In the film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” the title character must make a leap across an impossibly wide chasm. He does so, and then lands on solid ground: there had been a camouflaged and nearly invisible bridge there all along.
Managing up, in its most basic sense, is also a leap of faith. It is the decision to take actions at work that are not in one’s job description, that one has not been trained for and that no one has explicitly asked for. To take these actions requires not only motivation but also courage, for it entails casting off the comforting safety harness of what is known and taking a leap into the unknown.
Yet there might be a bridge across this chasm as well: statistically, managing up (and horizontally, toward colleagues) can lead to significantly more success than only managing down. McKinsey reports those who managed upward and horizontally took actions that were about 50 percent more important to business success than the actions of those who only managed down. Furthermore, in terms of personal career success, managing up was rated to be double the importance of managing down.
Managing up can also motivate others. According to TINYpulse, managing up doesn’t just improve relationships with supervisors and open up future job opportunities, it also might boost employee engagement for the whole team. So, what’s the secret? We sat down with Marissa Davis of Pricefx, who detailed her concerted strategies to manage up over the years, and let us know which efforts worked best.
Marissa Davis is a customer success executive at Pricefx, a cloud-based platform for price management and configure, price, quote (CPQ) software. She believes that managing up has many benefits, and that with note-taking, active listening and genuine efforts to collaborate, the art of managing up can successfully be unlocked.
Understanding and anticipating your boss’s needs, as well as their management and communication styles, can make it easier to manage up effectively. What strategies have you used to get to know your manager better?
I have four strategies I use to excel at my job, support my team and manage up succinctly. First, I understand the business goals of the company and of the clients, which helps me provide invaluable support to my team. Second, I listen to the needs of the clients and my executive team to marry the benefits and objectives. Third, I know that in order to be a good team leader I have to be willing to be led. I trust my executives and I learn from them and that trust allows me to manage up successfully. Last, I ask direct questions to ensure I clearly understand my objectives and this allows me to be best prepared to answer questions predictively.
Three Tips for Managing Up
- Take copious notes. When managing up, relaying smart and factual notes helps the managing team understand the details of the meeting, and they can better strategize next steps without being in the meeting.
- Pay attention to not only what people say but how they say it. For my position and the role I play, it’s important that I listen for understanding and clarity to better inform my managers.
- Build a genuine collaborative working relationship with your managers. This allows you to troubleshoot issues, align on work goals and succeed as a team.
How has managing up helped you improve your relationship with your boss and/or grow in your career?
Managing up has helped me improve my relationship with my executive leadership team because we trust each other. When we trust one another, we succeed and that benefits our clients.
For example, one way that managing up has helped me grow in my career is it shows my managers that they made the right decision in hiring me. When first hired or promoted, I make it my top priority to prove to my employer and my manager that they made the correct decision. I make sure I quickly bring value to the team and have a clear understanding of the expectations and goals of my role. I think it is important to prioritize goal-setting with your manager to align and have a clear path for measuring success.
