With a general sense that working from home or some version of it (“hybrid”, “two days in the office, three days out”, “as long as you get your work done, I don’t care where you are” and many other fancy ways of calling it!) are here to stay, we want to analyze how best to manage up. While there isn’t one general rule, specific principles apply to bosses with different managerial styles (i.e, micro-manager vs laissez faire). Now how you should apply these to your situation will ultimately depends on good ol’ trial and error.
So what are they…🤔?
1) What do they really care about? Not always so simple
Different bosses, though normally trying to make a “difference” (and increase that share price!📈), will have a set of preferences and priorities that can be quite divergent. From the views of “work is all I have” to “I do this to finance my mortgage and my first wife’s alimony payments”, will decidedly mark what they care about. Figure this out, and then focus on their real needs. If your boss is a family man? Try to help him out with his kids’ resumes. A passion for cycling 🚴♂️? Discuss the latest Tour de France (you might want to skip on anything Lance Armstrong though!). You do not have to be insincere, just cater to their passions.
2) Trust, the ultimate delegating technique
Your job is a delegated version of your boss. S/he has put you in charge of a project or set of tasks that they feel you can do, and they just need to make sure it gets done properly. Honesty helps build trust. Small problems that you hide only undermine any confidence in your skill-set. Face issues early on instead of waiting when they are too big to be solved (snowballing!☃️ ). Someone famous once said “trust takes years to build and seconds to destroy” and abide religiously by it. Also, as a freebie, if your boss gets promoted or changes to a better job, s/he’ll take you up the corporate ladder with them because they trust you! Remember, they shine when you shine.
3) Mentorship, building the new “them”
Since they already have the “been there, done that” mug and free t-shirt, there will always be a natural inclination for a boss to share their knowledge and lessons learned during their career. This is a great way to build personal rapport with them (because less face it, talking about work can be the only thing you have in common!). Also when you ask for advice, in some way you are honoring everything they stand for, reinforcing their self-worth and giving them a sense of importance. You make them feel like they are Michelangelo sculpting your career 🖌️. This will only help their view and opinion of you!
4) Self-promotion, mostly shameless
Especially if you do not sit next to each other, do not assume your boss knows exactly what you are up to. Make sure you keep in mind that you are your own marketer so you need to keep on sharing and letting him/her know all the great things you are up to. Anything that makes you shine, should make their inbox. This could also mean leaving for a second that beautiful comfort zone where you thrive, and ask someone you collaborate with to send an email praising you. This will help reinforce the trust in you (and set you up nicely for the next raise 🤑). Speaking of self-promotion —>
5) Feedback, that loop that keeps on delivering
Everyone loves loves loves💖 giving an opinion. Going back to Mentorship, especially in less structured organizations, you need to be able to have constant feedback. As mentioned earlier, this will help build and nurture the relationship. What is helpful is to schedule regular feedback conversations; keep it informal, and possibly quarterly (no one wants to give or receive feedback hourly). You are trying to build your case for promotion while making sure you are performing on the right track. This two way dialogue will ensure your boss feels he is your light in the dark night, and you know what you need to do to achieve your journey to success. Need help scheduling meaningful 1-on-1s? Fellow is here to help!
We clearly couldn’t fit everything we had to say in this newsletter, so why not read what others have written?!
Your time to shine readers — any challenges managing upwards? Any difficult boss you interacted with? Let us know!