do the job they ask you to do, you’ll miss out on projects and opportunities to grow and be promoted. If they can’t trust you’ll communicate openly and honestly about the status of a project, they’ll have no choice but to micromanage you to get the information they need.
So, how do you build trust with your boss?
The first step may be obvious, but it needs to be said—do your job. There’s no way around this. The next step is to do your job reliably. Doing your job reliably does not mean you won’t make mistakes, your estimates will always be spot on, or your projects will always be completed ahead of time. Being reliable means that your boss can count on you to take on a task and see it through to the finish line. The more often you do this, the more your boss will know that you can take on whatever they throw your way.
There’s more to being reliable than just completing your tasks. Here are some other examples of what it means to be someone your manager can rely on:
doFollow through on your commitments. If you tell your boss you’ll do something, do it. (And if you can’t, tell them as soon as you know it’s likely to slip so you both can decide how to mitigate the issue.)
doAsk for help early if you’re blocked on a project or if you think you’ll miss an important deadline.
don’tSidestep your manager and leave them out of decisions with upper management.
don’tRefuse or avoid boring but important tasks or projects.
A reliable employee is someone who is predictable (that is, does what they say they will do) and who is able to complete their tasks from start to finish. Doing just these two things will help develop a good foundation of trust between you and your manager.
While your manager expects you to deliver results each quarter, they have their own goals, milestones, objectives, and key results that they need to deliver as well. They are responsible for all the work your team delivers. Understanding this point will help you better understand some of the decisions your manager makes.
Your job is to do everything you can to support your manager so they achieve their desired outcomes. In other words: your manager’s goals are your own goals. Your work is just one piece of the puzzle that your manager needs to solve. When you understand how your work fits into the bigger picture, you’ll be able to identify which tasks will help your manager reach their goals and prioritize those first. If you can manage to do this, you’ll almost certainly gain your manager’s trust. Conversely, if you hinder your manager’s ability to meet their objectives, you may lose the trust of your boss.
Embrace Differences
Everyone works differently. There’s no single way to maximize your productivity that works for everyone, and everyone has their own way that works for them when they need to get things done. This is especially true when it comes to managing people and projects.
Different managers have different management styles, so when it comes to working well with your manager, you’ll need to figure out what style they prefer. You’ll need to consider the following questions when determining how your boss prefers to work:
How do they prefer to communicate?
Asynchronous chat
Voice or video chat
Face-to-face conversations
How often do they expect updates from you?
Once a day
Once a week
As needed
What time of day are they usually available?
Mornings
Midday
Evening
Do they prefer if you provide them with objective analysis for each option, or do they prefer to hear your personal judgment when making difficult decisions?
Although these aren’t things you need to think about often, knowing the answers to these questions can make your life easier during high-stress situations like production incidents or tight deadlines. When you understand your manager’s preferred way to work, you’re less likely to make costly errors due to miscommunication.
Similar to how trust is a two-way street, a healthy relationship with your manager takes two people to make work. Treat your relationship with your boss as a partnership—you both share a responsibility to make it work. Unfortunately, part of that working relationship is out of your control; you can’t control your boss, after all, but at least you can do your part to uphold your end of the deal. As long as you’re making an honest effort to adapt to your manager’s work style, they can’t hold that against you when it comes time to conduct your performance review. However, if you don’t make any effort to work well with your boss, they may use that against you.
So, what do you do if you’re not sure what your manager’s management style is?
Ask them. It may seem simple, but being direct about how you like to work can significantly improve how you work together.
Having a healthy relationship with your boss makes your job easier, but there will be times when the two of you aren’t on the same page. If your boss is overcommitted, overwhelmed, or even if they’re not the best in a certain area of expertise, you need to learn how to manage up in order to make the relationship work.
caution Before we dig deeper into how you can manage up, you first need to understand what managing up does not mean:
Manipulating or deceiving your boss.
Covering up a mistake you made.
Hiding information from your manager that makes you look bad.
Inserting yourself into office politics.
