Managing Up: How to Lead Your Boss
Your relationship with your manager is one of the most important factors in your career success and daily job satisfaction. Yet most people focus entirely on leading their teams and neglect this crucial upward relationship.
Managing up isn't manipulation or politics. It's about creating a productive partnership that benefits everyone.
Why Managing Up Matters
Career growth: Your manager influences your opportunities, visibility, and advancement.
Daily effectiveness: A strong relationship with your boss removes obstacles and provides resources.
Reduced stress: Aligned expectations and open communication prevent conflicts.
Better outcomes: When you and your manager work well together, your whole team benefits.
Understanding Your Manager
Before you can manage up effectively, understand who you're working with.
What are their goals? What are they trying to achieve? What pressures do they face from above?
How do they like to communicate? Email, Slack, meetings? Brief updates or detailed reports?
What do they care about most? Quality? Speed? Innovation? Relationships? Cost control?
What stresses them out? Surprises? Conflict? Missed deadlines? Being out of the loop?
The Principles of Managing Up
1. Make Their Job Easier
Your primary goal is to reduce your manager's burden, not add to it.
- Solve problems before escalating them
- Come with solutions, not just problems
- Anticipate their needs
- Handle things that drain their energy
2. No Surprises
Managers hate surprises, especially bad ones in front of their bosses.
- Flag risks and issues early
- Share bad news immediately
- Keep them informed of significant developments
- Never let them be blindsided
3. Communicate in Their Style
Adapt your communication to their preferences, not yours.
- If they want brief updates, be concise
- If they want detail, provide it
- If they prefer async, don't demand meetings
- If they need face time, schedule it
4. Understand Their Constraints
Your manager operates within constraints you may not see.
- Budget limitations
- Political pressures
- Competing priorities
- Their own manager's demands
Acknowledging these constraints builds empathy and partnership.
Tactics That Work
One-on-ones: Use them strategically. Prepare an agenda. Update on progress. Ask for what you need. Seek feedback.
Written updates: Send regular summaries of your work. Make it easy for them to understand what you're accomplishing.
Propose, don't complain: Instead of "This process is broken," try "I've noticed X issue. Here's a proposal to fix it."
Ask for feedback explicitly: "What's one thing I could do better?" is more productive than waiting for annual reviews.
Disagree respectfully: Push back when you have a different perspective, but do it with data and respect. Then commit fully once a decision is made.
When You Have a Difficult Manager
Not every manager is great. If you're struggling:
Focus on what you can control: You can't change them, but you can change how you respond.
Identify patterns: What triggers negative reactions? Can you avoid or mitigate those triggers?
Document everything: Keep records of your work, decisions, and communications.
Find other mentors: Don't rely solely on your manager for guidance and support.
Know when to leave: Sometimes the best managing up is managing yourself to a new role.
The Long Game
Managing up is about building a relationship, not winning battles. Think long-term:
- Build trust through consistency
- Give credit generously
- Support your manager publicly
- Address disagreements privately
- Help them succeed
When your manager looks good, you look good. When they trust you, opportunities follow.
Remember
Managing up isn't about flattery or politics. It's about understanding another human being and figuring out how to work together effectively.
The best working relationships are genuine partnerships where both people help each other succeed.
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