Ever Better Today:
Season 2 Episode 70

 Managing Up

Welcome to Ever Better Today: the daily podcast for creating your optimal business, career, or overall life in ten minutes or less. I’m Lisa Conners Vogt, Executive and Leadership Coach and founder of Ever Better Coaching and Consulting. Let’s jump in!

Notes from this episode are below.

Managing up means creating a good relationship the person or people you report to. or who have an investment in your success. If you’re a CEO, this could be your board of directors and investors, if you’re a director, this could be the vice president that you report to and the executive team.


 
 

Six Key Points for Effectively Managing up

  1. Create a Relationship of Two-way Respect. People who are very strong leaders appreciate feedback and an active, open discussion around strategies and ideas. However, continue to be mindful of your status and relationship with that person. Practice giving strong feedback before delivering it in person.

  2. Assess What Your Team Can and Cannot Accomplish. Share your team’s capacity in a realistic manner. Providing an unrealistic status and setting expectations for unachievable goals will create problems in the long-run.

  3. Share Your Accomplishments. Often people are hesitant to share their accomplishments and think that they're bragging about themselves. However, if you don’t share what you’ve accomplished in clear language, your boss will not know what you’ve achieved and may underestimate your abilities.

  4. Managing up is Promoting.  If you are a manager, promote the work, accomplishments and capabilities of your team members. Without this, your boss will be unaware of the person’s impact and this will lessen your ability to get them a raise and elevated title.

  5. Set Boundaries. Set health boundaries so that you maintain a sustainable work/life balance. Understand what the person you're reporting to prefers so that you come to a healthy agreement and a respectful understanding.

  6. Practice Transparency. Keep your boss in the loop on good things as well as things that are challenging and that concern you. Keep them up-to-date with significant events.


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