When applied correctly in the right situation, managing up can help you achieve the outcomes you’re looking for, but if used incorrectly, aggressively, or in the wrong situation, it can backfire and hurt your image.
It may take some time to learn how to effectively manage up, but when done correctly, you can get the results you’re looking for.
Sometimes, you may need to inform your manager about something they may not be aware of. Your boss has to make many decisions each day, and sometimes, they may not have all the information they need. Speaking up in these cases is part of managing up.
Your boss needs to know that you have their back, and sometimes that means telling them things that they need to hear, even though they may not want to hear it.
Perhaps your company is planning a new feature to bring in some new business. Your manager may agree to take on a new project with a tight deadline without realizing there are technical limitations that will make that deadline impossible without taking on a lot of technical debt. You should let them know as soon as possible so the team can adjust the timeline as needed.
You may have a boss who is new and isn’t aware of a risk factor that could cause you to miss one of your quarterly goals, such as integrating with a third-party system. If the other party is dragging their feet and there’s a risk of not hitting your deadline, let your boss know as soon as possible so they can manage expectations and modify the plan for the quarter.
It’s better to have difficult conversations with your boss about something than to let it simmer and boil over. By then, it’s already too late, and you’ll have a high-stress situation on your hands. If possible, it’s better to be open and honest with your manager so they can pivot or change directions if needed. In the end, they will appreciate the fact you gave them honest feedback.
As individual contributors, we’re deep in the weeds each week. Your manager’s day will be filled with meetings, so they’ll always be further away from the day-to-day challenges than they’d like to be. Your boss may not know all the details about the problems you’re solving, so don’t just assume your boss is aware of the exciting accomplishments you’ve made recently, or the challenges you’ve overcome. Part of managing up is learning how to inform your boss about your accomplishments.
exampleWork with your manager to establish expectations on the types of outcomes and behaviors an employee at your level—and the next level—demonstrates. Then find ways to let your boss know when you think you’ve demonstrated them.
You and your boss are both adults. You’ll each have your own way of doing things, and you’ll have your own opinions on how something should be done. Hopefully, you’ll be able to figure out a way to work well together, but sometimes the two of you will have different opinions on how to accomplish a task.
If you have to disagree with your boss, do so politely and in private.
caution Do not surprise your manager with news in public. Doing so may catch them off guard and make them look unprepared in front of their colleagues, or even worse, their manager. It’s possible your manager may interpret your actions as being disloyal to them.
When you and your boss have a disagreement, they may get defensive because they may think you’re challenging their goals. Oftentimes, they may focus on the intent of your actions, rather than the content of what you’re discussing, which is why it’s always good to clarify the context for why you’re disagreeing with them. If you can manage to help your boss understand your perspective, they may be less defensive and more willing to see the argument from a new point of view.
If possible, try to frame your opinion in the context of a bigger goal or objective. Doing so will allow you to be more candid and honest when discussing your opinion, in addition to helping focus your manager’s thoughts on the shared goal. It will also demonstrate that your difference of opinions is due to an external factor, rather than a personal attack on your boss’s views. If you fail to provide context for your point of view, your manager may perceive your disagreement as a lack of commitment to their own interests.
You won’t always be able to achieve the outcome you want, and in the end, your boss has the final say when it comes to important decisions that affect you and your team. If your manager considers your point of view only to decide against it, don’t take it personally and don’t hold it against them. It’s better to respect their decision, be professional, and move on than to continue disagreeing with them. If it’s not clear to you why they made the decision, consider bringing it up during a one-on-one. Perhaps there’s another aspect to the problem that you’re not seeing, and it will help to talk to your boss about the decision they had to make.
Sometimes you need to let go of an opinion you are passionate about and move on. It’s better to work together with your boss as a team and trust that they’re making the right calls, rather than pushing back on every decision they make.
Recurring one-on-one meetings are your opportunity to receive direct feedback from your manager about how you can be better. A common misconception is that one-on-ones are meant to give status updates on your current workload. The conversations with your manager during your one-on-ones should be about career growth, not your day-to-day work. Don’t waste your opportunity by giving a status update about what you’re currently working on. You should be talking about higher-level things than individual tasks.
