How to Win Over Your Boss

In Getting a New Boss? Interview Again for Your Job, career coach Priscilla Claman outlines three steps to get yourself "rehired," as she calls it. Since BNET blogger Sean Silverthorne called her advice "absolutely brilliant," I thought I'd check out the three steps:

1. Update your resume.
2. Set up a meeting.
3. Present yourself.

In any case, if your boss isn't behind you 100 percent, it can make your life miserable. Believe it or not, you can win him over just by asking a few questions that show him you "get it" and are management or senior management material. Whether he's newly promoted, newly hired, the result of a merger or acquisition, or has been your boss forever, here are:

10 Simple Questions That Will Win Over Your Boss

1. Ask what he thinks you can do to be more effective.
2. Ask what her top three priorities or goals are.
3. Ask what you can do to make him more effective.
4. Ask what you can do to make the team more effective.
5. Ask if he's interested in knowing what will make your job easier.
6. Ask what her take is on the company's top priorities and goals.
7. Ask what he thinks you should do differently or improve upon to be more effective.
8. Ask if she'd like to meet periodically, one-on-one, and if so, how frequently and what format would she like the meeting to take. Then set it up.
9. Ask what his philosophy is on your shared functional responsibility, whatever that is, i.e. marketing, HR, IT, engineering, finance.
10. And, if the meeting's open-form and you feel it's appropriate, ask about her background. Most people like to talk about themselves and how they got there, as long as they don't feel like they're being grilled, pumped for information, or played in some way.

And, contrary to the aforementioned HBR advice, do not tell her about your role and your team. Instead, ask if she'd like to hear your perspective on your and your team's role. If she says, "absolutely," then set it up. But I still say it's better to ask for her perspective on your and your team's role. Get the difference?

And whatever you do, don't present yourself, your resume, or your achievements either. Frankly, your boss, new or old, isn't primarily interested in any of that stuff. He's primarily interested in meeting his objectives and helping his boss meet hers.

The closer you come to demonstrating that that's your priority as well, the sooner you'll win him over because you "get it." And the sooner you'll be viewed as management or senior management material.

Also check out:

• 10 Things That Good Bosses Do
• How to Deal With a Bad Boss: Don't!
• How to Be a Great Storyteller and Win Over Any Audience