How-To Get Your Boss To Support Your Ideas

Business owners want their companies to grow and eager employees move the company forward. If you want to advance your career, it is important that you promote new ideas for business development.

If you have a new idea for your employer – great! However, any great idea can be dismissed if it’s not presented well. Do your homework. Your boss will take your idea more seriously if you are prepared.

Align the Values of the Company

The most imperative step is to ensure your idea aligns with the company’s core values. For example, Patagonia clothing company is committed to using environmentally friendly methods to create their products. An accepted pitch probably aligns with sustainability. Before pursuing your project, make sure that it withholds the values of your company.

Examples of Core Values

A commitment to sustainability and acting in an environmentally friendly way
A commitment to innovation and excellence
A commitment to helping people less fortunate
A commitment to building a strong community
A commitment to immediate customer service

Get the Support of Your Co-Workers

Enlist the support of your co-workers. This could be staff that would also work on the project and benefits from the results. To achieve your co-worker’s support, try testing the concept on reliable team members.

Your boss could also be impressed with your ability to lead team members. Communication, management, and passion are necessary in leadership positions that could be a career goal.

Have an Idea of Why the Project Will Benefit the Company

Every project requires company resources. The project might cost the company money, employee hours, or new software. You should be able to answer why your project is worth company resources. If you cannot answer this question, then it is almost certain that your idea will be dismissed.

Pursuing an efficiency solution or new source of revenue, could send you on the fast track to advancing your career.

How the Project Will Benefit the Company

Increase revenue
Reduce expenses
Improve efficiency
Solution to problem that the manager has been trying to achieve
Help your team become more successful

Be Flexible with Feedback

Your boss will have questions and feedback to your idea. That is a good thing! If they did not like your idea than it would have been dismissed. Be prepared to make modifications to the project and take shared ownership.

20 Techniques for Acknowledging Your Employee’s Good Work

Acknowledging your employees for a job well-done can have a great reward for your company. Unfortunately, few employers take the time to reinforce their employee’s good efforts.

According to Author and Motivational Speaker, Bob Nelson, only 58% of employees receive a “thank-you” at work. This is a very low statistic. There is no excuse to not thank your employees for their work.

The following are a few statistics of employee response to positive reinforcement in the workplace. The figures have been acquired by a survey conducted by Maritz Research:

5 times more likely to feel valued
7 times more likely to stay with the company
6 times more likely to invest in the company
11 times more likely to feel committed to the company

Acknowledging your employee’s good work can be one of the best things that you do for company culture. If you don’t thank your employees than its time that you start. Learn 20 simple methods to thanking your employees for a job well-done.

How to Thank Your Employees for a Job Well-Done

Personal Handwritten Notes
Handwritten notes are always more effective than emails. Write a note on a special “Thank-You” card and deliver the card to your employee personally.
Employee of the Month
Employee of the Month is a common acknowledgement to an outstanding employee. On top of the honor, you may want to display their head shot and reward them with a bonus or special parking spot.
Treat Them to Lunch
An employee’s enjoyment of the job is many times tied to the relationship with their Manager. Use this time to connect one on one with someone who has gone the extra mile. Is an entire team doing an exemplary job? Buy lunch for the entire team to thank them for their efforts.
Bonus PTO
Who doesn’t want extra vacation time? Reward your employee with PTO to give them the long weekend that they deserve.
Bouquet of Flowers
Flowers are the classic gift that almost everyone can appreciate. Give a special bouquet of lilies, tulips or even a bouquet of cookies.
Serve Refreshments to Team
End the day with refreshments for your team. This could be beer, wine, or soda on Friday after work.
Grocery Store Gift Card
Gift cards can make your employees feel valued and appreciated with minimum effort from the employer. Besides, who doesn’t need extra cash for the grocery store?
Amazon Gift Card
Amazon is the online store that has something for everyone! With an Amazon gift card, you really cannot go wrong.
Starbucks Gift Card
Most of us drink a morning cup of coffee! Combine a Starbucks gift card with a handwritten note as a special “thank you”.
Recognition in Company Newsletter or Website
If you have a company newsletter, mention your hardworking employee in an article.
Year End Cash Bonus
A cash bonus… the “thank you” gift that never gets old!
Company Apparel
If you are on a budget, company apparel can be an inexpensive method to rewarding employees.
Gala Guests
Does your company collaborate with a charity? If so, provide your employee and a guest with tickets to the next charity Gala.
Impromptu Time Off
On warm summer days, we can often find ourselves staring out our office window. Next time this happens, let your employees leave a few hours early to enjoy the sunny weather.
Breakfast Treats
Reward your team with their favorite breakfast treats! Donuts, muffins, and a fruit platter are always a great choice.
Work Anniversaries
Celebrate your employee’s work anniversaries. You could choose to celebrate a 10, 20, or 30-year anniversary with a plaque and cash bonus.
Point Reward System
A point reward system is a great method for your employees to meet a series of small goals at their own pace. Every point they earn will be an accomplishment toward your bonus system. This is a great way to motivate goal planning.
Traveling Trophy
Sometimes, competition can be a good thing! Try utilizing a traveling trophy to influence hard work.
Work Party
Celebrate Christmas, summer, or special occasions with a work party. Your employees can socialize and meet each other’s family. You could hold your work parties at the office, a restaurant banquet room, or a park.
VIP Parking Spot
Maintain a front row, VIP parking spot, for your employee of the month.

The Strategic Case for Changing Jobs

There are many deeply personal reasons to change your employment situation. However, from a purely strategic point of view, there are four good reasons to change jobs within the same (or similar) industry three times during your first ten years of employment:

Reason #1: Changing jobs gives you a broader base of experience: After about three years, you’ve learned most of what you’re going to know about how to do your job. Therefore, over a ten year period, you gain more experience from “3 x 90%” than “1 x 100%.”

Reason #2: A more varied background creates a greater demand for your skills: Depth of experience means you’re more valuable to a larger number of employers. You’re not only familiar with your current company’s product, service, procedures, quality programs, inventory system, and so forth; you bring with you the expertise you’ve gained from multiple companies.

Reason #3: A job change results in an accelerated promotion cycle: Each time you make a change, you bump up a notch on the promotion ladder. You jump, for example, from RA Sr. Specialist to RA Manager; or RA/QA Manager to RA/QA Director.

Reason #4: More responsibility leads to greater earning power: A promotion is usually accompanied by a salary increase. And since you’re being promoted faster, your salary grows at a quicker pace, sort of like compounding the interest you’d earn on a certificate of deposit.

Many people view a job change as a way of promoting themselves to a better position. And in most cases that is true. However, you should always be sure your new job offers you the means to satisfy your values. While there’s no denying the strategic virtues of selective job changing for the purpose of career leverage, you want to make sure the path you take will lead you where you really want to go.

For instance, there’s no reason to change jobs for more money if it’ll make you unhappy to the point of distraction (i.e. longer commute, no new challenges, difficult boss). On the other hand, if a job represents several other aspects that would improve your situation, then taking a job for the same money would be a good move.

The “best” job is one in which the key aspects of the job match up well with what you value in a job; whether that be career growth and advancement, smaller/bigger company environment, shorter commute or more money. Working with a Recruiter that takes the time to learn what’s important to you and matches new opportunities with your criteria in mind can help ensure that your next move is the right move.