The 6 Simple Strategies To Ensure Your Billing Manager Respects You

How many jobs have you left during your recruitment career? What reasons made you leave?  We know that poor management and lack of career development are strong contenders in making people switch employers, but there’s sometimes also a reason that few like to admit to. 

Your manager doesn’t respect you.  

It’s an awful feeling when you know that your manager has the wrong idea of you, or just doesn’t believe in your potential. Often this means that you aren’t given the opportunity to prove yourself, and are consequently saddled with a non-lucrative sector or a stable of small but time-consuming clients.  

This creates a self-fulfilling cycle, where it’s impossible to prove to the manager that you’re better than they think you are, because your billing numbers just don’t show anything that changes their mind. You then find that they’re always checking up on you, or giving you the tasks no-one else wants. 

And sometimes, their lack of belief in your abilities starts rubbing off you. Or it just makes you angry, because you feel you’re being disrespected and your talents underutilised.  

At this low point, you feel the only choice is to move roles and start again.   

But is it?  

And if this is not the first time you’ve had this kind of relationship with a manager, will it really help to move roles?  You may well find yourself in the same situation, with a CV that’s starting to read dangerously like War and Peace (but without the good reviews.) 

Instead, is there something you could be doing to improve your standing in the manager’s eyes? Can you turn this around? 

The answer is yes.  

You can definitely change your billing manager’s perception of you for the better, even if it’s currently at a low point. While you can’t force them to think differently of you, you can lead them towards thinking highly of you by generating good outcomes for them and fitting in with their working style.  

And if you feel that your relationship is simply too sour to heal, then follow these steps in your next role so that you can impress your new manager from day 1.  

1. Find out what they want from you!   

This one seems blindingly obvious, but is very often overlooked.  If you’re new to a role, ask the manager what you’ll need to do and learn to succeed quickly in the role. Then put an enormous amount of effort into getting up to speed in those elements.  If you’re already in a position, be upfront, and ask where they’d like you to improve, and request some suggestions on how you might learn or practice to meet their expectations. 

2. Adapt your communication style to match theirs.  

For example, if you’re softly spoken and take time to consider before responding, and they’re confident and fast-paced communicators, they may just dismiss your attempts at communication. Same goes if they write long emails and you answer with a one line response.  

Assess what style of communication that they use, and look at how others communicate with the manager successfully. Start mimicking that style so the manager takes in what you’re saying rather than ignoring you. It may help to ask your manager how they prefer to communicate, particularly if you are new in the role.

3. Put effort into getting along with the team.   

If your manager has a good relationship with their team, the quickest way into their good graces is to show that you fit in well with the other recruiters. Make an effort to help others out, ask people questions about themselves, and don’t talk about people behind their backs or be unnecessarily competitive.

Your manager will be watching, and if you get along with their key players, they will naturally more well-disposed towards you.  Even if the two of you have a personality clash (we know, it does happen!), they’ll still find it possible to respect you if you have the respect of people that they admire.

4. Make it clear that you welcome feedback and direction.  

You must actively signal to your boss that you want to know how to improve. This shows that you are keen, that you are brave and mature enough to take criticism, and that you respect their opinion and guidance.  

Not only that, but it often takes a weight off their mind, as many billing managers dread delivering constructive feedback as they think it may cause resentment. By you rolling out the welcome mat for feedback, you’ve just signalled to the manager that they don’t have to worry about that in your case, and you instantly gain some respect (and a little gratitude to boot.)

5. Disagree when it’s needed, but do so very carefully. 

You might not want to go rushing in disagreeing with your boss, particularly if you are new, but sometimes, disagreement truly is necessary to forge a respectful relationship.  

For instance, if your manager believes that you should be posting your senior roles on Instagram but you have research to prove that that’s not the right channel for that market, then you should certainly speak up.

It’s a good policy to always have an alternative ready if you’re planning to disagree, and above all, do not ever disagree with your manager in public, unless it is a meeting where they have thrown the floor open for objections. (Even then, if you have a shaky relationship with your manager, it may be better to broach the topic in private.)

5. Know the ‘lay of the land’. 

It’s essential to be observant. Notice who your manager gets along with. Notice what (and who) stresses them out. Try to empathise with their workload and problems. Be aware of their key productive times, pressure points, and when they’d prefer to be left alone.  

All of this information allows you to successfully navigate the common pitfalls that ‘less favoured’ employees often fall headlong into.

For example, an observant employee might notice that the boss is always in a foul mood on Monday mornings, and know not to bother them with anything non-urgent, or know just to bring them a coffee without saying a word.  

Or you might see nervous employees so caught up in trying to impress the boss that they’ll barrage them with questions or information to show that they’re working hard, when a more aware employee would know that the manager has an important meeting later in the day and will be irritated by distractions.  

The more you know about your manager, the more likely you’ll act in a way that they respect you for.  

We understand that it can sometimes be hard to want to make this kind of effort to fit in with your boss, particularly if you feel that they’re unfairly disrespecting you.  

However, these tips will stand you in good stead for your entire career, with every boss you ever have, so they’re well worth your learning. And when you do manage to turn your current manager’s perception of you around, you’ll understand how good it feels. Good luck! 

Until next time,  

Cheryl