Managing Up: The Basics

Having a healthy, positive and productive relationship with your boss makes your work life much easier, and it’s also good for your job satisfaction, your career development and your overall wellbeing.

But some managers don’t make this easy. What if you have a boss who is distant or a micromanager, is a poor communicator,  gives you conflicting messages, is overextended and overwhelmed, or just incompetent.

Whatever their limitations or shortcomings, it’s in your best interest, and it’s your responsibility, to make the relationship work.

Regardless of the sort of boss you have, there are a couple of basic principles that are universally important:

1. Understand Your Boss' Style
   Understand their behavioural and communication style. Are they slow to think about things and want time to process? Are they fast-paced, and quick to make decisions. The more you can match your style to your boss when communicating, the more they will really hear what you are saying.

2. Understand What Matters to Them
   Understand what’s important to them, what really matters. Put yourself in their shoes and think about the “what’s in it for me?” from your boss’ perspective each time you approach them. What do they care about? What are their core organisational and personal priorities? What do you know about the view from their seat? The more you can frame your message in a way that makes them feel that what you are proposing, or doing, helps them, the more your ideas will be heard.

3. Be a Proactive Communicator
   Find out your bosses preferred method – email, in- person interactions, or lengthy memos – what information they want to keep abreast of, and how often. Most managers don’t like to be caught unaware, keep them updated on what’s going on, and share the information that is important to them.

4. Seek Clarity
   Seek clarity on their expectations of your working relationship - what does ‘Great’ look like? Ask them to describe what it would look like if you are contributing to a positive and productive relationship. What are you doing, how are you behaving, what are you delivering? Share with them what is important to you. That way you are both super clear on expectations and how to fulfil them.

5. Support Them
   Help to support their challenges or weaknesses. If you know your boss is slow to respond, continue to work on a project while you wait to hear back from them. If you know you have a boss who is disorganised, help them to stay on top of things. If you know your boss is overextended, ask them how you can support them to deliver their priorities.

6. Be Candid
   Agree to be candid. Don’t be conflict-avoidant — it’s one of the most destructive attributes of many company cultures. Transparency and candor build trust, and should be negotiated up front. Always attack conflicts head-on, respectfully. Ask for candid feedback from your boss, and give feedback to him or her when appropriate. Nip any problem in the bud.

7. Do Your Best
   Do the best job you can. Sometimes, if you don’t enjoy a good relationship with your boss, there can be a tendency to slack off or stop performing well. Don’t do it. Keep focussing on doing the best job you can do for your own sense of job satisfaction and maintaining your own reputation.

Further Reading

For further reading see Harvard Business Review's:

• Working Smoothly with a Virtual Boss by Keith Ferrazzi.

• How to Win Over a Boss Who Just Doesn’t Seem to Like You by Jay A. Conger and Allan H. Church.

• What to Do When You Have a Bad Boss by Mary Abbajay.