Looking for a Career? Ask Your Boss These Questions
How do you get quality feedback from your boss, and how do you get your boss to invest in helping you build your career?
It all comes down to the questions you ask, according to Julie Zhuo, VP of product design at Facebook and author of Building a Manager: What to Do When Everyone’s Looking at You .
Zhuo shared a list of ten questions that can accelerate your career on Medium, and here’s an excerpt:
2. What do you think it will look like if I’m twice as good at what I do, or if this project is twice as good?
If you feel proud of how you knocked your last project out of the park, or how you are doing your best, it’s time to ask this little question and pass it on to your manager or other senior executive who knows your job.
We tend to climb only as much as we can imagine. If your bar for “excellent work” is, say, level nine, and you’ve reached it, you probably won’t strive to do more. But if someone tells you, “Try to get to level 15 – this is what it looks like,” – suddenly a new goal will appear in front of you. As they say, shoot at the stars and you will go to the moon. Bonus Points: This question shows others that you are impatient, active, and always striving for more.
When I was about 20 years old, I worked for four years as an Assistant Executive at a think tank in Washington DC. At the time, I tried my best to ask for feedback, but after reading Zhuo’s list of questions, I realized how non-specific my requests were.
For example, the question “Can I improve something?” – too wide; my managers gave answers like “you’re okay” or “I’ll let you know,” both of which probably meant “I can’t think of anything.” Bosses are busy and – unless you make repetitive mistakes or fundamentally fail at your job – they are unlikely to have constructive criticism at the ready.
If I asked a better question, like Zhuo’s question, “Where have I been the most influential in the past few months, from your perspective?” I could get a better answer. When asked at the right time (for example, during or before a performance review), these types of questions can give your boss the opportunity to provide thoughtful and focused feedback.
Some of Zhuo’s questions are designed to let your boss know that you are interested in taking your career to the next level and that you value his advice and ideas. You still need to find the right moment to start a conversation like this, but if you take the time to ask these career questions, you can get both good answers and long-term support from your boss.
Read Zhuo’s full list of questions and let us know if you’ve ever asked your manager for this kind of feedback – and how it went.