Managing Up

Managing up is a skill set that is needed for anyone who wants to be an integral part of their organization. It is about building a strong relationship with your boss, building trust, and bringing up issues when needed. So how do you successfully manage up? Well there are four main components that allow you to build a strong relationship with your boss:

1.Understanding what is important to your boss - knowing what are the major priorities and goals of your leader is critical for you to be able to take initiative, show support, and get involved in those areas. By taking steps to further the goals of your leader you will show him/her that you are aligned with his/her vision and wanting to contribute to those goals.

2.Helping them to prioritize your work - by understanding what is important to your boss you will be able to strategically think through what are the highest priorities in your work. You will then be able to focus on those tasks earlier than others and raise questions to your boss about them as needed. This will show that you are proactive, have drive, and are able to think strategically.

3.Raising issues to your leader - as you are closer to the ground than your boss you will be able to determine if there are any barriers to success in the making sooner than they will. As a result a good way to manage up is to raise issues to your boss which could be potential problems so that he/she can can deal with them in a timely and appropriate fashion.

4.Taking initiative to raise ideas and opportunities to your boss - being proactive shows your boss your enthusiasm, commitment, and desire to progress in the organization. It will also show them that they can delegate more work onto you and that you can bring up new initiatives that support the organization as a whole. 

Is there anything from this list that you can add or improve upon in your day to day work?