How to manage your boss, yes YOUR Boss

What does the term Managing Up mean? It is the opposite of the traditional work relationship, wherein your boss tells you what to do and when; when you manage up you “tell” the boss what to do – of course you can’t be blatant about it. When teams are cohesive and productive, people are happy and engaged. Everyone knows that a manager directs (and hopefully) supports a high performing team; but staff also need to manage their supervisors. This managing up is very important can facilitate highly productive and happy business interactions.

People who manage their bosses effectively are able to understand the needs and motivations of others while quietly considering their own needs. This is not about Machiavellian behavior or clandestine operations. Essentially, people that manage their supervisors are able to assess an overall operating environment to determine their needs while also considering the needs of their boss.

Everyone has his own agenda; how you incorporate this into meeting your boss’ expectations is part of successfully managing up. You can’t choose your boss. This realization is critical to successfully managing that relationship. How do you manage up? There are books, many books written on this topic. Here are a few quick tips to help you manage up effectively and maintain happiness in the workplace:

1. Behave in a straightforward and honest way. Gain trust and support from your boss by delivering timely and relevant recommendations and advice.
2. Recognize that your boss also has a boss and so on. Try and look at the bigger picture to recognize that the corporation is a machine, a big system of which you are only a small part.
3. Know your boss. How do you accomplish this? Pay attention. What your boss’ behaviors, actions, responses to situations. You can learn a lot from this while devising your own strategies for management.
   
4. Learn what your boss values. Determine what she believes are the most important principles to help guide with the proper way to proceed.
5. Utilize communication to your advantage. This means effective listening. It is amazing what you can learn if you really listen. You will learn about your boss and also about the bigger picture to allow you to be really effective.
   
6. Learn what motivates your boss. If your boss needs timeliness, be timely; if your boss needs thoroughness, be thorough, etc.
7. Let your boss take credit – but let him know you know.
   

Want to learn the true art of managing up and laugh, laugh, laugh? Stanley Bing’s Throwing the Elephant will solve the managing up issue in one fell swoop wherein he helps you understand ‘The Elephant’ and how to leverage that relationship to your advantage.

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Debra Wheatman, CPRW, CPCC is the founder and Chief Career Officer of ResumesDoneWrite, a premier career services provider focused on developing highly personalized career roadmaps for senior leaders and executives across all verticals and industries.

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