Ready to Take on More Responsibility at Work? Here’s How To Tell Your Boss?

You are doing great at your boss, your boss is happy, but what if yoy want more? The key to securing a promotion boils down to showing your boss that you are ready to take on more responsibility. Here are 5 ways to ensure you’re meeting expectations, over-delivering and proving that you’re truly ready for the next step:

Go to your Boss

First thing first, you need to show your supervisor through your actions that you are ready for more challenging work.

The next time you have a one-on-one session with your boss, discuss if they have any additional projects or tasks that you could help with or propose ways in which you would like to help with any impending challenge. You don’t need to ask directly; simply intimate that you are ready to add more to your plate. Between discussions, you should also find a way to communicate your own career goals and how they can be aligned into the company’s future.

If you are looking for opportunities to hone your skills and knowledge, suggest areas where you may be able to get more involved. Even if you don’t get regular face-time with your boss, try to request a meeting. If your boss doesn’t get the clue after a few subtle hints, maybe you need to simply face them and tell them that you are ready for more responsibility!

Maintain Cordial Relationships with All Employees

Positive relationship building skills have become somewhat of a necessity, of course, but you need to up your relationship building game the higher up you move the career ladder. Leadership requires building rapport with workers at all levels and resonating with them. When you have maintained positive relationships with your co-workers, you will often be called upon to mediate in disputes.

Amicable people are also seen as a leader, even if they haven’t officially been bestowed the title. If you are a peoples-person, someone who is comfortable with breaking the ice and striking up conversations with employees at level of your organization, be it your CEO or a junior executive, you possess the right interpersonal skills that will move you up the echelon.

Help out your coworkers

There are always co-workers who need help from you. Whether an employee in some other department or even your next cubicle neighbor looks burned out and stressed, always offer to lend a hand.

However, make sure that people don’t start taking advantage of you, or have you do their extra work, without giving you any credit for it. Learn to identify the sort and steer clear of them. Be sure not to help out others at the expense of your own work though. You don’t want to be sitting out late, burning the midnight oil finishing your own work, just because you were too busy helping others. If you’re found neglecting your own responsibilities, you will never be given more responsibility at work.

Be Proactive

You can’t keep waiting for someone else to give you the green light. Be the type of person who takes initiative and gets things done without waiting to be asked.

Start by completing tasks that are falling through the cracks, the ones your co-workers are too hesitant to undertake. Present new ideas to your boss or offer to help on different projects. Your boss will be sure to appreciate your foresight and sense of responsibility. However, if this task involves reaching out to clients and stakeholders, be sure to check in with your boss before making the move. Just a simple hint that you are thinking of doing something a certain way would ensure that your team or boss is notified.

Also, while you are taking initiative and tackling the elephant in the room, be sure to communicate it to your team and your boss so that no one else does it as well. If you want to show your boss you’re ready for that next step, you are going to go out of your way to do things beyond those that are expected of you. You’re going to expand your job to help the company [and] help your team.

Make a habit of Remembering Things

Missing an important deadline, forgetting to call an important client, or neglecting to revert to an email, doesn’t exactly cast you in a positive light. Assign yourself calendar reminders to make sure you don’t forget anything. If you already have enough on your plate, and looking to pile on some more, calendar management is your lifeline. You simply cannot expect to get by without reminders. When you stay on top of things, your boss will see you as a responsible, organized employee who can be trusted with more important works.