Get the guidance you need

- One of my first jobs out of grad school, I worked for a boss that was never in the office. He was constantly networking, meeting people, attending conferences. That was great. Everyone knew him and liked him and wanted to do business with him, but it wasn't great for me because as his new employee, I didn't really know how things worked and couldn't seem to ever catch his attention long enough to find out. I'd save up detailed lists of questions and would try to get them in rapid fire when he called to check in once every day or two. It was a stressful way to learn my job and I'm not the only one. Most bosses these days are incredibly busy oftentimes too busy to provide regular guidance and feedback. So here are strategies to get the guidance you need from an elusive boss. First, even though it may be uncomfortable, it's important to sit down and have a meta conversation, meaning a conversation about how you have conversations. You can keep trying to get the information you need to do your job in five minute increments before your boss hops in a car or boards a plane. But it's a better idea to request a sit down meeting where you're both able to be fully present. Bring up the fact that you have normal questions that arise in the course of doing your job. And because your boss is busy, it can sometimes be hard to get answers in a timely fashion. So what does she suggest as the best course of action? That's not accusatory, that's just reality that any reasonable boss will understand that, see what she suggests. And if it sounds feasible to you. Maybe it's a weekly meeting on Tuesdays the day she's actually in the office. Maybe it's a daily check-in call or frequent email she can answer from her cell phone. You can experiment and see what works but it's essential to start the conversation. In addition to talking about how to address the regular questions that come up, it's important to develop an emergency plan. What happens if an irate client calls up when your manager is on a plane overseas and offline for the next 10 hours? What if there's a pressing media inquiry and he can't be reached? Brainstorm likely scenarios or if not likely, at least plausible and determine together what your strategy should be. Finally, think about creating an operating manual for your job. This will become helpful reference guide for you over time as it can remind you about how to handle certain scenarios. You can also give it to your boss to read and edit so you know if you're on the same page about how to approach things. The guide will also be useful to whomever your successor is and don't worry that creating it is going to put you out of a job. If they want to get rid of you, trust me, they'll do it anyway. But instead, creating a manual like this actually shows your initiative and makes it easier for them to promote you accordingly because they know that there will be less of an adjustment period for the new hire thanks to your onboarding guide. In a busy world it's not always easy to get the guidance we need but with these steps, you can get proactive, take control and show your initiative.