Saturday, September 23, 2017

The Art of Managing Up

Managing up is the practice of building your relationship with your boss and consistently elevating the output you achieve together.   It includes knowing the requirements well, asking key questions to understand where they want to lead the result, and going above and beyond to elevate the end product. 

How to Manage Up:
·        Make it clear your boss can count on you to deliver. 
o   Take great care of everything assigned to you.  Always ask them how you can help them more and continue to pull work from them as much as possible. 
o   Keep them apprised of your progress.  Understand their preferences for communication and proactively keep them updated. 
o   Move forward consistently.  Don't require their involvement but let them contribute and shape the work that you do.  Carve out time together when needed and to review important milestones. 
·        Set the bar. 
o   Put yourself in their shoes.  Each time they give you work to do, think through how they would approach it and what questions they would ask. 
o   Add a golden touch to everything you work on.  Always elevate the quality and value of the output.
o   Make each item that you deliver simple for all who consume it.
·        Let them know they can trust you.
o   Welcome their input and listen intently when they give it to you.  Write down and save key points for reference.
o   Ask questions to learn more about where they are coming from and why they think the way they do.  Apply their methodology to the way that you work.
o   Speak up as soon as there is an issue they should be aware of.  Let them share insights and hard-earned lessons.

Those who have mastered the ability to manage up add incredible value to the work that their team is responsible for.  When you focus on how you can provide the best service as well as increase value, you take a different level of ownership over the work that you do.  When you are consistently focused on elevating your game in a way that also positively impacts your team, you quantify your ability to create the optimal impact. 

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