3 Ways to Manage your Manager

Managing up is about taking the initiative in managing your relationship with your manager, coming up with proposals, and generally speaking doing what you can to improve your work and your career without waiting to be noticed or for your manager to come to you.?

Here’s 3 tips for how to do it.

1. Take the Initiative

Example: You want to do something different, change your role.?Don’t wait to be asked, don’t hint at it, don’t send messages “between the lines”.

Be clear and direct. Assertive.

Prepare yourself for it: study, take a course, something. Make a first step. Then, initiate a conversation with your manager. Tell them what you want, tell them what you’ve done, ask to be considered. If there’s a particular opportunity that’s open, apply for it.?

You also have to start early. Don’t take the initiative when it’s too late. Most serious changes can not be done overnight. Like in this example with changing your role, if you go and say “I need it in two weeks”, it’s probably not going to happen, no matter how prepared you are.?

Start a conversation expecting it to take some time, it’s going to have several phases, so think longer term and plan your moves at least 6-12 months ahead.?

You’ll need to be respectful but persistent.?

2. Communicate in simple, full proposals

One thing managers run away from is proposals which come with a lot of work attached.?

If you’re my manager and I come to you and say “I want to go on a team building with the team, give us a budget”, you will have to:

• Ask me why
• Ask me what made me think that a teambuilding is a good idea
• Ask me what I have in mind
• Ask me when
• Ask me how much will it cost

I’ve just given you a lot of work. I came with an incomplete proposal which forces to do a lot of questioning and planning for me, and you’re a busy person. If my proposal is a hassle for you, or if it’s too complicated, or too risky, you’re more likely to just say no, not because it’s a bad in itself, but it’s complicated. You don’t need complications from me, you’ve got enough already.

So what I should do instead?is come to you with a proposal that sounds like this: “Team is very tired after delivery v12, they need a break and some fun, I want to take them kayaking on April 22nd, we’re going to this lake, renting the kayaks from this place, I’ll need 1k $ for that.”

This is very different. With this one,?all you have to do is say yes or no.?No work for you. No complication. No hassle. I sounds like I know what we need, and why. I’ve got a plan. Just say yes :)?

3. Just do it

Sometimes, the best thing to do is not ask for permission and not seek advice.?

Just take the initiative. Do it.

You’ve got to be careful and use your experience and your wisdom and don’t do something foolish, but sometimes the best things to do is not to go and ask for permission.?

Exactly what is reasonable and what is “too much” to do without confirming with your manager is entirely dependent on your situation, and your manager.?

But, for example, in a team, starting a knowledge sharing meeting once a week, a book club or something, you can probably do something like that without asking your manager, in almost any situation. Just a very simple small scale example at the individual team level.?

If you go and ask for permission and advice from management, they may just overthink it and just slow you down. At the same time, if you do it and when they find out about it they ask “why didn’t you tell me?”, well, you just say “I didn’t think it was required, sorry. But this is what it is and this is why we do it …” It’s small enough to get away with it, but significant enough to mean something to you.

Like the saying goes,?sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

And there’s the side effect of signaling your initiative and autonomy to your manager, by making a decision in this way and not just going to ask for them what they think, like a child, like everyone else does.?

It also establishes a precedent, and you’ll be that much freer to do the next thing.?

Many managers, while they might initially object, out of being surprised more than anything else, “why didn’t you tell me?”, when you explain to them why you did it, how it’s working, show them you’ve considered it well, they’ll say “ok” and will probably respect you for it. Most managers :) Don’t try this with micro management .. managers.?

It can be delicate, and like I said, use your wisdom, you know your manager and your context, you decide, but it can also be powerful.