According to the Harvard Business Review managing up is, “Being the most effective employee you can be, creating value for your boss and your company.” Today, let’s explore how you can manage up effectively, and why managing up is so important.
It’s easy to think we only need to manage up if we are navigating a bad boss. But even a good boss needs managing. In fact, the best bosses are the ones who make space for input and direction from people regardless of their position in an org chart.
“If we reframe followership from a power construct into a relational construct, we open up a wide world of choice and agency,” says Mary Abbajay, the author of Managing Up: How to Move Up, Win at Work, and Succeed with Any Type of Boss “In a relationship, everybody has agency.”
Here are 4 things to keep in mind when managing up:
Remember that your boss is your biggest stakeholder
Become the designer and the crafter of your own career
Utilize and engage with your existing networking communities
Share your wins without sounding obnoxious or arrogant
When done well, managing up makes your manager’s (and your) job easier. Make a few of the goals above a priority in your next one-on-one. With these tools, you’re on your way to a better managerial relationship at work.
Comments