My boss totally “gets” Millennials. She has a blog, she put my Twitter handle on my business cards and she’s pretty much awesome. I know I am super lucky to have manager like this, but it wasn’t always roses and sunshine between me and some of my previous managers. And while at the time I blamed my manager for what they were doing wrong, looking back it seems that I wasn’t exactly being the perfect Millennial employee either. Since hindsight is 20/20, here is what I should have done when my boss didn’t “get me.”
1. I should have talked to them- Whenever there is a problem between an employee and a manager both parties tend to back away and talk about the situation. Unfortunately, neither of the parties tend to talk to each other about the situation. Instead they tend to talk to other colleagues, managers, etc. In one of my internships I was absolutely SLAMMED with work. I was working overtime every day of my internship, while the other interns were sitting around enjoying their summers. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved my internship and the work I was doing. So when my manager gave me another assignment to do I pretended like everything was OK. In my head though I kept thinking, my boss doesn’t “get me” at all! I blamed her for overworking me and not understanding my need for work life balance. But what I should have done was talk to her. I’m not 100 percent sure it would have worked, but I didn’t even try it! I know I will never make the mistake again of letting my problems at work go un-talked about.
2. I should have asked them what they wanted- When you are working toward your goals as a Millennial employee it is really easy to only focus on what you need to get done to succeed. But the truth is, your success is partially based on your bosses success. I had one boss who gave all of her media pitching to me on my first day. She said “you are managing this media list, go for it.” And I did “go for it.” Unfortunately though, I wasn’t doing it right. I completely let my enthusiasm for the project get in the way of me doing the work correctly. And if I had just taken a few more minutes to ask my boss what she really wanted me to do, we would have both found success. Instead, we both failed.
3. I should have told them what I wanted- I actually had a wonderful boss at one of my internships, but he was BUSY. And I mean he was really really really busy. At the time I blamed him for my lack of interesting and meaningful work. He basically told me to do whatever I wanted. And instead of telling him what I wanted to do and actually doing it, I got scared and continued to do the busy work he left for me. Here he had given me this amazing opportunity to do whatever I wanted, but I was too afraid to tell him what it was I really wanted.
So next time you think your boss doesn’t “get you,” think of what you can do to make your relationship better. Your manager is above you for a reason, so give them a hand in managing you. And hopefully one day, your boss will “get you.”
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