Managing Up

I have a new manager. I’m excited about the new energy she brings to our team and her openness to ideas. This prompted me to consider how I can best work with her to ensure success, which reminded me of a concept commonly referred to as “managing up.”

Managing up is not a new concept; John Gabarro and John Kotter referred to it in a Harvard Business Review article from 2005, offering the following definition:

“Managing up is the process of consciously working with your supervisor to obtain the best possible results for you, your manager, and your organization.”

At its simplest, managing up involves understanding several key points about your manager:

• What is their preferred communication style? Do they operate better with a full explanation and context, or does a summary with bullet points and recommendations better meet their working style?
• What are their priorities?
• What creates stress for them? How can you help ease that pressure?
• How do they prefer to work with you? What are their preferences for giving and receiving feedback?

Managing up also involves proactively making your manager aware of risks and offering solutions to issues. A succinct statement of the context and impact of a challenge frames the opportunity for potential solutions. An employee who is a strong contributor does not wait for their manager to solve every issue but comes prepared with ideas to address and fix problems.

Managing up is not manipulating your manager for your own means, sucking up to gain preferential treatment, going over your manager’s head to have your point of view heard, pointing out your teammates' errors, or being disingenuous. Nor does it mean that you attempt to manage your manager or judge their management style.

To effectively manage up, an employee must understand their own preferences and style and be able to communicate them to their manager. Doing so helps both parties understand how to work effectively and get the best from each other. Perhaps you develop your best solutions during your morning shower and can’t wait to share them with your manager the minute they walk into the office. Understanding that your manager is not a “morning person” who needs a cup or two of coffee before being ready to tackle solutions will serve you both well. You will find a manager open to hearing your ideas, and you will have their attention. A win for both!

Throughout our careers, most of us have had a manager. Even a CEO often has a reporting relationship, usually to a Board of Directors. Understanding how to have a successful working relationship with your manager, being aware of goals and barriers to achieving them, and working effectively as a partner are essential to everyone’s success.