Happy Tuesday!

So you’ve been meeting with your manager about this uber-important project at work, and through all these meetings, you’ve clearly had the best ideas and approach. When faced with technical questions, you come up with the answer faster (and better) than the boss. The presentation you made that your manager took credit for garnered rave reviews, making you (and everyone else) realize that hmmm….you may just be more competent and knowledgeable than your own boss. Tricky situation when the person you report to appears to not be as sharp as you are, and when you also happen to be an ambitious corporate sister eager to climb the corporate ladder? What to do to make your competencies shine while not outshining your manager, and still manage to prove your best at work?

• Keep being your best! In many of these types of situations, we tend to assume, especially as minority women, that we should downplay our capabilities so as not to be perceived in a negative light by the same person who signs your annual review. Absolutely not! Keep in mind that you were hired to perform your best work, and that’s exactly what you should keep doing.
• Be receptive to your boss’s input and ideas. Everyone’s input is to be considered, and even as a top performer, you should make a special effort to consider, value and use your manager’s input. It will not only make him or her feel less threatened (yes it happens), but it will also prove that you are a team member!
• When push comes to shove, make them think it’s kinda their idea…Some may not agree with me on this one, but when you really need your boss-s buy-in on an important project, you need to put on your negotiator’s cap. And what better incentive for anyone to sign off on the dotted line than to actually believe that they contributed in the whole process. Sharing your ideas and accomplishments, while retaining the credit for them, may take you a long way in the corporate world.

How do you handle these types of situations?

The Corporate Sister