Your manager has a huge impact on day-to-day quality of life at work. If your manager likes and trusts you, chances are that you're going to find your work life more pleasant and fulfilling, and you'll probably advance more quickly, too.
While you won't click with every manager out there, here are few things you can do that will significantly improve your relationship with the vast majority of managers – and will make you the beloved favorite of many of them.
Quite understandably, employees tend to personalize their relationships with their manager, the feedback they receive, whether their suggestions are used, and generally how a manager responds to them. Consultants – who have clients instead of bosses – tend to have an easier job of approaching clients from a more emotionally detached place.
Make it easy for your boss to give you feedback. As much as you don't enjoy receiving critical feedback, your boss probably likes giving it even less; most managers feel awkward about delivering criticism, and some actively dread or avoid it.
Pay attention to your boss's "themes." Most managers have certain hot buttons or categories of things they particularly care about – whether its responsiveness time, how to play to a particular political sensitivity or budget issues. By paying attention to the things your boss asks about most often or most closely manages you on, you can often draw larger lessons about the sorts of things she'll care about in the future.
Accept your manager's idiosyncrasies with grace. Most people, including managers, have a few weird preferences that might seem annoying or strange to others. For example, you might have a manager who wants everything printed in Courier 12 font without exception, or who insists on talking face-to-face about every little matter rather than using email.
Don't get frustrated when you disagree. If your manager's perspective is different from yours, don't focus on persuading her to see things your way or get frustrated by the disagreement; instead, focus on figuring out why you see things so differently.
When you're confused, anxious or concerned by something your manager says or does, ask about it. Too often, people stew silently rather than simply broaching the topic and getting it resolved. For example, if you noticed your manager seemed uncomfortable with a topic you raised in your last meeting, don't second-guess and speculate about why.
Most importantly, be on top of your own realm. Do what you say you're going to do (by when you say you're going to do it), spot problems and address them proactively, don't let things fall through the cracks and give your manager peace of mind that if you say you're handling something, it will be handled well.
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