Companies are leaner, everyone has to take on more work. That means you. It also means your boss. With a more senior role, the person above you feels increased pressure because their actions are more visible. You want a great working relationship with them – the ease of your job, promotions, bonuses, time off, etc. depends on it. If you want to establish a great working relationship with your boss, knowing whatever you can do to make your boss’s job easier is good.

Being a young professional, Millennial or Gen Z, guidelines to do this may not be so obvious. I spoke to the NAAAHR-GNY (National Association of African Americans in Human Resources- Greater New York) young leaders about “managing up” last week. Here’s a set of 3 tips I suggested (there will be two more blogs with additional tips in the weeks to come ). 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.

• You want to be respected. In order to earn respect, show respect first.  Give first, only then can you receive.
• You prefer texting, your boss doesn’t. Communicating with a superior, use the same method/tech they use and the same style of messaging.  For instance, if your boss prefers the phone, call.  If their communication style is short and to the point, mimic it. When you’re both speaking the same language style, it saves time and energy that might otherwise be lost in miscommunication or missed communication.
• That idea of your manager’s definitely won’t work (in your opinion). If you plan on disagreeing about an idea, strategy, or suggestion, whether it’s all the way or only a piece of the plan, start with letting your boss know what you like first. Then you can smartly follow with your ideas and suggestions. No one wants to hear disagreement. Receiving it after recognition of the positive pieces opens the listener up to be receptive and makes the hard stuff easier to handle.

These three set the stage to overall communication with your boss, laying the groundwork. The next blog will offer tips on acknowledging and sharing of information. 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