You probably have a list of questions you'd ask your boss if given the chance.

大概只要一有机会你就有一大串问题要问老板。

"You really paid someone for that haircut?"

“这个发型真的是你花钱请人剪的？”

"Must your lunch always include garlic?"

“难道每次午餐你都得吃大蒜吗？”

"How did someone as nice as you end up marrying someone so unpleasant?"

“你这么一个好人怎么和这样讨厌的人结婚？”

If you have any desire to keep your job, you'll keep those questions to yourself. Unfortunately employees have a tendency to keep all questions to themselves, even when speaking up can help their careers.

如果还想保住工作的话，你最好将这些问题留给自己。不幸地是，员工们往往把一切问题都保留了，即使是那些有助于事业发展的问题。

"Workers choose silence over dialogue because they worry about damaging credibility, fear retaliation from key decision makers or doubt their voice will make a difference. And when employees choose silence, progress suffers," says Kerry Patterson, co-author of "Crucial Conversations."

《至关重要的对话》一书的作者之一 Kerry Patterson说：“人们选择沉默是因为他们担心这会影响上司对自己的信任、害怕决策者的报复、怀疑自己的建议不会起作用。当员工选择了沉默，就不会有进展了。”

Whether you keep quiet because you're afraid of embarrassing yourself or you don't think your questions mean much, you should start speaking up.

不管沉默是因为担心提问会让自己难堪还是认为自己的问题没多大意义，你都应该提出问题。

"A colleague once said to me, 'I can tell more about a person by the questions they ask than by what they tell me,'" says Edith Onderick-Harvey, president of Change Dynamics Consulting, an executive consulting firm. "The same is true for managers. Questions about the broader organization's goals and priorities, your role in achieving those and asking for feedback tell your boss you are focused on a career with the organization, not just a job."

执行咨询公司Change Dynamics Consulting主席Edith Onderick-Harvey说：“曾经一位同事对我说，‘一个人所问的问题比他所告白的更能让我了解他这个人。’对于管理人员来说也是如此。问那些关于公司更高层面上的目标和需要优先考虑的事情之类的问题、你在实现这些目标中的角色的问题并寻求反馈，这些都向老板说明了你关注的是公司的发展而不仅仅是自己的那份工作。”

Here are nine questions to ask your boss that can help your career. (Just don't ask them all at once -- your boss is probably a busy person.)

下面九个问题会有助于你事业发展（不要一次全部问完，因为你的老板很可能是个大忙人）。

（1）"How do you measure success?"

“你如何衡量成功？”

Employees often forget that their performances are graded in some form or another. In order to understand how your work is quantified, you should be speaking the same language as your boss. Find out if your manager is only concerned with numbers and results or if with how you achieve them also matters, Onderick-Harvey advises. Then, you base your future work on his or her priorities.

员工们往往忘记自己的表现是按照某种标准来评分的。为了了解你的工作是如何被衡量的，你应该和老板统一看法。Onderick-Harvey的建议是：看看你的老板是否只注重数字和结果、还是会也注重完成工作的方式。然后你将来的工作就以他/她的关注点为前提。

（2）"What areas do I need to develop to advance my career?"

“为了自己的事业发展，哪些方面是需要改进的？”

This question shows your boss you are in control of your future and are not waiting for someone else to make things happen, Onderick-Harvey says. If you can articulate what your career goals are, your boss can tell you what experience you need to gain before you can move up the ladder.

Onderick-Harvey说，这个问题表明你掌控着自己的未来而不是在等别人实现你的未来。如果你能明确表达自己的职业目标，你的老板就能告诉你为了目标需要获得哪些经验。(to be continued)

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