How to Impress Your MD

Impressing your MD is something that every manager strives to do at some point in their career. Whether you want to encourage a better working relationship between the two of you, be recognised for the effort you put into your role, or get a promotion, it's important that your boss sees your value.

However, trying to impress them can come across as superficial and end up doing more to harm your professional prospects.

There are simple ways that you can ensure your MD knows how valuable you are to the company without having to suck up to them.

Drive innovation

Most MDs are primarily driven by what will make their business more profitable and often coming up with new ideas is the best way to achieve this. Whether it's trying to simplify a process or jumping on the latest industry trend, being a driver of new ideas is likely to impress your boss for two reasons. Firstly, it makes their job - of increasing profit margins - easier, but it also shows that you're committed to the business and are prepared to put your own effort in to make the best of it.

Don't blame those around you

Every once in a while, a problem is solely down to one individual who didn't do their job properly, but far more often, issues that arise in business are the result of an entire team not reaching their full potential. As a manager, you need to take responsibility for the things - both good and bad - that happen. This will impress your MD because the best leaders are often not concerned about whose fault an issue was, but care about how it can be fixed and how to prevent it from happening it again. This, from your boss's perspective, is far more useful and shows that you are a responsible leader in the business.

UPOD (under-promise, over-deliver)

It's a well-used business term for how to set goals and deadlines with clients, but under-promising and over-delivering is a sure-fire way to impress your MD. It ensures that you are not just not failing your goals or deadlines, but that you are giving your boss more than they expected.