In today’s hybrid, modern, and often disorganized work environment, achievement is no longer simply about meeting deadlines or being an effective team member.
Now more than ever, employees are being recognized and rewarded for establishing effective relationships at every level, especially the top. That’s where managing up helps.
Characterized as being actively working to make your manager’s job more straightforward and more consistent with your own goals, managing up is the new necessity.
Meaning and Importance of Managing Up
The meaning of managing up is to find out how you can get a top on your manager’s wishes, the way they talk, and what they want after all, and apply that to work together better. It is not brown-nosing or manipulating. It is aligning and cooperating.
Kim Scott, Radical Candor’s author, clarifies,
“Managing up is about being in sync with your boss, not sucking up to them.”
When done appropriately, managing up allows for better communication, less misunderstanding, increased autonomy, and more trust.
A Gallup report in 2023 determined that managers account for at least 70% of the variance within employees’ engagement. Whether your success relies on your manager’s support, managing up might be your greatest asset.
Signs You Need to Start Managing Up
Whether or not any of them ring a bell, now is the moment to hone your managing-up style:
- You are out of sync with your boss’s expectations – This might be expressed in the form of surprise when review time arrives and/or continuous course corrections. Day after day, you wonder if you’re meeting the mark, and managing up can serve to clarify expectations and reduce anxiety.
- You typically need clarification after the meeting – Needing to clarify after you leave meetings may be a sign that communication styles are not aligning. Managing up bridges this gap by encouraging proactive follow-up and clarification.
- You don’t receive feedback regularly – Lack of regular feedback typically equals unmotivated improvement and confusion. When you are managing up, you can ensure regular check-ins and performance talks to ensure that you’re doing it right.
- You don’t know how your work ties to bigger goals – When you are doing good work but don’t feel connected to the why, managing up connects what you do day-to-day to your manager’s goals and the company’s purpose.
- You are micromanaged or dismissed – Both extremes signify poor communication or trust. Managing up can reschedule expectations and create a healthier working relationship based on respect.
Managing to overcome these symptoms has more alignment, better communication, and more participative work culture.
Benefits of Managing Up
This is what managing up can do for you:
- Increase job satisfaction – With regular support and clear expectations, employees feel less stressed and more committed. A better connection between you and your manager can create more purpose and job satisfaction.
- Enhance your performance – Knowing your manager’s objectives, you can perform the correct tasks and ask for the proper resources. This alignment makes your work valuable and you a valuable asset.
- Get ahead earlier – Visibility is key to career advancement. Managing your manager maximizes your chances of being seen for your contribution, especially if you are helping your manager achieve their goals. This demonstrates leadership skills, reliability, and proactiveness.
- Build improved working relationships – A positive working relationship between you and your manager has a tendency to set the tone for working relationships. A relaxed working relationship creates a good atmosphere, which increases the morale and productivity of all staff.
- Improve your leadership skills – Whether or not you are in a management role, managing upwards helps you develop valuable leadership skills like empathy, communication, and strategic thinking.
These are skills that can be transferred with you throughout your working years. As Mary Abbajay, a strategist and writer who works on corporate campuses, concisely says,
“If you don’t manage your boss, your boss will manage you, and you may not like the outcome.”
Tips for How to Start Managing Up
Up for a shot? Here are the tried-and-true tips you can use to start managing up:
Understand Their Communication Style
Does your supervisor enjoy email, Slack messages, or in-person briefings? Do they like details or an overview? Adjust your communication style to them.
Anticipate Their Needs
Try to be one step ahead. For instance, if your manager standardly asks for status updates every Thursday, submit it on Wednesday. It earns you trust and makes you appear proactive.
Align With Their Objectives
Find out what constitutes your boss’s success and directly apply your work to assist him or her in achieving them. If they are under pressure to cut costs, bring suggestions that encourage efficiency.
Provide Solutions, Not Problems
Don’t simply describe problems, offer solutions. A straightforward restatement, for example, “Here are two ways we might approach this” shows you taking the initiative and being solution-focused.
Request for Feedback
Every now and then, take a chance and ask, “How am I doing? What can I do differently?” This shows willingness and an open attitude, both traits significantly valued by leaders.
Recognize Their Pet Peeves
Everyone has their pet peeves. If your boss hates late emails or despises unreadable spreadsheets, take note. It respects them and reduces tension.
Be Dependable and Consistent
Be dependable, simple as that. Managers like employees who follow through on what they commit to. Setting a precise schedule and managing to solve possible problems without alerting your management shows that you have the necessary skills to deal with pressure.
This trait will ultimately result in promotion to the management level in the future.
The Contemporary Skills in the Work Environment
Top-down direction and privileged reporting channels are outdated. The modern-day organization is more matrixed, virtual, and agile than ever before. With this organizational framework, the ability to manage up is a competitive advantage.
This competence is particularly significant within virtual spaces, as presence and mutual understanding can be quickly eroded if not explicitly conveyed.
Managing Up Does Not Equal Sucking Up
Let’s be clear with this statement. Managing up is not being a “yes” person. It’s about understanding how to work for and with your boss, but not solely for them.
Francesca Gino, a negotiation, organizations, and markets expert, has clarified in her book “Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and Life”
“Employees who speak up with constructive ideas, even when challenging the status quo, are often perceived as more engaged and committed, especially when their input aligns with organizational goals.”
Managing superiors requires emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and strategic thinking.
Managing Up when the Boss Is Difficult
What if your boss is disengaged, disorganized, or toxic?
You can still control from the top, but differently. Set boundaries, document interactions, and act on what you can whenever you can. Getting a third party’s advice outside your chain of command can also bring some objectivity.
For large issues, it might be necessary to call in the human resources people. For most, though, changing even small things about how you approach managing the relationship can make a large difference.
Managers Ruling Over Employees Are Over
As the work environment continues to grow and evolve, one skill that will never go out of style is managing up.
Whether you’re ascending the corporate ladder, managing virtual teams, or simply attempting to be more effective at your job, it will help you communicate more effectively, establish trust, and move your career forward.
By understanding your supervisor’s goals, projecting forward to how you can support them ahead of time, and adapting your method of communicating, you have more influence and satisfaction in your job.
With these tactics, too, you don’t have to wait for a promotion to be a leader.
And if you’d like to make your career future-proof, learning the art of managing up can be the best decision you’ll make this year.
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