How to Impress Your Boss
It’s a fine line to walk. You want to impress your boss, but you don’t want to appear insincere or be perceived as a suck-up by your coworkers.
Knowing how to impress your boss has tangible benefits. When you’re on the boss’s “A-list,” you’re more likely to get high-profile projects that will help you advance your career. Your suggestions are more likely to be considered. While we’d like to believe that managers evaluate employees based on their work results, studies show that supervisors give more favorable evaluations to employees who are likable. When it comes to layoffs, if you’re on good terms with your boss, you’re less likely to be on the RIF list.
So, how do you keep your boss happy? If you want to know how to impress your boss at work, we’ve put together a list of concrete things you can do.
How to Impress Your New Boss
On your first day, you may feel both excited and nervous. You have coworker names to remember as well as the issue of navigating a new facility. You should also focus on how to impress your manager. You set the tone and create the bond on your first day.
Each supervisor has distinct things that make a good impression, but here are five ideas to get off on the right foot with almost every boss:
Take notes: There will be a lot of information thrown at you. Make a note of it so you can refer to it later. Take down the names and roles of the folks you’ll be working with. You won’t have to ask your supervisor for information that they’ve previously covered, saving both of you time.
Pose intelligent questions: Inquiry demonstrates interest. However, consult your notes or conduct some preliminary study. When you do ask your supervisor a question, make it significant and well-informed.
Contact coworkers: Your employer will make the initial introductions. Take the effort to follow up with coworkers. Impress your manager right away by assimilating early into the team.
Get started right away: As soon as possible, ask your employer for your first assignment. Instead than waiting for another assignment, take the initiative and ask what’s next.
Following up: Refer back to those notes and submit in first-day papers and assignments as soon as possible. Respond to “think abouts”—problems or projects mentioned in passing by the boss: “Once you’ve settled in, I’d like you to consider how we might tidy up the XYZ spreadsheets.”
10 Ways to Continue Making a Good Impression on Your Boss
Keep the momentum going after that first day of excellent impressions. During the first several weeks, your manager will continue to review you to ensure that you were a good recruiting decision. To keep the positive feelings going, try these 10 ideas for impressing your boss:
- Be on time and stay late
- Show up
- Be Involved
- Maintain Calm
- Walk Quickly and Intentionally
- Check Your Bags at the Front Door
- Never present a problem that does not have a solution
- Stay organized
- Understand Your Boss
- Prove you’re a team player
- Be on time and stay late
Arriving early and remaining late shows that you have a strong work ethic. If you’re at your desk (or online) before your employer comes and depart, they’ll be aware of your presence. You don’t want to find out that the boss was hunting for you before you arrived. - Show Up
When it comes to turning up, be visible. Work should not be called off unless there is a serious emergency. Take part in business activities, meetings, and so on, even if they are “voluntary.” Attend meetings on time. It demonstrates your excitement for your job and your desire to be a part of the team. - Be Involved
Demonstrate that you are completely focused on your task while at work. Personal work and phone conversations should be saved for your break or lunch—and done away from your workstation. Attend meetings prepared and offer your undivided attention by shutting off your phone, asking questions, and speaking up when the supervisor requests comments. If you work from home, be available and avoid using the corporate laptop for personal work or online browsing. - Maintain Calm
Have a good demeanor so that others want to be around you. Don’t be the person that comes in every week moaning about how it’s Monday, how he has too much work, and how the business regulations are foolish. Accept an optimistic mindset. If you truly dislike your employer or your job, hunt for another one quietly. - Walk Quickly and Intentionally
Use a quick pace when interacting with a coworker, obtaining coffee, or going to and from the toilet. Don’t aimlessly walk or loiter. Keep moving, and you’ll appear occupied and hard at work. Your manager will notice that you are engaged and productive. - Check Your Bags at the Front Door
Don’t tell everyone everything. That is not the way to impress your boss. They don’t have time to deal with your drama, and you may give the appearance that you’re too preoccupied to complete your work. - Never present a problem that does not have a solution.
When you inform your supervisor of an issue, it gets added to their already extensive list. Instead, come up with solutions and give it over to the problem, and you’ll be seen as a thinker who takes the initiative. - Stay organized
Create a method for keeping track of everything you’re working on and knowing when things are due. It is not your boss’s responsibility to oversee your workload. Keep your desk neat if you work in an office so that it appears you can readily find items. - Understand Your Boss
Make your boss’s priorities your own. Even if you believe your method is superior, do things their way from beginning to end the first time and then recommend improvements once you’ve proven yourself. Want to know how to give a spectacular presentation to impress your boss, for example? Ask them what they want you to cover, and then follow through on it. Deliver work in the format preferred by your supervisor, whether it’s a PowerPoint presentation, a written report, or a discussion of the outcomes. - Prove you’re a team player
When you interviewed, your supervisor most likely asked if you were “team-oriented.” Help and assist your coworkers to demonstrate that you are a good team player. Impressing your team is one of the finest methods to figure out how to wow your employer.