Make Your Call with Your Boss Impactful

If you are not always getting the quick endorsement on actions you want to take as a leader, this is a quick practice to put in place to help your speed and execution time.

At some point or another you are going to have a call with your direct supervisor. Whatever your company or boss calls it, doesn’t matter - a touchbase, a 1 on 1, a weekly connect call - it all serves the same purpose.

This meeting or call is a guaranteed moment to express your progress and concerns regarding your agreed upon objectives and you have to make it count. Employ the steps below leading up to that 1 on 1 time and your conversation will be richer - guaranteed.

• IDENTIFY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING

  • if you only got to discuss or land on ONE THING during your call, what would it be?

• ACTION STEPS

  • what action steps do you want to take?

  • don’t expect your supervisor to have the answers - that’s YOUR job.

• LAY OUT YOUR CASE IN AN E-MAIL

  • use the subject line “For Our Touchbase” or something like it.

  • keep it simple & to the point - if the body of your e-mail can’t be read without scrolling on your phone, it’s too long.

  • send your e-mail with enough lead time for your boss to have read and to be thinking about your ONE THING.

As a supervisor of others, I can’t tell you how much these e-mails/messages helped me in knowing that the person I was connecting with was prepared for action and was owning the momentum to get things done. It gave me time to chew on their points, and I would come to those calls already prepared with my insight and opinion, rather than hearing about it for the first time.

Take these steps and I promise your time will be more impactful!