Transcript
Transcript: Cup of Joe with Joseph Silva: Briefing Your Boss
[0:00 A man standing in front of the camera]
Joseph Silva: Hello, my name is Joseph Silva.
[0:02 Title "Cup of Joe with Joseph Silva: Briefing Your Boss" appears next to an animated coffee mug.]
Briefing one's boss is very different with each boss so you can't use the same approach for everyone. During my career I have had to adapt to different bosses that wanted different things.
[0:12 Text appears on screen "Joseph Silva, Former Director General, Human Resources, Privy Council Office".]
[0:23-2:12 a white banner appears and stays at the bottom of the screen, with the text "Canada School of Public Service".]
After years of trying to figure this out I used an approach I found very useful that focused on a few key elements. What are the boss's likes and dislikes? Did they like more qualitative or quantitative information? What type of information captured their interest? What were the things that were important to them and to my boss's superiors?
When I started with a new boss, I found it helpful to check with their outer office. Those folks are very well aware of how the boss likes things and know which things grab her or his attention. I always made it a priority to have a positive collaborative relationship with the outer office, as it was key if I wanted to have access to the boss when I needed it!
I'd also prepare an agenda ahead of time with most critical and sensitive items to be dealt with first and the less critical items at the end in case the Boss was pulled out of the meeting to deal with other urgencies. I'd add some brief notes for each item on the agenda, to make sure that the boss and the Executive Assistant would have a listing of all my items with updates in case we ran out of time. The agenda also served as a good reference for the next meeting and to remind me of what was discussed previously. It was also something I used as a summary of items for my PMAs at the end of the year.
On the rare occasion I did have some time left in the meeting, I'd use the opportunity to highlight projects, highlight the work of employees, or get a signal check on a topic to see if there was interest from the boss before proceeding with any action.
The main issue is to have a good understanding of their style and how to capture their attention when you need it. For example, some bosses like face-to-face meetings or phone calls, for others it is an urgent email or texts.
The best advice I have received along the way is that you must give them what they need, what they want and, HOW they want it! Good luck!
[2:07 Title "Cup of Joe with Joseph Silva: Briefing Your Boss" appears next to an animated coffee mug.]
[2:14-2:24 The CSPS logo appears onscreen. A text appears on the screen: canada.ca/school. The Government of Canada logo appears onscreen.]
