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You need to understand in detail what your own boss expects of you as a manager. Armed with this information, you can draw up specific targets for both yourself and your individual team members, and be confident in your day-to-day decision-making.

1 Who is your boss? If you work in a company or hierarchical structure, then there is usually a clear answer to this question – your boss is the person who appointed you or to whom you report. If you are an entrepreneur running your own business, however, your ultimate ‘boss’ may be the customer, or possibly your major shareholder or even the bank manager who allows

case study A sales manager had been set sales targets for him and his team to achieve. He was also set a target for cost reduction within the department and was required to ensure all his staff were trained to use the new software systems the organization introduced. As part of the organization’s expansion plans,

you credit! If you work for a charity you need to be clear whether the ‘boss’ is the donor of the funds or the recipient of the benefit.

2 What does your boss want? If your boss is clear and concise about his or her wants, then you are able to move straight to setting targets for your people. If not, you are going to have to ask, and if necessary keep asking, until you get clear and SMART (see Secret 3.3) objectives.

3 When does your boss want it? Your boss will inevitably want you to achieve a number of different things, and you need to know the comparative priorities – what is most important/urgent and what is less so.

4 How does your boss want it done? This may include the detail of the method, but perhaps more importantly, the framework or environment in which it is to be done. For instance, are you constrained by quality procedures? Are there internal policies on health and safety, equality laws or human rights issues?

If you don’t know your boss’s expectations, then achieving them will be purely a matter of chance.

he was also tasked to investigate new markets and recruit new sales staff to exploit these. Unsure of priorities, he tried to achieve everything as soon as possible. After nine months he collapsed with exhaustion, having reached none of his targets or objectives in full. His team were branded as failures and dispersed.