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SURVIVING AND THRIVING
The Business Careers Handbook 2020
Establishing strong professional relationships
Working in business is frequently a collaborative process, so it’s vital you foster strong professional relationships characterised by open communication, mutual respect and the shared pursuit of common goals. As a graduate, you can learn a lot about how to do this by observing your colleagues, taking their advice seriously and remaining open to constructive feedback. Below we discuss ways to establish and manage professional relationships with key people you are likely to encounter during your initial graduate experiences – your manager, colleagues, clients and other stakeholders. Your manager When you start your role, you will be assigned a manager. Sometimes you will have met your manager during the interview process, other times they will be an entirely new face. Regardless, it’s important you’re open with your supervisor about what you expect to learn as a graduate. You are the only person in charge of your career. It’s important you are clear about why you are at the organisation and what you would like to learn and achieve. Your manager is someone you can rely on to help you achieve your professional goals, but if you don’t tell them what you want to learn, they won’t be able to read your mind!
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The level of interaction with your manager will depend on your organisation and specialisation. Typically however, the role of your manager will be to assign you work as required, hold you to account and assess your performance (which then has implications for salary increases or bonuses). It is important then, that you understand exactly what is required of you when delegated a new task. If you are confused or unsure, be sure to communicate this to your supervisor and seek clarification. Don’t be afraid of asking questions! You will gain respect for demonstrating a desire to learn and get things done in the right way. Taking notes is a good way to ensure you successfully integrate advice, and gives you something to refer back to if you need to refresh your memory. If you feel you are unable to complete a task by a given deadline, it is important to let your manager know immediately. Your supervisor can use this information to manage workflows across their team more effectively, ensuring you aren’t assigned too many tasks or tasks of undue complexity. Remember, managing your time means being aware – and realistic – about how you spend your time and prioritising accordingly. It is also important that you own up to your mistakes. You’re there to learn! While a mistake may feel
