The Key to Managing Up: Build relationships
The concept of “managing up” to deal with a bad boss is one of the many ambiguous terms that fill the business lexicon. Rosanne Badowski, co-author of “Managing Up: How to Forge an Effective Relationship With Those Above You.”, defines managing up as going “above and beyond the tasks assigned to you so that you can enhance your manager’s work.” in other words figuring out what you can do to make your boss’s job easier and doing it.
Why so many people advise against managing up is because of how people tend to define it, incorrectly. It is common to believe that managing up means managing your boss, taking control from below. If this is how you define it, than managing up does seem ill-advised.
The term lends itself to the confusion surrounding its meaning. “Thinking up” would be a more fitting title for the idea. That is what the practice is meant to be. And its brilliant. This one effort makes it easier to get along with your manager, more suited to fill their position when the time comes, and more likely to be promoted. The core idea is not controlling your boss, it is understanding your boss.
The reason that a bad boss exists in every workplace is because the idea is subjective. Your ‘bad boss’ is your coworker’s ideal boss. Now there are obviously exceptions but we will get to them later. The point here is that in many cases it is not that you or your boss are not good at your respective jobs, just not good at getting along.
Personality clashes are common in the workplace. Many of which are with co-workers and can often be solved by limiting interaction. In the case of your manager, why not frame it as: ‘What can I do to better understand them as a person?’. Figure out why it is that you clash. Try and better understand their position, motives and responsibilities. This is not only going to help you understand your boss but it will help you to understand their job; a job you may be looking to have in the future. As Sandy Mazur of Spherion has said, “In order to grow, learn and advance in their careers, employees need to be on the same page with their supervisors about their goals, objectives and career path.”
This person is above you for a reason so in your current position it is your responsibility to bend. Assimilation strategies aside, and the merit or disadvantages of adhering to them, in reality, to some extent, you have to adjust your style to fit the atmosphere of your company. To clarify, this does not mean bending your morals, values or ethics.
As previously stated, managing up is roughly defined as going above your normal job duties to make your manager’s job easier. Sometimes it is not even a matter of going beyond your normal duties, just being more efficient in them. Putting yourself in your boss’s shoes may illuminate things that you would not otherwise have realized.
In many positions there are a certain amount of routine tasks to take care of on a daily basis that perhaps, if a bit more mindfully done, would make everything run smoother, which in turn would make your boss’s job easier. Little things like this can go a long way to relieve tensions and build relationships.
Getting back to the exceptions, those situations in which you are stuck with an objectively bad boss. The Harvard Business Review suggests there are two options for handling such situations. The first, stick it out. Keep on doing a good job, stay focused on your responsibilities and wait for the situation to correct itself. If your boss is that bad, other people will be noticing as well. The hope is that, eventually, either the manager will self-destruct, basically create such a rough atmosphere that they themself cannot handle it, or enough complaints will rain in to push this person out. In either situation, your working through the stress will be looked on favorably after the situation resolves itself.
Option two is to reassess your aspirations and perhaps seek out new options. This may even serve as a wake up call; a push to examine the status quo. Think about where you are, where you planned to be at this point and where you would like to be in 5 years. If any of these answers is unsatisfactory, it is likely time to start refreshing your resume and seeking new employment. Before you apply, be sure to do your research on potential companies’ atmosphere and structure to try and avoid another bad situation.
Managing up is a sound strategy not just to help you better your relationship with your boss but to help you move up in your company as well. The only issue with the concept is that it is often misunderstood and/or misused, simple as it may be. It’s really just about working hard and making an effort to understand your boss, their job and their motivations.
By Paul Maupin
