Your relationship with your boss will be critical to your happiness and success in your tenure in a position. While there are times when you will immediately “hit it off” with a new employer, there will be many other times where you simply coexist at first. While this may be just fine with you and your boss, ultimately you will both get more out of your working relationship if it is a strong, trusting one rather than simply a relationship based on proximity to each other.

To this end, here are three ways to strengthen your relationship with your boss:

• Report on yourself
  Make sure that your employer knows what you are up to all day. Even if they do not ask, provide timely updates on projects and deadlines so that they know where things stand. This not only keeps your boss informed, but it also shows initiative and demonstrates that you are taking the role that you have been assigned seriously.
   
• Keep things in confidence
  Even if you have not been directly instructed to keep things quiet, do not talk about work at work. Your boss will appreciate your discretion and come to perceive you as a person who can be trusted with information rather than someone who talks a lot about work-related minutia that may not be able to keep their mouth shut when it matters.
   
• Remember details
  Keep up with the little things. For example, if you are an assistant, then make sure you remember personal details like anniversaries and birthdays when that information is available to you. Format correspondence with your boss in the ways that he or she most prefers for easy, pleasant reading and make sure that you remain conscious of how he or she likes to receive information.

By carefully cultivating your end of the relationship between you and your boss, you will find that you are able to establish a stronger bond between the two of you that will help you remain happy and productive in your position.