Good morning,
In our previous letter, you were hella brave and asked your manager to discuss ways you could provide more value to the business! It was nerve-wracking, it was impressive, it’s all going well so far. This is easy… Right?
Not exactly, we left the last letter after your manager responded with a few difficult questions back and, with varying degrees of success, you satisfied their curiosity. Once your boss has a better idea of the type of person you are and where you want your future to lead, the conversation can go two ways:
- Your boss believes you are ready to take on more responsibility and you are already excelling in your current role.
- There are areas you need to improve before more responsibility would be on the cards. This may be due to poor work performance or character traits you need to develop.
Both of the above come with challenges moving forward. Don’t misunderstand me, however, these are those good types of challenges that stretch you to become a better version of yourself in the future.
If your boss is happy with your current working performance and believes you have the right mentality; more responsibility might be coming your way. This could be at any time so be prepared because you asked for this and you better be ready!
A key thing to remember is not to worry about unknowns at this point. If or when they approach you for a new project or opportunity, they will not expect perfection on the first day. Remain calm, ask the right questions and develop the necessary knowledge needed for your new position. Trust that you are the type of person who can succeed in situations like this and you will probably discover that your intuition was correct!
Conversely, if your manager has recommended areas you could improve, now would be a great time to take out your note pad and pen to write these points down. Make a list of everything they say, their advice here may be the reasons your career hasn’t taking off yet!
Ask your boss for specifics where possible, and any resources they might recommend. The notes you put down here can be a super useful checklist you can use if you ever find yourself in a future meeting with your manager.
Finally, as a cherry on the top of this cake, ask if you can schedule another meeting with your manager in 3 months time to track your improvements in the discussed areas. Take this opportunity as well to state your intentions, if you are going to improve results at work, tell them which ones and by how much. You are going to do some self-development? Tell them the books you are going to read and how this will affect your output. Showing this tenacity will go a long way to cementing your convictions in the eyes of your manager.
Now all you have to do is check everything off on your list before your next meeting, and you are home free!
The letter for next week is going to on coachability, one of the most powerful things for your self-development. It should be a good one, see you then!
Yours sincerely,
Ryan Rose-Blanc
Rose-Blanc Town management
Atowncalledme 