Win-Win: How to Develop the Art of Managing Up

A 2017 Gallup poll found that 85% of people surveyed said they hated their job or were actively disengaged.

One of the most popular articles published on LinkedIn in 2018 was titled People Don’t Quit Their Jobs, They Quit Their Bosses.

Then research conducted by Facebook found other key reasons for people leaving their job — the enjoyment of work, utilization of personal strengths, lack of personal growth.

Even then, though, Facebook still came to the conclusion that these elements were heavily influenced by the direction of managers.

So, what’s an employee to do?

The Power of Managing Up

Managing up is described by the Harvard Business Review as “the process of consciously working with your superior to obtain the best possible results for you, your boss, and the company”.

This isn’t about political maneuvering or some other form of manipulation. It’s about you taking responsibility and exercising your sphere of influence around your work life and your future.

When you’re managing up you’re not sucking up, you’re generating value upwards in an intentional and collaborative way.

Obviously, this isn’t easy. In fact, most consider managing up to be an art. So how do we do it?

Humanize & It’s Not Personal

The key to any interpersonal relationship is the capacity to relate and empathize. If you want to create an authentic connection with your boss, you must be able to see them as a human being.

I’m not saying you have to become friends with them, hang out with them outside of work hours, or anything of the sort.

Just try to get to know them as a person. This is about being curious.

What motivates your boss?

What makes them happy?

What triggers them — gets under their skin?

What are they trying to achieve in their career?

What inspires them, or brings them fulfilment?

When you have a basic concept of them as a person it becomes much easier to not take things personally. If your boss approaches you about staying late that day to help get a project to the finish line, then you can review the request through the lens of their motivations or what they could be trying to avoid — a whiny employee, making their boss happy — rather than receiving their request as some attempt to sabotage your happiness.

This doesn’t solve the fact you have to stay late that day, but it’s going to do wonders for your mental well-being — and in turn your overall quality of life.

And if you can better recognize your boss as a person then the next strategy becomes significantly easier.

Understand & Anticipate

Success within any level of an organization is all about alignment. This is why when organizations are completing a strategic initiative they’ll first define objectives at the organizational level before cascading those goals down to the department level, and then to the team level.

If everyone is pulling in the same direction then maximize effectiveness can be achieved.

So, why would you not ensure you possess absolute clarity when it comes to your boss’s goals? Managers possess a role in department objectives, have targets for their team’s outcomes, and are held accountable for personal goals.

Do you know what each of these are? If you don’t, then you’re guessing when it comes to your capacity for effectively managing up.

If you know what your boss is attempting to achieve, then you can always stay one step ahead of them. Your simplest tasks become an exercise in value generation. Instead of just getting that memo done as quickly as possible, you find an opportunity to complete it in a way where it contributes to your department’s quarterly initiative.

For 15 extra minutes of effort, you’ve just made a significant deposit in social capital with your manager. And everyone benefits.

Additionally, when you possess constant awareness of what your boss is trying to achieve, you can shape your personal asks in a way where they have no choice but to say yes. Again, this is about win-win scenarios.

If there is a conference you want to attend for professional development and networking purposes, then you make that pitch with their quarterly or annual objectives in mind.

“I’d like to attend the 2020 West Coast Digital Marketing Conference in January. I know our department is trying to increase ROI for social media ad spend in Q3 and Q4, and I know that I’ll learn some key strategies to push this effort. When I get back I plan on submitting summary documents to the whole team on what I learn, and I’d also like to make a presentation to the whole department at February’s strategic planning meeting.”

Because you have positioned your personal request in alignment with your boss’s objectives, then it can be received as purposeful and collaborative instead of personal.

Teach Them How to Get Maximum Performance Out of You

Giving your boss the playbook on how to lead you is a chronically underutilized strategy when it comes to win-win solutions. And it’s literally what it sounds like. You write a how-to manual on who you are as a person and how to get maximum return on your employment.

Here are key areas to consider, and be sure to include real-life past examples when possible.

• What type of work is most engaging for you, and what types of work are not.
• What it looks like when you’re actively engaged.
• How they can most effectively motivate you.
• What types of peers do you thrive with, and which do you struggle with.
• Share areas that you’ve identified for personal improvement or growth.
• What type of learner you are.

When you deliver the playbook to them, schedule a meeting for it and review it with them. Give them space to ask questions, and even manufacture opportunities to ensure maximum clarity.

Even after this meeting, be conscious of citing the playbook when possible. This could be during annual reviews, or when your boss is expressing a concern to you. Treat it like a constant work in progress that you are always updating in a collaborative effort.

One very powerful outcome of the exercise is the fact you’re creating a precedent for them to share one with you, or at least for you to ask questions of them that cover similar topics. And this brings us back to always being curious about your boss as a human being that you can empathize with.

Be a Source of Solutions, Not Problems

If you want to create a positive future for yourself within your organization, then become a source of solutions rather than a messenger of problems.

Most individuals will come across an issue or problem and then report it up. However, when you do this you’re providing an obstacle to your boss rather than an opportunity. This is the antithesis of managing up.

Instead, take some time to learn what you can about the problem. Ask a few questions and do some research, and compile what you can about the issue. Then frame a few potential solutions. Not in a “you should do this” way but from the perspective of a few potential angles that could be taken to solve the problem. When you offer more than one potential solution, it creates space for you to be creative and flex your problem-solving skills — and to develop an invaluable reputation in that area.

If you can, it’s a good idea to have at least two solutions that exist in the following framework:

• Potential Solution #1 = realistic, grounded within traditional parameters.
• Potential Solution #2 = creative option while honouring existing boundaries.

Once you begin bringing solutions to your boss rather than problems like everyone else, you’ll become someone your boss looks forward to speaking with rather than dreading or avoiding. Being a solution-oriented person frames every other interaction you have with them as welcome and positive, and only serves to amplify the impact of all your other positive interactions.

In Summary

Managing up is about creating a win-win environment for your boss, organization, and yourself. It’s about operating in a way where you’re a source of curiosity, collaboration, and problem-solving.

Before you can achieve this, though, you have to create an empathic connection with your boss. Develop an understanding of them as a human being — their motivations, goals, joys and fears, etc. This makes it much easier to anticipate their thoughts and actions, and in turn, allows you to become a proactive employee who is always one step ahead of them.

On top of understanding them, help them to better understand you. Literally offer them the playbook on getting the most out of you, as in actually create a document outlining how best to lead you. Everyone benefits. Your performance is pushed to higher levels while the organization gets a maximum return on investment.

Make a commitment to never bring a problem to your boss without a potential solution attached to it. Take some time to capture all of the intel you can on the problem, and then outline some potential options to solve the problem. While everyone else sends problems their way, you’ll become known as a value generator.

Dr Lester Clowes is a performance coach and consultant who is obsessed with helping individuals and organizations create and reverse engineer their most ambitious versions of their future selves. If you found this article beneficial, know that Re-Tri publishes content like this daily at their Facebook page, and they have a Friday newsletter you can sign up for here.

Originally published at https://www.retri.consulting.