Effective Tactics for Managing Your Manager

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I will preface this article by stating that this topic is convoluted and can be perplexing due to the combination of political, psychological and power dynamics at play in the manager-employee relationship. Your relationship with your manager can have a debilitating or an invigorating impact on your career and day to day work life. Ultimately, your manager is someone who is responsible for your work allocation, career growth, recognition and a healthy work life balance.

A person’s experience within a company often boils down to their relationship with their immediate manager. It’s therefore highly imperative to be able to recognize your manager’s management style so you can better adapt your approach to effectively navigate your day to day interactions and have a lasting impact.

My own experiences combined with extensive reading on this subject has led me to the conception that all managers fall predominantly into one of the below categories when it comes to work management. This is however not an unequivocal categorization of people into exclusive groups. It’s crucial to be cognizant of the fact that people exhibit situational traits that fall under a wide spectrum that might span across one or more of these groups.

The Master Delegator

Master Delegators refuse to get deeply involved in projects and opt for an off handed approach to management. They often rely heavily on a select set of skilled individuals within their teams to meet project goals. They religiously delegate all tasks that land on their desks without a second thought.

The motivation behind this management style can be varied but often stems from a lack of proficiency and knowledge within one’s own domain which necessitates one to delegate most tasks. Yet some managers might resort to this approach due to sheer indifference, lack of motivation or the mere strain of being stretched too thin.

How to identify a Master Delegator

• They deflect questions with vague answers and buzzwords as they are not up to date with the day to day developments within the team.
• You often get pulled into a lot of meetings even when your manager is present
• You are often asked to write project status summaries and reports ( Tasks your manager should be able to do on their own )
• They are always busy and are never available for discussions and deep dives

Strategies to manage a Master Delegator

• Do not challenge their skillset or experience even in trying circumstances. Humans are emotional beings. If you are aware of their inadequacies or indifference, trust that they know it too. You will never be able to create a positive outcome for yourself by undermining the person in front of you.
• Decide if you find it acceptable to report to a manager who is not fully engaged. If this is a serious bone of contention, it’s time to look for outside opportunities.
• Focus on being an asset to your manager. Take on complicated projects but ensure you are getting the due credit for your work. This might be a good opportunity for you to step up and lead in the absence of your manager’s engagement and oversight.
  
  1. Speak up in larger group meetings and take credit for your ideas
  2. Focus your energy on forging a relationship with your manager’s manager so they are aware of your contributions
  3. Actively collaborate with cross team members on public channels and create high visibility for your work

The Control Commander

Control Commanders often employ a top down authoritarian approach to management. These individuals are often former high performing individual contributors who are well versed in their domains. They lead with the firm belief that they alone have an unprecedented viewpoint on things and often try to control every nitty gritty detail that can often leave the teams feeling drained and under appreciated. This strategy often backfires when the team has competent engineers who do not feel challenged as all decisions are made by the manager.

How to identify a Control Commander

• They ask you to run every single detail by them
• They often step in and make decisions for the team overriding team’s suggestions in the process
• They refuse to fully trust the team and often corroborate every detail presented to them with their own findings from other sources
• They shield the team from disruptive noise and meetings by being up to date on their team’s progress and are an excellent representation for the team.
• Their decisive nature often gets projects delivered on time

Strategies to manage a Control Commander

• Ask them if they are open to receiving feedback and make them aware of the negative impact their approach might have had on the team in terms of the lost learning opportunities
• Over communicate in expectation of your manager’s needs. This might alleviate the matter as your manager might feel more in control
• If your manager remains oblivious to your feedback and if it’s hindering your ability to freely make decisions, then it might be time to cut your losses and look for outside opportunities
• If you are new to the team or a complete novice, there might be an opportunity here for you to learn from your manager’s leadership and decisiveness.

The Consensus Pilot

Consensus Pilots are often democratic in their approach. They believe in a collective approach to problem solving. They provide complete autonomy to teams to make the best decision. They step in as needed and encourage the team to make the right decision on its own.

How to identify a Consensus Pilot

• There is no ‘I’ in their vocabulary. They provide their insights on projects as needed without controlling the final outcome and provide complete autonomy to their teams on decisions.
• They connect their team to the right resources in areas where their own skill set might be insufficient
• Your team goes into decision paralysis from time to time in the absence of a decisive orchestrator
• Newer or more junior members within the team might struggle with decision making without the manager’s explicit guidance

Strategies to manage a Consensus Pilot

• Be respectful of the autonomy and trust your manager has placed in you by being transparent about the problems and challenges that you may be facing and ask for help and direction if needed.
• There is an opportunity here for you to take charge and lead but approach it with tact to avoid your democratic manager misinterpreting it as aggression. Step in when your team fails to arrive at a decision in a timely manner by steering the team in the right direction.
• Showcase that you are a team player by conducting Knowledge Transfer sessions and facilitating team discussions.

While it may be overly simplistic and somewhat reckless to sort people into buckets, this framework equips you with general guidelines on identifying certain behavioral and managerial patterns and actionable pointers that could help you navigate your relationship with your manager with finesse.

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