I am very much an introvert, and am finding that my new boss is too.
I’d really like to establish a positive working relationship with him, but am struggling to have a decent conversation when we catch up. I get the impression from our chats that we are both trying to form a good conversation, but I’ve noticed that he often gives one word responses to questions, and I fail to ask enough open ended questions to have a good exchange. As a result, our conversations are typically just me nervously blathering on about stuff which probably isn’t super interesting.
How can I work towards improving our communication?
3 comments
Find something he’s interested in (like a movie he likes or a band he listens to) and ask him about that. People usually don’t mind talking about themselves.
HOWEVER, don’t be pushy. Your boss may not want to talk about his personal life and may be very professional (thus the short responses). Just be good at your job and ask him for help when you need it
I had to work on my open ended questions aswell to stop getting yes/no’s in conversations. I find asking who/what/where/when/why questions helps. Instead of do you like etc which is just a yes or no you then ask why etc
https://youtu.be/ePMN3yWwtDM