What is Managing Up?
- The proactive strategy of working effectively with superiors to achieve mutual goals.
- It involves understanding and anticipating a manager’s needs and making oneself an invaluable team member.
- It often refers to an employee’s ability to use various skills to form a partnership with their managers to accomplish goals more effectively.
- Refers to the dynamic, two-way street of achieving organizational goals – instead of managers always identifying and directing their teams, managing up is the idea that it is also the employees responsibility to identify problems and solutions.
Why is it Important?
- Enhances Career Prospects: Demonstrates your initiative, foresight, and commitment to organizational goals.
- Improves Communication: Establishes a clear, open line of communication between you and your superiors.
- Increases Collaboration and Teamwork: Instead of power dynamics, managing up leverages professional relationships around a unified goal.
- Boosts Job Satisfaction: Through increased communication and clarity, problems can be avoided that may cause stress.
How to Excel at Managing Up?
- Understand Your Manager’s Goals: Align your work to support these goals effectively.
- Communicate Proactively: Share updates, challenges, and solutions without waiting for prompting.
- Show Initiative: Take on responsibilities that relieve your manager’s burden and contribute to the team’s success.
