Frustrated with your staff's efforts to manage up?
“Beth, I was looking for help on how to manage up. I’ve gone through all the videos in the NCD Online Learning Center, and while I got really great information on how to manage-up as an employee engaging with a supervisor, I was wondering what resources are available to help a manager who is requesting their staff to manage up?”
This client request got me thinking about the gap that exists when we use phrases like “managing up” and what happens when we assume that others understand exactly what that means to us.
If you are a leader who keeps using the term “manage up” as a directive to your staff and yet you aren’t getting the results you want, the problem is likely not in your employee’s performance but in how you are making that ask.
I’ve written up a 4-step process you can follow to develop a managing-up relationship, and I'm sharing it with you.
Step 1: Get Clear on Expectations
This activity is for you, the manager.
On an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, draw three equal columns. In the first column write down what managing up looks like to you. The items in this area will be big picture or strategic. This might include things like “making me aware of potential problems that are brewing with a list of possible solutions”, “proactively seeking clarification about what is a priority for me”, “align communication with my preferred communication style”, “helping me see what I’m missing when thinking through challenges”, “giving me feedback”.
In the second column list all the tactical duties that are involved in managing up. “Give me a briefing on upcoming important meetings”, “Compose a monthly draft email update to staff for my review”, “Review monthly financials and give me a synopsis or highlights”
In the last column list everything that managing up absolutely does not include. This helps you think about and communicate the ways in which someone who is trying to manage up might overstep your boundaries. These may look like, “Breaking confidentiality”, “Interrupting me in meetings”, “Communicating by text for anything other than an emergency”.
Step 2: Share Your Expectations
Set a meeting time to share your expectations as well as your boundaries for a managing-up relationship. Present your list and then provide ample opportunity for the employee to ask questions or challenge what you’ve presented. This will help build clarity and trust within the relationship.
You may ask the employee to do the activity themselves and bring their thoughts to the meeting. You will gain great insight and new ideas by hearing their perspective as well.
Step 3: Skill Building
Success in managing up requires skill. Provide your employee with training and resources in how to have tough conversations, engage in healthy conflict, and develop authentic coaching techniques.
Step 4: Be Kind and Forgiving
It seems that people who manage up well are mind readers – but they aren’t. They’ve experimented a great deal with what is too much and too little. The relationship is built on a culture of giving and receiving feedback without it taking it personally. The feedback is about the process of managing up. If someone oversteps and you react harshly, they will step back and the managing up relationship will struggle.
Preparing your team to manage up will be one of the most valuable things you can ever do. Before you can make that ask you need to first:
define managing up for yourself
share exactly what you mean by “managing up”
then empower them to develop the skills they need to manage up well.
If you skip those steps and jump into asking people to manage up, it will create chaos, conflict, and frustration.
If you’d like support in developing employees who can manage up, let us know.