Dealing with a Lack of Feedback from Your Boss
Ever felt like you’ve been given an assignment at work and then gotten no feedback
on your performance? Ever been left to find work for yourself for weeks on end? Perhaps
you’ve experienced all the symptoms of neglect that come from a boss who gives you no
feedback. A common problem as offices become more individual-based, employee neglect doesn’t
have to be a reality. In fact, a lack of communication may not be entirely the boss’s fault.
Many rifts are caused when we as employees fail to let our supervisors simply fail to give
our supervisors all the information they need to know about the work we’ve been doing.
A co-worker once told me a story about communication it work. As a student, he was
monitoring computer systems for the military, and because he worked different shifts than
his boss, he rarely saw him. One day when they were on the job together, his boss asked
him to update some data. He was in the middle of a game of Tetris (which probably wasn’t a
great thing to be doing at work anyway) and so merely said, “OK,” and went back to
playing. What he didn’t tell his boss was that he had already done the job and the computer
was merely processing. Though thankfully he wasn’t fired or severely disciplined, the
story illustrates an important point. While we may be quick to blame our bosses for poor
communication, our own faults are often at the heart of the matter. Before we ask our
supervisors to give us more feedback, we need to be sure we’re giving them proper feedback
on what we’re doing.
If you’ve made sure you’re telling your boss how your projects are coming and you still
feel like he or she is neglecting you, gently ask for feedback. This isn’t as bad as it
may seem—many bosses will be happy with your desire to ensure you’re doing a good job. Be
careful, however, to not give the impression that you can’t do a single iota of work without
getting your boss’s approval, for he or she will probably not enjoy doing so. Scheduling a
weekly or periodic meeting with your boss where you review your plans for the upcoming
week and results from the previous week is a very good way to bolster communication. Remember,
if you can show your boss that you will work better with more information, he or she will
have little choice but to give you more input. After all, what’s best for the company should
be what’s best for you, and vice versa.
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