Managing up is a crucial skill that helps professionals improve their relationships with leaders. It helps them align their career goals and positively influence organizational performance.
Here are some workplace stats that should be seriously looked into:
These facts indicate the significance of mastering the ‘managing up’ skill in 2025, especially considering the extremely demanding and competitive environment.
Managing up is creating a constructive relationship with your immediate manager or higher-level colleagues. It means adapting to their expectations and working style and understanding their goals, pressures, and preferences. Important elements of managing up are:
While managing up is a valuable skill, it is often misunderstood or misused. Here’s what it doesn’t involve:
Managing up doesn’t revolve around simply pleasing your boss. It relates to an excellent workplace, where employees are recognized for all their contributions despite leadership challenges. It is about understanding the leader’s leadership style and projecting efforts toward organizational priorities.
Not ‘managing up’ can lead to poor communication, missed opportunities, and stagnation in career development. This guide will help you with key strategies for managing up, along with practical examples and risks to avoid.
Before you learn how to ‘manage up,’ you need to know your boss’s leadership style and what he or she expects from you. Begin by asking:
Organizations have witnessed a 72% reduction in attrition, and employees are delighted with their managers.
The first step to ‘managing up’ is to learn about your boss’s priorities. This is knowing what he or she wants to achieve, what challenges the leader faces, and what vision he or she has for the team.
Here’s how to do that:
Managing up may have its pitfalls. Some of the key challenges are:
Misaligned communication can create misunderstandings and friction. The best way to avoid this is to confirm the understanding of tasks and expectations regularly.
Taking too much initiative may lead to surpassing your manager’s responsibilities. Seek a middle ground and try to get approval when entering the unknown.
If managed poorly, managing up may result in the manager relying so much on your flexibility that it can kill your independence. It is important to establish boundaries for independence.
Focusing just on upward relations might isolate teammates. Balance is essential; excellent peer relationships generate teamwork and victory.
Let us dive into the best practices and key strategies that will master managing up:
Trust is the foundation for any effective working relationship. How to build it – show up, deliver what you promise, and be transparent about what you’re doing. Teams that have higher trust levels also experience 50% higher productivity.
This means that if you are honest and dependable, you become an essential player in the success of your manager. Here are some key actions that you can take:
Effective communication is such that the manager will never be left in the dark. Share updates frequently, and use clear and crisp language while making sure that possible risks are raised early on. Important tips:
Giving feedback to your manager is not easy, but it is necessary for a healthy relationship. Do this with respect and tact. For instance, you could say, “Should we try a different approach for better results?” Constructive feedback is more likely to be accepted and appreciated. Here are some things you can try:
Everyone works differently, and managers are no exception. Some like detailed updates, while others appreciate high-level overviews. The better you understand their style, the better you will communicate and collaborate with them. Over time, you will strengthen your relationship. Key steps:
Trust and professionalism should never be compromised. Divulging privileged information can severely damage your reputation and your working relationship with your manager. Follow these tips:
As someone close to the team, you’re uniquely positioned to share valuable insights with your manager. Highlight trends or concerns, such as morale issues or skill gaps, that they may not see directly.
Here are some tips and best practices that you must follow to ‘manage up’ effectively:
Knowing what your manager values most enables you to work toward their objectives. This way, you are working toward their success. You must make an effort to discuss their top priorities and be on the same page with their changing priorities.
Managers like employees who take responsibility and solve problems ahead of time. For example, instead of just pointing out a delay, present a new timeline and explain the changes required to achieve it. Take responsibility for your tasks without being told to do so and offer to take on difficult tasks to demonstrate initiative.
Indulge in progress discussion, current updates, and advice during integral check-ins. Always prepare an agenda before the check-in and handle action-type items to make the session productive. You must also send a summary email or Minutes of the Meeting that captures important points.
Regularly soliciting feedback is the mark of an individual dedicated to growth. 72% of managers believe seeking constructive feedback about work is desirable. Implement feedback and demonstrate improvements.
Record your critical discussions, holding yourself and others accountable to avoid miscommunication. This is specifically beneficial for people working in different geographies or hybrid scenarios.
Acknowledge the challenges of your manager and thus have a closer relationship. Basic gestures of empathy, such as showing them their workload, would go a long way in the rapport. Show empathetic language during stressed moments, for example, “I understand this must be challenging”. Be willing to share some workload and avoid taking negative reactions personally.
Be the team player who lifts others. Report team morale and share your observations about what should be actioned. Promote coordination and cooperation on the part of team members. You must also address workload disproportion ahead of imbalances arising.
Here are some examples that demonstrate what managing up is and how it is done!
In a case study, an employee resolved the problem posed by a micromanager on wasted time through a change of strategy. Here are key initiatives taken by the employee:
Use Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives (MBO) structure when dealing with bosses who give out vague instructions. You can draft a short letter that captures objectives and standards as they are. Present the draft and seek the leader’s opinions to converge into actionable steps. This will give you greater clarity on goals and mutual responsibility.
In another example, an employee handling two managers’ work used a weekly to-do list to:
Nuspire is one of the global leaders in managed security services with more than 1,000 employees. The organization experienced low employee morale and engagement. In 2022, Nuspire partnered with Engagedly to implement the E10 Engagement Survey. The survey revealed overall gaps in morale, loopholes in performance management, and lack of employee recognition.
Within three years, Nuspire realized a 15% increase in employee engagement. Automated processes by Engagedly have replaced manual work, allowing leaders and employees to focus on strategic initiatives rather than mundane administrative tasks. Initiatives based on survey insights created a boost in morale and empowered employees to engage actively in personal development.
When pointing out inefficiencies, bring a proposed solution to your manager. For example:
Managing up is not merely a career booster-it is one of the most important skills that can transform your profession and career. Managing up can be described in one word – understanding.
You must understand your leaders’ needs, goals, and challenges and proactively align your efforts to better support them. The relationship encourages mutual growth and success.
Managing up can be your new source of opportunities in your career development. It can boost your reputation as a dependable and resourceful team member and can contribute to a better work environment in general.
At any stage of your career, you must enhance collaboration and leadership through integral tools and resources. Using such professional help and expertise can advance your professional development.
Visit Engagedly for innovative solutions designed to empower you. The platform will help you thrive in your career and master the art of managing up.
Managing up and across requires collaboration, which means working not just with your boss but also with colleagues on other teams. It requires developing trust and mutual objectives toward improved efficiency within a team.
You can bring up a substantial subject, challenge, or task from a team and suggest proactive solutions. You can also emphasize improving how things are done better, with mutual benefits.
‘Managing up’ shows leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills. These characteristics make you more valuable to your organization. Thus, it can help in increasing your chances of career advancement.
Use organizational tools such as project management software, employee mentoring tools, or communication aids that can help streamline the workflow. You must ensure that such resources comply with organizational policies and fit into your manager’s preferences.
