Managing up and across

2025-03-18

Managing your boss

  • Think of the relationship as a partnership in which depend on each other to succeed and influecne each other

    • Are you meeting expectations?

      • performance targets
      • information
        • develop a sense of what your boss wants to know
      • support and loyalty
        • when you do honestly agree with your boss, say so clearly and explicitly
        • be generous and assume the best intentions, even when you disagree

    • Does your boss trust you?

      • negotiate what you both mean by "do the right thing"
      • make sure you share a common understanding of the challenges
      • make sure your boss knows your goals and plans and agrees with them
      • do u negotiate expectations when you're given an assignment?
        • do this at the beginning, and update expectations periodically. warn your boss of potential risks, and play out various scenarios of how you might handle them

    • Do u see and understand your boss as a person?

      • do u know enough that you're able to see the world through his eyes?

    • Can u identify your boss's strengths?

    • Are u clear about what you need and expect?
      • negotiate what you need from your boss. what can he do to help u?

  • Think of her dual roles as extremes between which he moves back and forth depending on the situation

    • in small ways, test her willingness to provide support
      • you can see when, where, and how he's likely to focus on development rather than evaluation
    • learn his feelings about what's important in management
      • such as careful planning, decisiveness, building consensus - and make sure you develop and display those qualities

Get to know your boss's boss

  • Interact with her

    • smile and say "hello" when you see her
    • ask how you can help her. Re-introduce yourself if you see she doesn't remember you
    • treat her like the very important customer she is

  • reach out to her when oportunities arise

    • send her a congratulatory e-mail if she gets a promotion or award
    • send her a link and ask whether she's heard about it if you find an article or book that's relevant to her interests

  • tap her for advice

    • ask for input on courses you're thinking of taking
    • "John thought you might have some helpful insights for us...", also make your boss look good

  • leading or joining a cross-functional team is an opportunity to raise your visibility

make your boss look better to his boss

reference

  • [HBR Guide to Managing up and across]