14.10 Communications Skills

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Although the cognitive skills outlined in the previous section may not be readily apparent, the level of your supervisor's communication skills should be quite clear. Why is that important? Perhaps because I have been at this for a long time, I take a somewhat proprietary view of projects I am on and work hard to ensure that they look and feel as professional as possible. Similarly, I want my boss, whenever he or she reaches out to the community, to effectively escalate, evangelize, or advocate that which we are looking for. Not everyone knows how to do these things all that well.

If your boss fumbles at the keyboard with e-mails or does not show well in big meetings, find ways to overcome these deficits without being arrogant, presumptive, or embarrassing about it. In the end, you may have to write e-mails or speak for him or her. Chances are, your boss is aware of any shortcomings of this nature, so if he or she trusts you, it will be arranged for you to be the mouthpiece in a way that no one loses face and no one forgets who is the boss, either. Of course, you do not want to end up being an administrative assistant doing all such work, but unless you are terribly clumsy, you can find ways to avoid this annoyance.

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