You're struggling to connect with your boss at work. How can you improve your relationship?

Often, our communication is influenced by our emotions. It's beneficial to take a moment to reflect on yourself and then consider your manager's perspective. Managers are also humans and face pressures, we might not be aware of. Instead of immediately voicing your concerns or questions, try to understand where your boss is coming from. A quick comment or acknowledgment like, "It seems like you have a lot on your plate; how are you doing? handling it?" or "I noticed you didn't respond to my email – is everything okay?" can be very effective. Of course, the context and company culture matters, but using emotional intelligence in your communication can enhance trust and strengthen relationships with management and peers.

Para mejorar tu relación con tu jefe, primero, comunica abierta y honestamente sobre tus expectativas y preocupaciones, buscando entender también las suyas. Escucha activamente y demuestra interés en sus prioridades y objetivos. Busca oportunidades para colaborar en proyectos, mostrando iniciativa y disposición para contribuir. Solicita feedback regular y actúa sobre él para demostrar tu compromiso con el crecimiento y la mejora. Además, muestra reconocimiento y aprecio por su orientación y liderazgo, fomentando una relación de respeto mutuo y confianza.

Improving your relationship with your boss is crucial for a healthy work environment and career growth. Here are some steps you can take to enhance your connection: Communicate Effectively: Schedule regular check-ins with your boss to discuss your work progress, challenges, and achievements. Be proactive in seeking feedback and guidance. Understand Their Goals: Take time to understand your boss's priorities and goals for the team or organization. Align your work and contributions to support these objectives. Be Reliable and Dependable: Deliver high-quality work consistently and meet deadlines. Reliability builds trust and confidence in your abilities. Show Initiative, Seek Feedback, and Build a Positive Relationship

The key to opening up a dialogue between you and your boss is to first understand your boss's availability. If they don't have an open-door policy, it's probably best to wait until you can schedule an appointment to request professional feedback. That way you both have the time to discuss when the day is bit lighter. When you do have the conversation, be very upfront with your supervisor by asking, "I'd like to improve our working relationship, but I feel like I'm having a bit of trouble connecting with you. Is there some way that we can figure out how to improve our relationship?" Doing this is a good first step to having an open discussion without placing blame.

First, make sure you know what your relationship goals/pain points are. Prepare to answer the questions: 1. What makes you think we have a problem (preferably answer based on data/specific e.g) 2. What do you need from me? (for e.g feedback/particular type of feedback,be more available etc... ) Give him something to work with

If you are butting heads with a boss, that’s great. It’s an opportunity to level up professionally. If you can hack this, you’ll hack the next stage of your career. Try to understand what makes your boss feel secure and safe about his team. You’ll be rewarded with trust and greater responsibility.

After you've opened the dialogue, try to understand their style of learning. People generally are attracted by four personality types. If you can figure out which combination of personality suites them, you're much more likely have an in-road. There's the dominant type, the supportive type, the fun type, and the analytical type. Commonly known as the DISC Personality Model. If you can align your interaction in this way, you'll be much more likely to succeed. If they're supportive, then it's an easy ask. But if they're the fun type, find group activities that might engage them. If they're dominant, focus on the key benefits and avoid small talk. If they're analytical emphasize your reasons and reassure them it's a win-win.

Agree because understanding my boss’s style helps me communicate, align goals, and offer support effectively. This leads to better conversations, smoother goal alignment, and a more productive working relationship.

Don't try to guess your boss's style, just ask him directly for a high-level blueprint: What do you want me to forward to you/status update on what basis (daily/weekly etc...) and in what format each type of information: email/chat etc... You will get credit for caring and taking the initiative to improve your work process and on a practical level you will have a better and more effective communication

In my experience, proactively seeking opportunities to utilize your skillset is welcome by supervisors to an extent. If there are projects or initiatives that may be in need of additional labor resources, then it's a great win for both of you. However, be careful not to fall into the trap of continuously going to your boss and saying, "I'm finished, is there something else I can work on?" If you're finding that you're frequently finishing quicker than expected, it could annoy your boss. That person may end up giving you menial tasks just to keep you quiet and that no longer further your growth. If that becomes the case, it's time to start looking around for a new job that can fully utilize what you have to offer.

It is good to show initiative. But's also important to understand the corporate culture surrounding your initiative. Supervisors must be willing to take on the responsibilities of additional oversight. But, if you have a fairly liberal work culture, you may find it easier to take on those challenges. If you have a conservative work culture, it could be harder to take initiative. As a result, you may be expected to "stay in your swim-lane" and might come across supervisors not willing to let go of you. Ultimately, temper your expectations and ensure you're not stepping on anyone's toes. You should still ask, but you need to be aware of these potential roadblocks and navigate accordingly.

Ideally, your company should have a culture of providing feedback. Otherwise, if you're going to ask for feedback, be upfront and don't beat around the bush. For example, "John, we've just completed our project, and I'd like some feedback about my personal performance regarding this project." Be willing to receive it with grace and maintain your composure. Also be ready to receive negative feedback. If you receive good feedback, don't let it go to your head. Keep pushing yourself and don't let up. If you get negative feedback, don't be too disappointed. Learn from the criticism, and let it embolden you to do better next time! Try to seek feedback at least once every three months and let your boss know you'd like frequent feedback.

Offer support to the whole team and not just your boss. When you help the team, you are not only helping them, you help your boss through them. When possible, help and build bridges with co-workers in other teams. By having a contact person in other teams you are setting yourself to be in a position to help when your boss/team needs help/inforamtion/collaboration with them