The Importance of Recommendations
Giving recommendations to managers is an important part of many jobs. As an employee, you likely have valuable insights into your work, your team, and possible areas for improvement. Sharing well-thought-out recommendations with your manager can help drive positive change in your organization. However, it’s important to provide recommendations in a professional, constructive way to ensure they are received positively.
When to Give Recommendations
The first step is considering when is the right time to provide recommendations. You don’t want to bombard your manager with too many suggestions too frequently. instead, look for these opportunities:
- During performance reviews or one-on-one meetings with your manager
- When your manager asks for feedback on a specific issue
- When major changes are happening in the team or organization
- When you’ve identified an urgent problem that needs addressing
Timing your recommendations strategically for when your manager will be most receptive will give them the best chance of being implemented.
How to Frame Your Recommendations
Just as important as when you give recommendations is how you frame them. Follow these tips for providing recommendations effectively:
- Keep it professional. Focus on constructive solutions instead of complaints. Avoid ultimatums or threats.
- Have concrete examples. Use data, statistics, or specifics to illustrate the need for changes.
- Suggest solutions. Don’t just point out problems – come prepared with potential solutions for fixing them.
- Focus on goals. Emphasize how your recommendations can help the team and organization reach objectives.
- Use “I” statements. Talk about your own experiences and perspectives vs generalizations.
- Follow up. Ensure you follow up at a later time on the status of your suggestions.
Framing your feedback using these methods will help show your maturity and professionalism.
Choosing the Right Medium
You also want to think about how best to communicate your recommendations:
- In person. More intimate in-person meetings can be good for complex or sensitive issues.
- Email. Email allows you to provide detailed explanations and documentation.
- Memos. Short memos work for focused, burning issues needing quick fixes.
- Presentations. Larger-scale recommendations may warrant a presentation or proposal.
Consider which medium will convey your message most effectively while still feeling natural.
Examples of Recommendations
To make this advice more concrete, here are a few examples of effective recommendations you could give a manager:
Technology Upgrade Recommendation
Our team is still using version 1.0 of our project management software. Upgrading to version 2.0 would add many helpful features like real-time progress tracking, collaborative task lists, and file sharing. I suggest we upgrade to streamline our workflows. The $5,000 yearly subscription cost could save us time equivalent to $15,000 in productivity.
New Team Member Recommendation
Demand for our services has increased 30% over the past quarter. I recommend we bring on an additional customer support rep to handle the growing inbound requests. Based on my analysis of current staff bandwidth, hiring one more team member could boost our capacity to handle leads by 50%. Here is a job description and rationale for this role.
Process Improvement Recommendation
Our current system of sharing sales data between the sales and marketing teams is inefficient. Sales sends a PDF report once a week that has to be manually filtered. I suggest we set up a shared CRM dashboard where data syncs in real-time. Marketing could access live sales data, allowing us to respond faster to trends. I mock
Presenting Your Recommendations
Once you’ve determined what recommendations to provide and how to frame them, you need to effectively present them to your manager. Here are some tips for the presentation itself:
- Be confident but respectful – don’t sound timid or aggressive.
- Be prepared to explain your rationale and provide evidence.
- Ask your manager open-ended questions to get their thoughts.
- Avoid defensiveness if they challenge parts of your recommendations.
- Clarify how the change would feasibly work.
- Emphasize how your solutions align with company goals.
- Thank them for considering your input and offer to help implement changes.
With the right balance of confidence, preparation, and team spirit, you can increase the chance of your recommendations being accepted.
Following Up
Don’t let your recommendations disappear into the void after your initial presentation. Following up shows you truly care about driving change:
- Send a thank you email recapping your main suggestions.
- Circle back within a week to check in on next steps.
- If they approve your ideas, offer to help create an implementation plan.
- Ask if they need any other details to make a decision.
- If they decline the recommendations, graciously accept their reasoning.
- Inquire if they would reconsider your ideas in the future.
Consistent, professional follow-up is key to moving your recommendations forward.
Troubleshooting Rejected Recommendations
Even if you present your recommendations tactfully, your manager may not accept some or all of them. Don’t take it personally – focus on learning for next time:
- Ask for their reasons for declining and listen carefully.
- Request feedback on how you could improve your approach.
- Consider if they have valid concerns and re-evaluate your ideas.
- Suggest compromises, alternatives or piloting a smaller-scale version.
- Make sure to express appreciation for their perspective.
- Don’t argue or force it – be cooperative.
Taking rejection constructively will help you give even better recommendations down the road.
Key Takeaways
Providing great recommendations to your manager is an art that improves with practice. Remember these key tips:
- Time it appropriately when your manager will be receptive.
- Frame recommendations professionally with evidence and solutions.
- Pick the right medium suited to your message.
- Present confidently while soliciting their perspective.
- Follow up consistently to show you care about implementing changes.
- Handle rejections maturely and learn for future interactions.
Recommendations are a collaborative process meant to make the organization better. By mastering these steps, you can provide constructive input while strengthening your working relationship with your manager.
Conclusion
Giving effective recommendations demonstrates maturity, critical thinking, and commitment to improvement. While challenging at times, the ability to influence change in a positive way is crucial skill for any employee. Use the techniques outlined here to have productive discussions and see your best ideas put into action. With the right balance of preparation, professionalism and persistence, you can guide your team towards innovation breakthroughs.