Manager Support

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4 min read

Effective ways to gain more support from your manager


Receiving more manager support when you require it enables your growth and development, and eventually career advancement. Sometimes, it can be difficult to approach your manager for more support with the worry about how that might look on you or giving the impression that you cannot do your job. Asking for more support will make you feel vulnerable to a certain extent.

This can be managed by knowing how to approach your manager for more support that makes a key difference in your manager’s perception of you. In fact, your manager might think that you are being proactive in learning and development. Your manager would not know what you might be struggling with and require more support, hence to better perform your work, you can play an active role in gaining more manager support by reaching out to your manager.

 

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Before you approach your manager for help more effectively, it helps to understand your own thoughts by reflecting on:

 

  1. What are some concerns you have about asking for more support from your manager? Can these apprehensions be addressed together with your manager?

  2. Was there an instance where you felt that you could do with more guidance and support from your manager? What kind of guidance or support did you need (e.g., technical guidance, managing stakeholders, overcoming obstacles, etc.)?

  3. Which areas of growth do you want for the near future that your manager can help you in?

  4. How do you best learn (e.g., through providing direct feedback or through reading articles) and how can your manager support you in that (e.g., set up regular feedback sessions or send you resources)?

 
Let’s put this in
work context

 

One way to gain more effective manager support is to approach it as a collaboration. Go in with the mindset of solving the issue together rather than having your manager give you the answers. This starts with creating a structure when approaching your manager for help shows that you have given the issue some thought - how you frame the conversation makes a difference in getting the help you need and building a good reputation:

  1. Context: Provide sufficient context and background to help your manager understand the issue.

  2. Issue: Share what the key obstacle or blocker is for you.

  3. Share your efforts: Show your manager that you have done your homework including the possible solutions that you have brainstormed.

  4. Support: Let your manager know how you would like to be supported or what help you need from them.

 

 

 

“

Ask for help not because you’re weak, but because you want to remain strong

 

– Les Brown

 

 

 

 

It is helpful to think about how to set better goals and how goal setting motivates you.

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