Working with the right leaders can have a big impact on how quickly you learn and advance in your job. Good bosses understand that your current role doesn't define you, so they're aren't threatened when you're eager to take on new challenges. For a rewarding experience, ask these questions to determine if your boss is supporting or sabotaging your career.
1. Does Your Boss Know Your Long-Term Goals?
A good boss invests in your future and guides you toward beneficial learning experiences. Try to initiate discussions about your long and short-term goals when interviewing or soon after getting hired. If your boss refuses to learn about your background and interests, be prepared to manage personal development own your own. Managers who only care about their own advancement rarely waste time building relationships with employees.
2. Does Your Boss Leverage Your Talents?
Managers who value growth and efficiency aren't afraid to let you use your strengths. These smart delegators steer you towards engaging tasks, as motivation and passion grow the more you take on work that highlights your skills. Weak managers prioritize their own interests and assign you to whatever tasks serve their needs. Unqualified leaders are so afraid of being outmatched that they fail to recognize the lasting benefits of building a productive and highly skilled team.
3. Does Your Boss Offer Growth Opportunities?
Caring leaders provide resources that empower employees to customize their career paths. The more you learn, the more you boost quality and innovation for the company. Whether it's offering classes and workshops or introducing you to key industry contacts, a good boss is willing to invest in you today to reap lasting benefits down the road.
4. Does Your Boss Take Responsibility?
Too often, selfish and cowardly employees get promoted to leadership roles, creating resentful, chaotic teams that are always waiting to be blamed for the latest hiccup. While a spineless person is quick to steal credit and point fingers, a good boss takes responsibility for final decisions and appreciates your contributions, even when projects don't go as planned.
5. Does Your Boss Listen to Ideas?
Confident leaders aren't fearful of opposing ideas, and they welcome perspectives from diverse teams. Even managers who seem friendly or amiable on the surface aren't employee advocates if they refuse to listen to ideas, hear feedback or give credit where it's due.
6. Does Your Boss Give Constructive Feedback?
Malicious criticism and false praise are both useless to you, which is why a good boss delivers honest, constructive feedback. Helping you improve produces better results for the entire team and teaches you to communicate effectively with others. Forward-looking managers have a stake in the company's future, and they foster your personal development to prepare you for leadership roles.
7. Does Your Boss Encourage Risk-Taking?
Businesses have to take occasional risks to stay competitive, and supportive leaders give you opportunities to follow through on interesting leads. Good bosses recognize the value of refining goals through exploration, so they're willing to be accountable for setbacks on the path to success.
Although many bad managers are merely inexperienced and not antagonistic, they do make it harder to move forward professionally. Do your best to spot a good boss during your earliest interactions with a company to avoid a stalled career.
Photo courtesy of WOCinTech Chat at Flickr.com
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