Love it, Mike! I see an area of opportunity for me in this skill. Specially, aligning to my manager’s goals.
I’m constantly asking my manager if there’s something I can help him with, I know his workload is massive. But his answer is always something like “thanks, but keep doing what you’re doing.”
First, I think it's important to assess why you want to align closer to the goals.
Are you aligning to the goals because you feel like it's a thing you should be doing? Or is it clear that if you get closer to your manager they'll have an influence on helping you better/unlocking what you are trying to achieve? If it's the latter, you for sure should lean into doing more.
Second, assuming you're not completely cut off from how he operates within the org/his peers, I would assess what/how things are being communicated and use that as a signal on how to get closer.
Example could be: Manager insists on sharing with stakeholders any upcoming features to create some excitement. Perhaps you take anything you know that will be upcoming for you and your team, package that in a similar type communication style, and pass along to him to remind him of the awesome stuff you will have coming soon. That way if it's not already it can get appended to his communication and, once it is, if anyone shows interest he'll need to lean on you for more information and you can build the trust that you're an expert by being able to answer.
Love it, Mike! I see an area of opportunity for me in this skill. Specially, aligning to my manager’s goals.
I’m constantly asking my manager if there’s something I can help him with, I know his workload is massive. But his answer is always something like “thanks, but keep doing what you’re doing.”
I know I could do more. Any advice on this?
A couple things come to mind here:
First, I think it's important to assess why you want to align closer to the goals.
Are you aligning to the goals because you feel like it's a thing you should be doing? Or is it clear that if you get closer to your manager they'll have an influence on helping you better/unlocking what you are trying to achieve? If it's the latter, you for sure should lean into doing more.
Second, assuming you're not completely cut off from how he operates within the org/his peers, I would assess what/how things are being communicated and use that as a signal on how to get closer.
Example could be: Manager insists on sharing with stakeholders any upcoming features to create some excitement. Perhaps you take anything you know that will be upcoming for you and your team, package that in a similar type communication style, and pass along to him to remind him of the awesome stuff you will have coming soon. That way if it's not already it can get appended to his communication and, once it is, if anyone shows interest he'll need to lean on you for more information and you can build the trust that you're an expert by being able to answer.
This is incredibly helpful, thanks Mike!