Managing Up: What It Looks Like, and How It’s Beneficial

The phrase “managing up” gets in its own way. It conjures up images of telling your manager what to do, or more subtle manipulation to achieve your own ends – neither of which managing up really entails.

But it’s the phrase we’re stuck with, so it’s helpful to know what it does mean and how to go about it in a way that benefits you, your manager, your team, and your organization.

Managing up, at its core, means getting to know your manager the way you want them to get to know you, and relating to them accordingly – not in a “Hey, let’s be best friends” sort of way, but in a way that conveys “I want to help you succeed, because that helps me do my job better.”

That doesn’t mean doing your manager’s work for them, while they get the credit – and the bigger paycheck – and you quietly burn out hoping for a payoff that never comes. It means modeling these three things:

Pattern recognition

Your manager isn’t perfect. Everyone has areas where they can use some timely help. When you manage up, you notice these areas – without calling attention to them – and proactively step up to make things run more smoothly.

Let’s say your manager isn’t the best at following up. They have a lot on their plate, and sometimes things you need – a sign-off on a project, a check-in on how you’re handling a new procedure, feedback on an assignment – get pushed down in the pile.

If this is the case, you can’t afford to let it slide, but you can recognize the pattern and pre-emptively disrupt it.

Don’t wait until the “I need this by” time. You’ll be under stress, and that’s not good for clarity. Instead, do a quick check-in the day before. Give a thumbnail of what you’re working on, how the timeline is going, and what you need. 

That order is important. Close with what you need from your manager, without bringing attention to their habit of needing to be prodded. 

You might never rewire that pattern, but that’s not your job. Your job is to adapt to your manager. The important thing is to get what you need and avoid adding same-day deadline stress to your manager’s pile.

Self-awareness

Just as you need to recognize your manager’s patterns, you have to recognize your own. 

That doesn’t mean trying to become a copy of your manager. It does mean knowing yourself well enough to help your manager manage you more effectively and efficiently. This, in turn, will free them up to handle other things without the added time and stress of having to figure you out with no input from you.

This means knowing the answers to a lot of questions: When are you most effective? Do you work in bursts, or at a steady pace? Do you work better independently, or in a group? Are you deadline-challenged, or does deadline pressure motivate you?

This isn’t information your manager should have to dig for. It’s information you should be ready to provide, with full honesty, when a situation warrants it. And it’s information that should be given to prevent issues, not try to fix them after the fact.

While you can and should ask for a reasonable accommodation when one is warranted, you shouldn’t use self-awareness as a springboard for making excuses.

Case in point: If you don’t process verbal instructions well and are better at retaining written information, the time to bring that up is before you’ve forgotten to do something your manager asked you to do.

It’s the difference between, “Could you send me a message on this? I want to make sure I don’t miss anything” and “Well, maybe you should have reminded me with a follow-up note.” One is proactive and collaborative; the other is reactive and accusatory. 

Effective, adaptable communication

This one trips a lot of people up. That’s because we tend to communicate in the style that works best for us. 

We thrive on detail. We dump data into long emails, explaining each point, and then supporting our explanations with even more information. We prefer quick feedback and face-to-face interaction. We pop by the manager’s office whenever an idea hits us.

Communication only lands, though, if it works for the recipient. Otherwise, your carefully crafted writing or quick-hitting, spontaneous speaking ability winds up causing problems rather than preventing them.

The solution: the “Platinum Rule.” Where the Golden Rule states, “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” the Platinum Rule says, “Treat others the way they want to be treated.”

If your manager lets you know up front what style and frequency they prefer, great. Take note and communicate accordingly. If they don’t, trial and error aren’t your friends here. Just ask them what works best.

Now, what if the styles don’t mesh? It’s OK to ask for compromise, but do it in a way that makes business sense and leaves your manager with the final say.

So, for example, if your boss likes to handle everything in a weekly meeting but you’re better with spontaneous brainstorming, you could address the issue like this:

“If something pops up between meetings, I don’t want to cause unnecessary delay. What’s the best way to ask a quick question or provide an update if things change?” This makes a viable case for making occasional exceptions and recognizes managerial authority in setting parameters.

 “Managing up” means you’re managing your share of the relationship – the communications and responsibilities that flow up the org chart – so that what comes back down works better for everyone.

For more, check out Developing Your Emotional Intelligence