Have you ever felt frustrated or undervalued in your role?
One common reason for these feelings is a lack of alignment between your goals and your boss’s expectations.
By establishing a clear consensus on your job responsibilities and objectives, you can significantly improve your career trajectory.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the benefits of reaching a consensus with your boss on your goals. By doing so, you can:
- Achieve fairer performance evaluations
- Foster a more collaborative working relationship
Let’s dive into the details
A Path to Fairer Performance Evaluations
When you and your boss are aligned on your goals, it’s easier to assess your progress at the end of the year or quarter. This can lead to a more accurate and satisfying performance evaluation.
(However, it’s important to remember that while consensus can increase the likelihood of a fair evaluation, it doesn’t guarantee it. Human factors and overall company performance can still influence the final outcome.)
For example, if you think your goal is A, but your boss expects B from you, you won’t get a good evaluation. So, make sure you and your boss are clear on your goals for the year or quarter.
Even with clear goals, there may be times when you feel your evaluation is unfair. In such cases, it’s crucial to have open and honest discussions with your boss, backed by evidence of your performance. By setting specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with numerical targets, you can demonstrate your achievements and potentially influence the evaluation process.
Ultimately, reaching a consensus on goals with your boss is a valuable step toward ensuring a fair and accurate performance evaluation.
A Collaborative Partnership
When you and your boss have a shared understanding of your goals and responsibilities, it fosters a more cooperative working relationship.
Case study – Boss assigning me a random task
For example, when additional tasks arise, your boss is more likely to assign them to someone who is already working on related projects.
This is because it’s more efficient for everyone – the boss, you, and the company.
By clearly communicating your areas of expertise, you can increase the chances of receiving tasks that align with your current workload.
This helps to avoid unnecessary stress and inefficiency.
Have you ever heard someone complain,
“My boss always dumps everything on me” ?
Or, have you ever felt overwhelmed by a constant stream of unrelated tasks?This can often be a result of unclear job responsibilities.
By reaching a consensus with your boss, you can help to prevent this issue.
Case study – Boss assigning me some additional task
What’s that? You don’t want to be assigned additional tasks in the first place?
Sure. I understand. I don’t like additional tasks either.
If you’ve already reached a consensus with your boss on this year’s goals, you might feel frustrated when they assign you extra tasks. I get it.
Even in such cases, open communication and a shared understanding of priorities can help to ensure that your workload remains manageable.
For example, let’s say you have a high-priority Task A that you’ve already agreed upon with your boss. Then, your boss assigns you another high-priority Task B.
In this situation, you can discuss with your boss which task has higher priority, A or B.
Case A – Your boss might have simply forgotten you’re working on Task A. Once reminded, they might reassign Task B to someone else.
Case.B – Your boss inform you that Task B has higher priority than Task A. In that case, you should open next discussion, and let your boss know that will affect Task A’s schedule and how much it will be delayed. Depending on the criticality of each Task, your boss may accept the delay, or find some other resource to proceed.
Case.C – Your boss inform you that Task A has higher priority than Task A. In that case, ensure the Task B due date&time and execute accordingly.
Ultimately, a clear consensus on goals and responsibilities can lead to a more collaborative and productive working relationship.
Conclusion
By setting clear goals and establishing open communication with your boss, you can not only improve your performance evaluations but also create a more harmonious and productive work environment.
You can start this hack today !
Resources
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