How does one do this?
It’s sooooo weird, because I don’t have much trouble doing this socially. But, when it comes to work, I feel like I’m always in the dark, and have no idea what my bosses (and sometimes co-workers) want from me.
After each time I quitted or was fired, I asked my bosses, “what went wrong?” I always got an answer that I never expected. It was usually related to something that was not on my job description or told during training.
Hmm, I’ve had something similar in my past job. I got absolutely NO feedback as to how I was doing for several months after starting. When I asked my boss, he said something along the lines of “If you don’t hear anything, then you’re doing a great job.” Kind of stupid, but he’s got a point in the real world. Ideally, your boss will provide you with feedback, both good and bad, but I guess it just doesn’t happen that way. I think sometimes they don’t even know what their expectations are. However, if you ask directly “What are your expectations of me?” and they can answer the question, then there’s little room for error there if missed expectations weren’t stated. Know what I mean? Sorry I don’t have a better answer!
My boss never praises me, he always acts discouraged that I haven’t finished everything he wants me to do, whether or not he has informed me of what those tasks actually are. I suppose that’s the way bosses have to be, if he was constantly praising me, I’m sure I would get lazy. I do expect a reasonable raise every year though, if not, I will look elsewhere. The only way I can tell that I am doing good is by the feedback of my coworkers. If they stay in a positive tone, I know I am doing an adequate job.
Short answer - you ask. In my last job I discovered my boss was a psychotic loony (and those were his good points) who just played games. When I was interviewing for my current job, I asked the boss of the guy who was going to be my boss what he expected, and got a quite wonderful answer. We even did a timeline.
Whenever you finish anything, ask how it could be improved. That give an easy opportunity for criticism and feedback. If you just ask if it is okay, many will answer yes to avoid conflict.
Many people hate giving negative feedback. Believe it or not, the average boss dislikes a performance review session more than the employee, unless the message is great work and a 10% raise. So you have to go the extra mile to figure out what he or she really wants.