How to Get Your Boss to Love You

Everyone wants to get their boss to love them. This is a key way to get ahead at work, whether that means a promotion, career progression or just being able to be successful at what you do. We all have varying degrees of intelligence and competency in certain areas and nobody can be amazing at everything. The tips that I am about to give you are not about competency but are, arguably, just as important if you want to get ahead in the workplace. The tips focus around relationships and how you interact with others. One of the most important relationships you will have at work will be with your manager. Hopefully, these tips will help you to create an effective and advantageous relationship for you both.

1. Be solution focused

Don’t ever go to your boss with a problem, expecting them to find the answer. You will impress your boss more if you spend at least 15 minutes thinking of a solution. So even if you haven’t got the answer, they will be impressed that you’ve tried to suggest ways of resolving it.

2. Take personal responsibility

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. You will gain respect from your boss if you are able to self review and suggest where you could have done things better or differently. Don’t apologise or try to suck up to the boss but accept where you could have performed differently.

3. Don’t get emotional

Professionalism and resilience are important skills to have and express when you are looking to succeed in your career. Don't ever send an email in a moment of anger or frustration. It's tempting to reply immediately after reading an email that angers or upsets you. Write your response immediately, but don't send it. Wait at least half an hour, then re-read the original email and your response. Nine times out of ten, you will have calmed down and can send a much more constructive and considered response. Your boss will admire your diplomacy. Try to keep personal issues out of the office, the more professional and in control you appear, the more likely your boss will feel that they are able to rely on you.

4. Be willing to go the extra mile

Offer support and to take on additional duties that nobody else wants occasionally. If you are able to, don’t be too rigid in the times that you arrive and leave work. Try to make yourself as available as possible so that you appear open and supportive. Never say ‘but that’s not my job’ if you try new things you might find that you are good at them which will impress your boss even more.

5. Give feedback and set expectations

If you are asked to do a piece of work to a deadline that you know you cannot meet, make sure that you give feedback on your progress and re-negotiate a deadline as soon as possible. Feeding back up lets your boss know that you are working on the task even if you can’t meet the deadline. By trying to re-negotiate a deadline early, you will be able to reset expectations and be able to exceed them.

6. Be willing to learn

Be willing to try new things and be proactive in seeking out good practice and knowledge in your area of expertise. You will be able to impress your boss with your flexibility and new found knowledge. They will therefore be more likely to use you as an important source of information and put you forward for career developing projects.

7. Share your knowledge in a positive way

Although gossiping is good fun, nobody really trusts a gossip as you never know whether you will become their ‘subject of choice’ in the future. If you do have knowledge about people and situations that you think would be useful to share with others, try to frame the information in that exact context. For instance, if you want to tell your boss that his colleague has been sacked, don’t say – ‘guess what I heard, Mr Blogs was asked to leave yesterday, I never did like him’. Try to frame it differently like – ‘I’m not sure this is definitely true but I think it is important that you should know that I believe Mr Blogs has been asked to leave the organisation. I didn’t want you to be out of the loop should somebody ask you about it in one of your meetings later’. If that person asks you for your opinion, give it, but be measured.

If you treat knowledge that you are privy to with respect and are only seen to share it in absolute confidence and in a professional way, the more likely it is that people will trust you with confidential information. Be loyal though. Only share information when you are confident that it won’t impact negatively on you or the person who told you. The more information people give to you, the more knowledgeable and influential you will be in your role.

8. Influence and negotiate

If you are about to make an unpopular decision or implement a large change where you work, it is always best to identify those people that may cause you problems. Make sure that you speak to those people first before implementation or before telling others. Try to make them feel like they are part of your decision. Ask for their opinion and advice. Try to incorporate what they tell you into the final decision or model.

If you can manage difficult situations without creating mayhem you will gain respect from your boss and they will see that you are capable in managing complex situations.