Senior Management: A Surival Guide for Junior Employees

In this era of specialized skillsets, it is more and more likely that a very junior employee will find himself working with senior management directly, perhaps on a technology project, or as a subject matter expert. These experiences are often terrifying for the employee who is fully aware that putting the wrong foot forward (or even worse putting your foot in your mouth) can have a lasting negative effect on his career prospects.

Although Senior Managers are often understanding and forgiving in these situations, it is still better to make a good impression than to have to rely on the forgiveness of those who sign your paycheque.  If you find yourself in this situation, here are some tips:

1.  Understand. Don't Know

It is tempting to try to project confidence and knowledge when talking to senior management.  After all, confident employees are competent employees, right?  But being overconfident can strike people as arrogance, and being confident and wrong is awkward and embarassing.  Even the task you've been assigned can look very different from the perspective of different department heads, so always leave room to be corrected.

For example, if you introduce yourself and say "I'm here to assist with the planning meeting." you're taking a risk.  You don't necessarily know all the context and subtext of your assignment, so you may not be as welcome to everyone involved as you could hope.  Shouldering your way into a situation, bold as brass, where you are not really wanted by everyone is a great way to rub people the wrong way right out of the gate.

If, instead, you say "I understand from Bob (your manager) that I'll be attending your planning meeting and assisting?" you leave the ball in their court.  You've still confidently relayed that you've received, understood, and acted upon your instructions, but you've left open the possibility for revision. You've also sought the confirmation and context you may have been missing.  A response like "Yes, I'll be talking to Bob after the meeting, but for now, take a seat" reveals that an enthusiastic take-charge attitude might not be the best approach after all without getting burned to a crisp in the process.

Using "I understand" as a phrase shows that you are aware that you may not know everything about the situation, which is almost always the case when dealing with senior management as a junior employee.

2. Your Time is Worthless.  Their Time is Priceless

If you find yourself fixing the CEO's printer on your third week, it is extremely tempting to do the job and get out.  And it is often the right thing to do, given how busy CEOs are.  However, be careful not to imply that it is you who is busy as you back out of her office just shy of the sound barrier.  If you are in a large organization, it can be true that one minute of the CEOs time is actually worth more than your entire day, from the company's perspective, so be sure to take your time to ensure that the CEO doesn't need anything else from you before making your exit.

Phrases like "is there any other way I can assist you today?" are good, but specifics are even better.  If, for example, you notice that the CEO's printer is a little low on paper, an offer to refill it while you're here will not only stand you in good stead, it may also save you a later terrifying trip to the head office.

If the CEO declines, though, don't insist.  By declining, she may be telling you that she needs to be doing something, and you don't want to waste any of her time.

3.  Practice your Smile

Senior managers like to joke around, just like everyone, but as a very junior outsider, you're rarely going to get all of the jokes.  Like any small group, in-jokes are common, and these in-jokes may be at the expense of people you work with.  But, you also don't want to be the cold fish of the group, so you need to react to humor in a way that is acceptable to the managers but won't damage your relationships within the rest of the company.

The solution?  Smile.  Smiling when everyone else is laughing shows that you appreciate the humour, but doesn't put you out on a limb if it turns out that they were laughing at your supervisor.  The smile, though, needs to look good.  It can't be pained, or timid, or half hearted.  It needs to appear genuine.  As flight stewards, hotel clerks, and beauty pagent contestants have found, that smile takes practice.  Take the time, in front of a mirror, to practice a relaxed, engaging grin.  The great thing about smiles is the practiced grin becomes your natural smile, so you can feel both natural and safe when the CIO cracks a joke.

4.  When you Screw Up, Take it on the Chin and Move on.

Despite everything, you'll eventually mess up in the presence of senior management.  You are a junior employee, and experience is gained by making mistakes and learning from them.  When this happens, be upfront about it, take what advice, if any, you're given, and put it behind you.  Concentrate on doing your best and on what you learned, and not what your mistake cost you, and you'll be well on your way to taking that "junior" off of your title.