These meetings are just between you and your boss, no one else. It’s precious time for you to be honest and talk about personal things. Try to avoid talking about things that can be discussed in the open with the rest of your team, because that’s not a good use of your time during these meetings. Your one-on-one is a chance to talk about the difficult things that you wouldn’t want to discuss in front of your teammates.
important This can be awkward and uncomfortable at first, but the more open and honest you are about your feelings, the easier it gets.
Just be honest. This is your opportunity to get things off your chest. You have a direct and uninterrupted line of communication with your boss for a short period of time, so make the most of it.
While it’s your manager’s job to complete their team’s long-term goals, they also need to fix processes and protocols that are broken or are not working for their team and their direct reports. They can’t fix what they don’t know is broken, however, so it’s your job to be honest with them when something isn’t working.
Let them know what challenges or frustrations you’ve had recently.
Let them know if you’re having trouble working with a difficult teammate.
Let them know if a process isn’t working and why.
Let them know if you’re feeling overwhelmed or burned out.
So, how do you make the most of your time during your one-on-ones?
Set a meeting agenda ahead of time and make a point to discuss everything on the agenda. Add any topics you’d like to discuss or questions you may have for your manager. Setting an agenda ahead of time gives your manager time to prepare and get you the answers you’re looking for. They may not always have an answer themself and may need to reach out to someone else for it.
Additionally, if you know ahead of time that they are going to ask you about a specific topic or task, make sure you have all the information you need in order to give them a sufficient answer. Your boss may set their own items on the agenda, so be sure to check it to see if there’s anything that you need to prepare for.
You should be looking for both positive and constructive feedback during these meetings, which means you should leave the meeting with concrete things you should be working on. Be sure to write these down during the meeting so you’re able to reference them in the future. You have hundreds of decisions to make daily and multiple projects you’re responsible for, so it’s easy to forget specific things your manager asked you to do during your one-on-one conversations.
Plus, when you can look back on your notes, you can remind yourself of the things you need to work on. When your boss provides feedback, they expect you to listen and apply the feedback to your day-to-day work. Remember what you talked about, since they may bring up these areas of improvement during the next one-on-one. You want to be able to demonstrate that you heard and reflected on the feedback.
This is your opportunity to ask for answers to specific questions you may have. “Specific” is the key word here. The goal here is to look for ways in which you can receive constructive feedback from your manager. This will help identify key areas you should focus on, or things your boss is looking for in order to help you grow.
exampleSo what are specific questions you can ask?
What are your top priorities right now and how can I help?
What am I doing well that I should continue to do?
What are some things I can improve?
You’re looking for constructive feedback here. Your manager may give you specific things you can do to become a better employee.
It’s important that you make an honest effort to improve these things each week. You want to go into your next one-on-one and be able to show progress in these areas. When you can demonstrate to your boss that you are improving in the areas they are asking you to, you’re showing that you listen to their feedback and are making a meaningful effort to improve yourself.
Ask for advice on specific topics.
Your manager has been around much longer than you have. They’ve navigated difficult situations and have a wealth of knowledge and experience. Use that to your advantage and ask them how to deal with specific scenarios.
“How do I get better at saying no to requests that come in from other teams?”
“In your experience, what’s the best way to deal with a difficult teammate who doesn’t listen to my suggestions?”
Just doing these few things will help you get more out of your one-on-one meetings with your manager and provide you with plenty of concrete things for you to work on in order to grow. As long as you remember that your one-on-one time is meant to discuss personal and career growth opportunities and not status updates, you’ll be able to make the most of the personal time you have with your manager.
The more you can demonstrate to them that you listen to their feedback and apply it in your day-to-day work, the more you will show them that they can trust you and that you deserve their respect.
Working with a new manager is rarely easy—but it is almost always an opportunity to take a look at where you are, how you work, and what path you’d like your career to take. These tips, tricks, and best practices can help you make getting a new manager a catalyst for professional growth.