How Can I Be Down: Think With Me
(part 5 of 6)
Equally important for getting ahead in your job, but probably least considered is that your boss needs you to think with her! She doesn’t need you to think for her or to think like her. She needs you to think with her.
Similarly, the last thing that your manager wants you to do is wait to be told what to do. That would, of course, suggest that you aren’t doing much thinking at all. You were hired to do a job. Your manager needs you to take some initiative, figure out what the next best step is and “get ‘er done” in the most excellent and cost-efficient manner possible.
Rather, in successful organizations, the whole must be greater than the sum of its parts – particularly when it comes to getting the most out of the intellectual capabilities of its leaders. Your boss needs you to believe and commit, but then he needs you to THINK – to bring forward ideas, to challenge the status quo… He needs you to reconsider the tactical plan to figure out how to achieve the vision faster… He needs you to figure out how to make your job and his life a little easier… He needs you to point out nuances that he missed… He needs you to offer a solution to a problem he doesn’t even know exists… He needs you to inspire him. Your boss needs you to get your head in the game and think with him!
Asking these kinds of questions or sending these types of emails will get you something much more valuable than an hour on her schedule. Bringing those kinds of ideas or solutions forward will get you the early morning brainstorming phone call; they’ll bring you the Saturday afternoon golf invitation. That kind of thinking will bring you respect! And with respect comes opportunity.
