The workplace is a social system and relationships matter a lot for your career. The most important relationship is the one your have with your boss, which is why you need to learn the art of managing-up.
Managing-up is about managing your relationships with the people above you in the food chain. It’s not about sucking up. It’s about consciously developing good, robust relationships with the people that have power over your career trajectory.
We all need to manage-up because:
1. Your boss matters
Bosses, whether we like it or not, have a lot of influence over our career success and trajectory. They have a lot of influence over the types of opportunities we get, and over our visibility in the organization or in our industry.
2. Your career matters
It’s our responsibility to manage those relationships. If you’re not going to take charge of your career, who is? If your boss, and that relationship with your boss, is important for your career success, then it’s on us to do what we can to manage that relationship.
3. We cannot change other people (despite how much we’d like to think we can)
If your boss isn’t perfect, or does things differently than you would, you don’t have much choice. You can leave that boss or figure out what you can do more of, less of, or differently to get a better outcome. We can’t control others. We can only control how we interact with them.
How to get started – a 3-step process:
1. Take a good look at who your boss really is (not who you wish they were)
Seek to understand them without judging. How do they like to operate? What’s their work style? What are their preferences? How do they like to communicate? What are their priorities? What are their pet peeves?
2. Take a good look at yourself
How do you like to operate? What are your preferences? What’s your communication style? What are your priorities? What are your pet peeves?
3. Assess the gap
Once you have a good sense of who your boss is and who you are, then assess the gap. In that gap is where we manage-up. You get to choose. What are some things you could do more of, less of, or differently to build that robust relationship?
At the end of the day, managing-up is simply taking control of your career and managing the relationships that matter. Take control of your career today and manage-up.
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Mary Abbajay is an acclaimed and sought after public speaker, organizational consultant, facilitator, trainer, and author. She is the president and founder of Careerstone Group, LLC, a woman-owned professional development consultancy that delivers leading-edge talent and organizational development solutions.
As a consultant, speaker, facilitator and trainer, Mary helps clients develop the strategies, skills, and sensibilities needed for success in the 21st century. Her expertise lies in helping clients create dynamic and productive workplaces that foster professional and personal excellence and growth. In short, she is committed to creating workplaces where both the organization and the individual can flourish.
