It Takes Two To Tango: The Need To Manage Up

Only a very few companies might be ready to embrace concepts such as holacracy in a serious and all-encompassing manner and to dance to this new rhythm. And although being around for about 10 years, holacracy still has to demonstrate its effectiveness on a broader and a sustainable manner.

As such Managing Up is as important as managing down or cooperating with peers. It′s part of a holistic and participatory management approach. Based on mutual trust and respect it takes the perspectives of all stakeholders into consideration and truly empowers and challenges employees to proactively take part in organizational decision making and learning.

Managing relationships upward, either only by yourself or jointly with colleagues and/ or your team, is not about promoting self-interests or political maneuvering. Instead it's a needed skill to obtain the best possible results for your organization, your team, your line manager, and also for you. In addition, the way you interact with your line manager is influencing the relationship the two of you are having. It′s like dancing the tango.

Although depending on the particular setting, in general when approaching the relationship with your boss with an attitude of open-mindedness and cooperation, you have much better chances to become a more effective manager and person.

I suggest to take the following main principles into consideration:

Understanding The Nature Of the Relationship With Your Boss
Remind yourself that your boss and you are mutually dependent on one another. You should be part of the same team by having very similar objectives. She needs your support to progress with certain tasks and you need your boss to benefit from her assistance and guidance to do the right things the right way. As such it′s an equal relationship on eye level and based on mutual respect and appreciation. The relationship and the communication with your line manager always is a two-way street.

Managing Your Interests and Your Career
Without doubt it′s one of your line manager′s most important tasks to assist you in your development. Still, you should also look after yourself. It′s what I call the "Principle of Self-Responsibility and Self-Accountability." It means that you′re also in charge of your life and, of course, your career. It′s up to you to actively influence the development of things and the relationship with your boss as good as possible. You should view yourself as the subject and not as an object.

Organizing Yourself and Your Work
You need to be organized in order to be able to become proactive and to have sufficient time and space to manage up. Be clear about your targets, clarify priorities, and constantly differentiate between important and urgent topics. When being trapped in the human rat race there's no way you can discuss constructively and thoughtful with your boss. Recognize your needs, strengths, and weaknesses and align them in an appropriate manner with those of your line manager. Jointly define realistic expectations and targets (incl. deadlines, costs, etc.). The magic words are "together" and "realistic." Don’t set expectations too high. This might discount your credibility in case you don′t achieve them. However, don’t intentionally set them too low. The two of you should feel comfortable with them.

Comprehending The Personality Of Your Boss
You should try to adjust your style and to adapt to your line manager's modus operandi as good as possible. Example: If your boss is an analytical type of person you would need to have sound data at hand when discussing with her a project or business initiative. You should also be able to categorize your boss's behavioral style, his pet peeves, and his likes and dislikes. Does she prefer taking her time before making decisions? Is she satisfied by getting the whole picture or does she usually require all key details?

Putting Yourself In The Shoes Of Your Boss
Try to understand the situation and context in which your boss is. Does she has to finish budget preparations, is she organizing a key meeting, about to meet very important customers? What is her immediate task and what are the objectives she has to deliver?

Being Transparent
Building trust by being trustworthy is a crucial element in managing up. If things are getting complicated, go to her first. If the two of you can't resolve a serious issue, you might have to go over her head. This should be a last resort and you should tell her beforehand. To secure your general "independence", you should try having a mentor or coach.

Over-Communicating and Avoiding Surprises
Very good communications skills are the basis to successfully manage the relationship with your boss. It can be verbal or written. If you want to be heard by her, then make it as convenient as possible for her, i.e. adjust to her communication style. If you're not sure, ask her and get confirmation by requesting feedback. Also don’t wait for your annual review to find out what your boss thinks of you and your work. Whenever you receive feedback handle it in a rationale manner. It′s very helpful if you respect agreed commitments, project deadlines, etc. Either way (i.e. even if you were to miss a deadline) the best method is always honest and forthright communication. Provide early heads up and don't hide information. Bad news doesn’t get any better with age.

Focusing On Solutions And Not Problems
Without doubt sooner or later you, your boss, and your projects will encounter problems. Actually nothing better can happen, since such situations separate the wheat from the chaff. By quickly coming forward with possible solutions you can demonstrate that you have given the problem some thought and that you care. When you share a problem timing is critical, i.e. discuss the issue within an appropriate situation and not in a "hit and run" setting. Your boss appreciates being informed, e.g. about a delay of the most important project, well before entering the board room and meeting with the exec team.

Disagreeing And Committing
Of course, it′s okay to disagree with your boss. It should be based, however, on a sound analysis, solid arguments and – if possible – some precise examples. She will respect you for that. Even more so, if at the end you will support a decision taken by various company stakeholders and her, even if the final outcome was not your preferred option.

Raising Your Concerns And Speaking Up
Raise your concerns clearly and stand firm, if needed. If you’re doing the best job you can do, keep your head held high and don’t give in too easily. Rather ask questions, seek to understand, and work to deactivate a difficult setting instead of suffering in silence or responding in anger. It may not always change the situation or the final outcome, but at least you would have given it a try. And if done in a rational, respectful, and well-articulated manner, it will earn you the respect of your boss. By the way, every good line manager will appreciate when you approach him with good and challenging ideas and a genuine desire to make things working better. Usually this kicks off a new level of cooperation and trust between you and your boss.

It Takes Two To Tango
At the end, however, it is crucial to stay true to yourself. To stay authentic and not to violate and to ignore your relevant core principles. You should not give up on your essential beliefs and convictions to get along and to work well with your line manager. If your boss is not listening to you, not being vocally self-critical herself, and not willing to also adjust from her side and to respect your opinion and needs, then there exist fundamental miss-alignments between the two of you.

In such instances you′re well advised to rather try changing your job (and boss) within the company or to leave the company. You should not regret anything, if you tried hard and if it still did not work out. For sure you have learned a lot (even and especially with such a boss) and you know that they do not deserve you. Others will appreciate your talents!

What do you think? How do you manage up? What are your experiences?

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Best,

Andreas von der Heydt

*****
Andreas von der Heydt is the Head and Director of Kindle Content at Amazon in Germany. Before that he held various senior management positions at Amazon and L'Oréal. He's a leadership expert and management coach. He also founded Consumer Goods Club. Andreas worked and lived in Europe, Australia, the U.S. and Asia. Andreas enjoys blogging as a private person here on LinkedIn about various exciting topics. His latest book is about what makes a future leader. All statements made, opinions expressed, etc. in his articles only reflect his personal opinion.

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