How is this for a new year’s resolution, “I’ll strive to improve my relationship with my manager.”

Although we know most resolutions at a year’s beginning are about as short-lived as the latest weight-loss fad, consider these four practical suggestions for enhanced relations with your manager.

1. Determine what your manager is trying to achieve and dig in to help.  Few things get managers’ attention quicker than team members’ who align their behaviors with the boss’s vision.

2. When you differ with your manager’s decision, and you will; present other options of how he might proceed.  Begin your suggestion with, “I’m going to do what you ask me to do, but I’d like to discuss another way of approaching this issue.” 

3. Avoid hallway grumbling and second-guessing.  When peers complain about your manager’s decision, listen attentively and explain why you think her decision might work.

4. None of us is perfect and neither is your manager.  Accept your manager’s weaknesses; and rather than slamming him for his short comings, lean into his strengths.

Team members who have good relationships with their managers usually have greater individual success and higher job satisfaction.