Tips on Managing Up

I’ve been blessed to have great bosses in my career, folks I deeply respected, enjoyed learning from, and had a good rapport with.  So, continuing my professional advice series, here are some thoughts on “managing up,” which is to say how do you handle your working relationship with your boss. 

1. Collaborate from a place of “different and interdependent.”  You and your boss are in different places in your organization (and, often, different places in your respective professional careers.)  Lean into those differences.  She or he will have access to information, insights, and motivations that you don’t.  But that’s true of you too.  So listen up and speak up; help and be helped.  You're in this together: their success helps you, and vice versa.  So don’t be afraid to disagree and say that you have a better idea, but understand that the thing you think is a better idea in your head may not in fact be the better idea.

2. Find the balance between over- and under-communicating.  This is a sneakily important life skill that is make-or-break for your professional success.  The extremes are someone who requires constant hand-holding, instruction, and affirmation on the one end, and someone who launches out on their own and loops back much later if at all.  The former is a huge time and energy suck.  The latter is often wasteful too, if where they end up is way off and you could’ve guided them along the way if only they’d checked in.  Figure out how to respect your boss’ scarce time while keeping them in the loop on where you are, and know when to keep trying versus asking for help. 

3. Always know what’s a win.  It’s good for your current status in the company, and good prep for being able to move up in the company, to know what constitutes a win for your boss.  Some of this will come from asking her or him directly, and some from your own thinking.  In both cases, you’re now playing at a much higher level than someone who is just here to do their job.  And that’s a good professional skill to have and a good reputation to cultivate.