Message #79978

[claudiamag]

I would do exactly as Atlanta suggested.  Also, I would go ahead and jump in and start monitoring the email and calendar, that way during the first meeting she can tell her manager what she has been doing so far.  If he expects something different, he can express that to her then.  If not, then she can just go ahead with what she is doing.  This would show some initiative on her part and give him a starting point to go from so he can express his expectations.

I did this with a boss I started working with about a year ago.  He was so busy traveling from the first day, that I never actually got a chance to chat with him before starting.  I just went ahead and started monitoring his calender and sending him reminders and preparing reports that I knew he would need.  When he finally returned to the office, we had a good starting point of what needed to be done.  From then on, I go into his office first thing in the morning and just ask him quickly if there is anything that needs to be prioritized for that day.  He know realizes that he needs to express certain needs to me and opened up communication.  It has worked out well for us.