Managing Up: How to advocate for your team without sounding the alarms

How often do you feel like you're caught in a pressure cooker, balancing the demands from your team and the expectations from your higher-ups? Trust me, you're not alone, but when we let the stress of the situation get the best of us, it can make our own managers lose confidence in our ability to lead.

But have no fear, today I dive into how to effectively advocate for your team so you can create some relief without losing your footing.

Go straight to the source by listening to episode 155 of Managing Made Simple:

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Where we go wrong with managing up

When we're under a lot of pressure and are fielding all of the complaints and concerns of our teams, it can be easy to relay that to our own leadership. While issues like morale and burnout are important, they don't always resonate with the concerns of our senior leaders: making sure work gets done on time and within budget.

What to do instead

1. Frame the Problem in Terms of Risks and Mitigations: When the pressure feels unbearable, it's easy to adopt an emotional, panic-stricken approach. Resist this temptation. Instead, focus on calmly presenting risks and mitigations. Your seniors are more likely to listen if you talk about risks that impact what they care about—whether it's timelines, budget, or resource allocation.
2. Understand What Your Leader Prioritizes: Before you step into that meeting, take a moment to understand what really matters to your boss. Is it sticking to the budget? Meeting deadlines? Ensuring project success? Tailor your conversation to address these specific concerns. Speak their language.
3. Construct a Rational Ask: By removing the emotional charge from the request, you make it easier for your superiors to comprehend and approve. For example, if you need additional resources, spell out how the current load is unsustainable and what the tangible benefits are of adding more team members. Paint a clear picture with percentages, load distributions, and potential outcomes.

Back in my corporate days I was working with a manager whose team was at the brink of burnout. She needed more team members and all of her attempts to get more resources came up short. By shifting the conversation from team burnout to project risks, we were able to get approval to bring on two more team members, easing the pressure on the team and satisfying the higher-ups' focus on delivering the product. A literal win-win.

Ready to dive in deeper - check out episode 155 of Managing Made Simple:

?? Listen on Apple ?? Listen on Spotify ?? Watch on YouTube

And if you want strategies like this and more, get ready for The New Manager Playbook, launching January 27th! To get on the list for exclusive updates and freebies, head to liagarvin.com/newbook.

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