How do you get ahead in your job? Managing down, if you have direct reports or a team, and managing up.

Many professionals have said that working with their team is often fairly straightforward and rewarding.  It’s the managing of their boss and other senior executives that is more challenging.  And, that’s from seasoned professionals.  For more junior staff, the guidelines for managing up can be even more slippery because the concept of “managing up” may be completely new. For instance, why is this even a concept?

As mentioned in last week’s blog, https://susangoldbergleadership.com/wanting-to-get-ahead/, whatever you can do as a direct report to make your boss’s job easier is welcome and valued. Your supervisor will pay attention to the ease of working with you and that will be reflected in your promotion, projects, and willingness to mentor you. It’s also representative of your ability to be a team player.

Last week, I mentioned three tips for laying the groundwork with your boss, setting the stage for communication.  This week’s three tips discuss acknowledgement of and sharing of information. Again, all of these points came from interviewing senior executives about what they are looking for from a direct report and what they learned themselves from reporting to their bosses. Regardless of your seniority or number of years of experience, these are always good things to remember. Here are the three:

• Emails appear in your inbox with instructions. When this happens and there’s something you have to act on, do or confirm, let your supervisor know via email that you have received it. Confirm the receipt. With email blockers and the amount of emails everyone receives, the boss desires reassurance their message got through. Let them know you’re working on it.
• There’s so much information to share with him/her. A number of things have crept up and there’s a ton to discuss. First, take a breath and then get organized. Organize your thoughts by creating a personal agenda so you remember everything on your list and you have clarity. This will decrease the potential for feeling overwhelmed. Then, when you have that discussion you’ve been waiting for, show respect by letting the boss run the meeting which means allow them to speak first. After that – you’ve got this- go through your list with them, point by point.
• The boss is waiting on information from you. Chances are they’ve asked questions via text, email, phone or in person. Therefore, he/she is expecting feedback. Get back to them with answers as soon as you can. They may be awaiting those specifics because someone is expecting a report from them.

It’s easy to develop miscommunication when there’s uncertainty around whether messages were received. Paying attention to these points makes it easier for you and your boss to be on the same page. From feedback I’ve heard, your boss will be very thankful.

The next blog will be the last blog in the series.  It will offer further tips; this time targeting in-person communication. The entire list will help in your understanding of both sides: how to support and lead better.

What else would you add to help a subordinate “manage up”? Email me with suggestions:  susan@susangoldbergleadership.com and I’ll publish them in a future blog.

 

How is your team or business operating with multi-generations? If you are not benefiting from the full abilities of all your professional employees, email me and let’s talk: susan@susangoldbergleadership.com