Master The Art Of Managing Your Manager - Today!

You’ve heard the phrase ‘managing up’ before, but maybe you’re not sure how important this concept is, so today I want to give you my perspective on it, because it’s key for a successful professional career.

Managing up isn’t ‘ass kissing’ or being the ‘teacher’s pet’ or in some way trying to convince your manager that you should receive special treatment and all the cool projects.

Managing up is first and foremost about being an excellent communicator and working with your boss in a way that supports them while advancing your skills and your career.

Let’s break that down with an example:

I started my career in consulting with an excellent manager who taught me many of the skills I still use every day, including the ability to read the room and to ‘manage up’.?

He made it very clear how I could best support him and in doing so we could get a bunch of work done and achieve outstanding results for our clients - TOGETHER.

Through this we became an excellent duo, complementing each other’s strengths and showing up as a united front in meetings, no matter how challenging the conversations were.?

Managing up looked like:

• Asking whether he needed anything else before I left the office.
• Thinking ahead and anticipating his needs before client meetings and project updates.
• Going the extra mile when preparing any client-facing documents to ensure they exceeded expectations.
• Being fully present and paying attention in meetings so I could play my part effectively which allowed him to fully focus on his role.

The long-term results of this early career lesson? In every single job since then I’ve been able to work with my managers effectively and in close partnership, earning their trust and securing myself exciting opportunities.?

The cost? Effort and dedication and a willingness to learn new skills while also flexing my style to what was required in the moment. But never abandoning my core values (because thankfully I didn’t work for jerks).

Managing up by becoming an effective communicator can be the secret sauce for career success. And I understand that it can feel like a vague concept, so let me give you some specific examples of things you can try in your own work.

The key concept I want you to think about is being proactive:

• Rather than waiting for your manager to request your help on a task or projects, offer it. If you know there’s an interesting project coming up, let them know you want to be involved.
• Instead of letting them cancel your 1:1 again, message them (or talk to them if in-person) a few days before with a brief agenda of what you'd like to discuss and any questions you want to cover. They shouldn’t cancel on you in the first place, but this way they have far less opportunity to back out. Show it’s important to you!
• If you have something you’d love to share with the wider team, don’t wait to be asked. Let your manager know about the topic you want to talk about and ask for 5 minutes on the next team agenda. Then make sure you’re prepared with a concise presentation.

It’s common to think that your manager is in control of things and your career is down to what they assign to you. That’s not true.?

You own your career and while you can’t control every element of your job, being proactive and telling your manager what you want to learn, what projects you want to be part of and by offering your skills, you create so many opportunities for yourself to be in the driver seat!

I hope you can use these ideas to brainstorm your own ways of managing up and seeing a positive change in the relationship you have with your manager and the opportunities that come from it.

Have a great week!

Eva

P.S.: Like the idea and want to get to your goals faster and with a clear roadmap? Book a discovery call with me so we can plan how career coaching can help you!