The Best Advice I've Ever Received on Managing Up
At one of my earlier jobs in my career, I was like any young overachieving 20-something. I was eager, hungry, and wanted to have a huge impact on my company. Being promoted was on my mind from the moment I stepped foot into the building. However, promotions require more than executing your job well. One of the core skills you also need is being able to “manage up”.
When most people think about the term “managing up” they think about how to communicate with and manage their boss’s expectations. However, it’s less about managing or trying to control your boss and more about delivering value and leverage. One of the best pieces of advice I have received in my career came from one of the best bosses I ever had.
After demonstrating that I honestly wanted any feedback that would help me get a promotion, my boss shared some advice with me. He told me that when I was preparing a deck or information that we were to discuss, that I should think about and anticipate what questions he will ask. What is he going to want to know? What additional information might he want to look at? I had worked with him for a few months by this point. As a result, I needed to pay attention to the questions he asked me and start to anticipate them in advance. That way I could either adjust my materials so that he wouldn't need to ask the question, or be better prepared to address the question during the conversation.
In this case, managing up was all about anticipation. It starts with knowing your audience. An HBR article also reinforced this idea around anticipation and understanding your audience as the key to managing up. Once I was able to take a step back and understand what my boss cared most about, how he approached problems, and identify the types of questions he asks, I was able to be proactive in addressing those areas of interest. This then changed the nature of our conversations and relationship for the better. Instead of our conversations being centered around helping me provide a more comprehensive deck, we could focus on discussing the merits of the work, debate ideas, and have more compelling conversations.
That feedback also had long-reaching effects as I started to recognize that different stakeholders had different styles of communication. I started to ask myself the same questions about my boss’s boss and realize that presenting to him would require a different approach. I might use the same materials, but the story I shared was different. My boss’s boss was from the Finance world and wasn’t much of a talker, so I was short, concise, and numbers focused in my conversations with him. As a result, I was able to not only demonstrate competence and development to my own boss, but I started to impress his boss as well. That relationship is going to come in handy when it comes time to discuss promotions.
These same skills served me even better as I started to work more cross-functionally with different leaders across a variety of teams. Different people communicate differently. I found that if I could study their approach and try to understand where they were coming from, I could more effectively communicate with them. Most people don’t take the time to understand someone or change their style based on with whom they are speaking. Especially not someone at age 25. This gave me a huge leg up and differentiated me across the company. I earned the respect of senior leaders across the company because I tried to listen and meet them where they were. All humans just want to be understood. And when they find someone whom they think understands them, they will respect you, support you, and want to work with you.
If you are hoping for a promotion and haven’t spent your time on knowing your audience and anticipating their needs, refocus your efforts. As a result, you will build the reputation and relationships needed to secure that promotion.
If you could use some help improving your skills on managing up, reach out to me and set up a coaching consultation today.
