Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency

M A N A G I N G U PManaging Yourself

Steve JoinerWayne Scott

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Katherine Hepburn

You can't just be talented: You have to be terribly smart and energetic and ruthless. You

also have to become necessary to people, by working hard and

well and bringingmore than your bones and your

skin to the project. Don't just show up. Transform the work,

yourself, and everybody around you. Be needed. Be interesting. Be something no one else can

be—and consistently.

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency

Some Operating Assumptions

We’re going to have a facilitated

discussion & knowledge exchange. We know everything

we need to know about managing up.

There aren’t answers to every situation. Our conversation

today is confidential.

What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency

DVD CLIP & DISCUSSION

What are our stereotypes and

unsavory associations to employees who “manage up”?

What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Who is this?

George III

The mother of all bad bosses

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency

“Managing upwards is the practice of optimally

communicating information, making

appropriate decisions, and effectively

escalating issues.”

Bernardo Garcia, 2008

What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

What is Managing Up?

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency

“Managing up is a method of career

development that’s based on consciously working for the mutual benefit of yourself and

your boss.”

April Green, 2013

What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

What is Managing Up?

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency

“’Managing up’ is not kissing up or believing you can

manipulate the situation. But it is your job to deliberately discover and implement ways to most effectively work with your boss to

deliver the best possible results for all the

stakeholders involved.”

Peter Gruber, 2013

What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

What is Managing Up?

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency

“[T]he process of consciously working with your boss to

obtain the best possible results for you, your boss, and your

organization. This is not political maneuvering or kissing

up. Rather it is a deliberate effort to bring understanding

and cooperation to a relationship between individuals

who often have different perspectives.”

Wayne Turk, 2007

What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

What is Managing Up?

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Top Down & Unidirectional

A Different Paradigm

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

A Different ParadigmTransactional

PersuasionInfluenceDeveloping

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

To authentically and specifically articulate your fit

BraggingSucking Up“Any color of” NosingBeing disingenuous

Being Fake

Effective CommunicationManaging UpNetworkingInformation SharingRelationship Building

What about Career Development?

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Control

Influence

Concern

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Hu

man

Nu

mb

er L

ine 10: Managing up is your middle name. It

comes naturally & you’re comfortable doing it.

7: You have an intuitive feel for it, but can’t articulate what it is you’re doing or why. It seems to work out.

3: You struggle with tension, cognitive dissonance, not being on the same page, being cross-wise.

1: “What the heck is this about?” “I have to do that too?!” You struggle with the concept.

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

How Well Do You

Know Your Boss?

Hu

man

Nu

mb

er L

ine

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

BREAK

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Now

Self State

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

REFLECTION & DISCUSSION

How Well Do You

Know Your Boss?

Sel

f-A

sses

smen

t

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

REFLECTION & DISCUSSION

What did you

discover? What could

you do differently?S

elf-

Ass

essm

ent

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency

Communicate

Understand Your Boss’s Perspective

Take the High Road, Guard Your Brand

Depend on Your Boss’s

Strengths & Compensate

Stand Tall, Don’t Cower

What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy ExchangeP

AR

T O

NE

Gal

lery

Wal

k

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency

Communicate

Understand Your Boss’s Perspective

Take the High Road, Guard Your Brand

Depend on Your Boss’s

Strengths & Compensate

Stand Tall, Don’t Cower

What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy ExchangeP

AR

T T

WO

Str

ateg

y E

xch

ang

e

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

What’s one challenge you

confront in your relationship with

your boss?What’s one

strategy that you learned today that

you might use to address it?

Ref

lect

ive

Dia

log

ue

Managing Up: A Key Workplace Competency What is Managing Up? | How Well Do You Know Your Boss? | Strategy Exchange

Katherine Hepburn

You can't just be talented: You have to be terribly smart and energetic and ruthless. You

also have to become necessary to people, by working hard and

well and bringingmore than your bones and your

skin to the project. Don't just show up. Transform the work,

yourself, and everybody around you. Be needed. Be interesting. Be something no one else can

be—and consistently.