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What type of information should I provide my boss who was out of the country for two weeks without access to email or voicemail?

The boss was on vacation with no access to email. We do not have one on one meetings (his choice). We do have a staff meeting on his first day back where we usually report status.

I am concerned that a detailed summary report of things I have done is overkill. Additionally, I think a report of the last two weeks could be viewed as ancient history.

On the other hand, giving him only what he asks for may seem like I am unprepared and may cause him to be caught off-gaurd later on.  I do feel like he should know what happened in the event that I made some decisions that were not the best.

To the community: What kind of report or information would you expect from your directs if you were away from the office for two weeks?

 

flexiblefine's picture

I'd start with a status report on all the ongoing projects you have -- not a list of what got done on each one, but a statement of where each one is now. "I was working on Project X when you left, now I'm at this point, and it should be completed within a week."

Did anything come up over the past two weeks that is special or unusual? Anything that your boss ought to know about? Anything he will want to follow up on? Anything someone will want to follow up with him on? Give him whatever information you can. "Bob over in Department Y has a problem with his framistats, and he says you're the only one who knows how they work. He will probably call you soon."

In general, stick with the current-status type information. If your boss wants to know more about how you spent your time while he was gone, I'm sure he'll ask.

flexiblefine
Houston, Texas, USA
DiSC: 1476