What do you do if your boss's expectations for financial performance and deliverables are unclear?

Any leader worth their weight understands that giving clear and well defined goals is just as important as the goals themselves. If you are not getting clarity in this area, it is vital that you get before agreeing to said goals.

In situations where there is ambiguity or disagreement, seeking clarity from your boss can help resolve conflicts or misunderstandings efficiently. Open communication fosters constructive dialogue, allowing issues to be addressed and resolved effectively.

Seeking clarity gets everyone on the same page. Ask questions, and repeat back to your boss, "this is my understanding, is that correct?" Back in college, i felt like business communications class was a waste of time. Now, having been in the workforce for 35 years, I can say wow, was I ever wrong! It is one of the most important things!

Always ask for clarity. Mutual understanding is crucial for setting expectations and achieving desired results. We sometimes overestimate our ability to communicate effectively. Adam Grant gave a fantastic talk on this at the QuickBooks Connect conference in November.

- Reformulate is always useful to insure your conterpart is on the same page. - SMART objectives is a must have solution to support your boss to clarify them. - Open and direct discussions are always better than frustrations and misunderstandings.

Il have always been convinced that writting something on Paper is the best way to insure an appropriate understanding asking for confirmation and approval. But it does not have to replace the direct discussion, hidden behind an email… It can be risky and could amplify some négative reactions. So a visit or a phone call before or just after sending a minute could be a way to minimize the bad feelings a written approach could generate for some people.

You have to start getting it in writing. I had a boss who wanted to do everything by spur of the moment phone calls. He did that because he knew he could be vague in his direction, so he could move the goalposts. When they called, I started quickly writing down what was discussed and then emailing a summary to them to document the conversation. Recordings are good, if allowed, but don't rely on them solely. You're not going to wade through an hour of audio recording to reference what you need. Write it down and email it to them afterwards.

Get what you can in writing, texts, even voicemails. I have some departments who do not like to put things in writing, only by phone. So, after a phone conversation, I email them back, saying per our phone conversation, this is my take away. I will also copy appropriate people on the email.

Clarity in everything, document everything, reporting based working reconciliation should be on dot, closing on monthly basis must be accurate in compile in compliance with its quarter based financials as well

Everything must not only be documented in writing, but also stored on a private server. I have seen on more than one occasions, emails "disappear" from the server that would have served as corroboration to one party's side of the story.

Benchmarks are more readable by businesspeople who have busy days and would like to get to the performance summary, most likely in the form of volume followed by percentage, compared to business standards and preset budgets.

Setting benchmarks keeps everyone on pace and moving in the same direction. Also, setting benchmarks on the way to a much larger goal gives a sense of satisfaction along the way. But, make sure those benchmarks are not unreasonable or frustration can set in.

Prioritization ensures that you're consistently working towards your goals and objectives. By focusing on tasks that align with given priorities, you make progress towards not only your goals but also in line with organizational goals.

Prioritizing tasks can be difficult, especially when working on a group project. You have your own individual tasks needed to get your job done, but also have tasks within the group. It is a critical skill learned over time. Techniques Gant charts, dollar value impact, FIFO, least amount of time, etc can aid in prioritizing.

Yes, yes, and yes! Communicate progress, and where things stand. In my experience, "town hall" meetings whether in person, or by video, have been very effective. Also, it should be two-way by taking questions also.

Communication is once again a Key factor of success also to manage Relationship with your boss. Keep updated is the better way to avoid interpretations or lack of capabilities for your manager to interact with someone asking or even challenging expected results. Its also the way to guarentee proximity and giving the opportunity to express everything in mind…giving useful feedbacks to efficiently interact.

As you start working, gradually with time you will be in better position to understand the expectations and adjust accordingly & turn around time will be quicker. With each task its important approach is adjusted to be in alignment and understand the thought process and end objective of your boss otherwise alignment will never be possible.

Aside from these listed procedures, most importantly is to identify the reason behind the unclarity. Normally there are two main reasons: 1. miscommunication 2. Your boss is actually unclear on expectations (this can happen). If it is the second reason, as a finance specialist, the best tool in your disposal is budgeting and forecasting. Use this as a basis to set a feasible goal for the company, and discuss this fully with your boss as well as different business units. Communicate clearly on important steps they need to do to achieve such forecast, then guide your boss to come up with a reasonable deliverable goal and work feom there.

You may have to accept you're working for a bad boss and to figure out what's next. Not everyone has leadership skills. Maybe you're just not a fit for what they want? But, if you get in the job and find out the last 3 people didn't do it well (according to the boss), then the boss still hasn't done any self reflection. They might never take accountability for their role in the failures and blame everyone else as the reason. Or, again, maybe it's just not the job or environment for you. In any event, do your best but position yourself to leave. The only thing constant is change so if you can't change the relationship with your boss then it's time to change the relationship entirely. Those who get you, deserve you!