When Talking to Your Boss

Some tips to consider when talking to your boss:

• Give the third paragraph first. Get to the point. Don't give a lot of history. It may be that you'll get an immediate "go ahead."
• Organize your thoughts in advance. Don't ramble when you get the chance to address your main topic.
• Beware of any high pressure sales techniques that involve deadlines. You'll almost always get a negative response.
• Don't try to squeeze a 60 minute conversation into a 10 minute meeting. And vice-versa.
• Understate your case. Any overstatement will damage your credibility.
• Be ready to discuss the downside of your proposal. If you haven't seen a downside, you haven't looked closely enough.
• Make sure that all of the key issues are clear in your own mind. If something is unclear to you, you won't communicate it clearly.
• Never present a problem without proposing a solution.
• When discussing possible courses of action, always have more than three options. Many bosses know the old "sandwich technique" of placing a preferred option between two extremes.