Your manager is the most important person in your workplace – utilise it!
Your manager may well be the most important person in your work life. Why? Because it is they who can give you tasks, remove them again, clear professional and social barriers for you. And not least, help you develop! So take the chance to build an open and mutual relationship with your manager. IDA's career advisers give you some tips on how you can approach it.
Why is your relationship with your manager so important?
Let’s get straight to the point. There is nothing strange about the fact that, when you start your first job, you mostly orientate yourself towards your colleagues or, for that matter, turn inwards towards your professionalism.
It’s a bit like at university. We form relationships with our fellow students, while the counsellor, teacher or professor is an academic lighthouse on the periphery. The difference is that your manager is much more than that.
One of the most important things you can do in your first job is to make it clear to yourself how you would like to develop. Here your manager is your most important sparring partner, so after some time sit down with your manager and list some points you would like to check. It is also a good social exercise. Tell openly which tasks give you energy and which, conversely, drain you. And explain why!
On a more concrete level, one of your manager’s most important tasks is to help you prioritise your tasks. And this doesn’t just apply to new graduates. It’s the manager who has the overview of what’s most important to the organisation. So if you’re stuck with two tasks and you can’t do both, it’s not your job to decide.
But instead of asking their manager, we find that many newly graduated IDA members think they should be able to do it all. And maybe they can, but they end up working twice as much.
Video: What can you go to your manager with?
How to get off to a good start in your relationship with your manager
It’s not that you have to be best friends with your new manager. But it’s important, both to get a good start in the labour market and in your future career, that you learn to build and utilise a relationship with your manager.
So how do you make sure you get off to a good start in this relationship? According to IDA’s career counsellor Sanne Mattebjerg, a good place to start is at the job interview.
“Tell them that you like to be told what you’re doing well and what you’re doing poorly, so you can focus on doing better. Then ask your future manager directly how they work with feedback and sparring in the workplace. And if they are shocked by that question, then it might not be the right job for you,” says Sanne Mattebjerg, who has a special focus on recent graduates in her counselling.
Don´t be afraid to ask for a meeting
Another question could be: ´How do I get on board?´ or “What is your onboarding process like?” – a word you may not have come across in your studies, but nonetheless something every company should have thought about.
And maybe you’re reading this after you got your job. No worries!
Often you’ll have a meeting with your manager on the first day, so it’s a good idea to bring it up here as well. And if a week has gone by and you’re still a little unsure about your tasks and whether you’re doing a good enough job, ask for another meeting. This is, let’s just say, pretty standard practice.
“Tell them that you can feel that you need some guidance, about where you can do better, how you can prioritize your tasks and who can help you. I usually suggest a status meeting with your manager once a month, or maybe even once a week at first,” says Sanne Mattebjerg.
A good signal
Asking to have a dialogue with your manager is actually a good signal to send.
Remember that your manager is just a human being. Dialogue may not actually be his or her strong point. But the important thing here is that you need to thrive in your new workplace, so if your manager can’t accommodate that, then the question is whether you’re in the right place.
“Great managers can be bad at leading, creating a good framework and psychological safety, following up and listening to their employees, and not least giving you constructive feedback. They shouldn’t just say “Well done” – but rather specify what was good” says Sanne Mattebjerg.
“On the other hand, a good manager who doesn’t quite master it will take your curiosity about feedback as an opportunity to develop themself.”
Video: Why feedback is important and how to ask for it
