My boss isn’t listening to my opinion. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

I’m having a lot of trouble getting through to my boss of about six months.

I have a very specialist role within my business – I don’t want to say exactly what we do, but let’s just say that I’m a technical expert with a lot of knowledge in our core products.

My boss is a smart person who has been in the industry forever, but to my mind he’s more of a generalist. He’s a great manager, but his in-depth knowledge of some topics leaves a bit to be desired quite frankly.

Which is why I get really annoyed when he ignores what I say. He often asks for my opinion, he listens to me intently, but half the time he’ll go off in another direction. These aren’t decisions that will make or break the company, but they are important to me. I really don’t know why he bothered to hire me if he’s not going to listen.

What am I doing wrong? Do I raise it with him?

Confused,

Brisbane

Dear Confused,

Oh yes, go and tell your boss that he’s an idiot for doing his job properly; because that’s exactly what he’s doing.

Good managers listen to their staff and value their opinions and it sounds like your boss is doing that.

But good managers also know that not all opinions are equal. As well as relying on their own experiences, they know that a proven track record of good advice and insights matters when you are deciding who to listen to.

Your opinion is valid and valued by your boss. But you’ve only been there for six months and he’s still deciding how much weight to give it.

When you show you are right more often than not, then he’ll listen to you more often than not. Until then, stop whinging and concentrate on giving him the best advice you can.

Be smart,

Your Aunty B

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