Episode #273: Managing Up

Why do we want to manage up? All the brains and good ideas in an organization don’t exclusively aggregate to the top of the hierarchy. In fact, one of the depressing aspects of becoming a leader, with responsibilty for others, is that you are taken away from the front line. This is especially the case if you have been enjoying working with clients and in your new vice-regal role, you can only do that osmotically, through others in your team. You rapidly find yourself out of date with what is happening in the market and the nitty gritty of what is going on in the front line.

You see the macro numbers and can see trends, but you don’t see what is fully behind those numbers. This means that the people at the bottom will always have a perspective on the business that is denied to the boss. This is okay, as long as the boss is tapping into the knowledge and viewpoint of those in the field, those on the front line. In a perfect word that would be the case, but in this time poor world, that is not always how it pans out.

People down the chain of command may want to communicate their ideas and insights to those at the top. They have the firm’s best interests to their bosum but they are not nominated as a “leader” in the org chart, so they have little influence on the future direction of the business. I was speaking with an HR leader in a mid-sized construction company and he told me how one of the employees had come up with a breakthrough piece of technology and no one had ever heard of this person. He was a engineer down the bottom of the pile somewhere, doing genius work but none of the geniuses running the show, even knew he existed. They have realised they need to change their culture because the current system is not maximizing the opportunity of the business through the creativity of their staff.

If we want to play a role in the company, beyond our current status and then we need to be strategic about it. There are four things we need to be working on.

1. Planning the way we communicate

This has to do with things like appropriate timing. This sounds so basic but sometimes my staff will want a decision from me, as I am heading to the door to an event or a meeting. I have been in the office for hours, but they leave it to this last moment to grab me. Of course they fail completely, because I am already half way to the elevator and I have no time to stop for anyone, because I am already running late.

Another key point is mutual respect. This relates to our listening skills, not interrupting, not finishing off their sentences and not getting defensive if the boss puts up a counter argument. There is also the aspect of personality styles and the related communication preferences. If the boss is direct, we can be direct, if they are analytical types we better come armed with oodles of data, if they are big picture, we had better be the same and if they are reserved, we should expect this will take time and require more than one meeting.

I am a Driver type and nothing annoys me more than when some of my staff go on and on and never get to the point. They digress, go off on tangents, talk about things which are unrelated and take up a lot of my valuable time. Just tell me what you want, why it is a good idea and I will make a decision right on the spot. Each of us has our preferences and pet peeves and if we are going to do a good job of managing up, then we need to know how to best communicate in the style they prefer.

2. Managing Priorities and Expectations

Try to understand what pressures your boss is under and see where you can help. Make sure your goals are in alignment with their goals and they will be all ears to listen to you. We all want to be leaders but the requisite skill prior to that lofty achievement is to be a good follower. Many people forget this bit and just want to elbow their way to the top. If you are suggesting something be done then manage their expectations on completion times and what it will deliver. If you don’t deliver what or when you said you would, then the trust gets eroded and the project can backfire on you.

3. Receiving Suggestions and Feedback

We have our preferences and ideals of what we want to see happen. I remember my boss at Shinsei Retail Bank would edit what I wrote for him to go out each week to all of the staff. We were trying to build a different culture in the bank. So we were using this weekly note as a way of aligning us all together around our values and how we felt about servicing the customer. I would write the draft, he would correct it and then we would send it out in both Japanese and English.

To my annoyance he would change things I wrote slightly. I felt it was already perfect and ready to go but he would always make a small change here and there. Well I wrote that note in my voice and he wanted to make it in his voice. I had to accept that feedback and make the changes, no matter how I felt about it. We won’t always get things to go just as we think, but the point is to be happy that you are getting most of what you want, when you don’t have any real authority or power at this point.

4. Selling An Idea Up

Choose your timing carefully. With bosses you can ask them for the same thing on two different days and get a different answer depending on what is going on in their mind, at any one time. As we say in sales, “try to join the conversation going on in the mind of the buyer”.

Refer to their personality style to find the best communication method that will work best with them. Give them some context first, before you make your recommendation. Even with Drivers who get bored very quickly and want to get to the point so they can move on, you need to provide some brief context to the decision required to be made. Business schools tell you to state your idea up front in brief and then explain it – this is extremely bad advice. This triggers the boss to start thinking of the thousand good reasons why this won’t work.

Instead use this order – context first – recommendation – benefit of the recommendation. This will get you listened to, with some context, against which the boss can draw a conclusion about what comes next.

Managing up is an opportunity, but also an explosive if we get it wrong. Don’t get hoisted on your own petard. Make the relationship work and inject your ideas into the mix of organization direction and strategy. Also when you become the boss, remember that the people below you want to be heard, have ideas and want to play a bigger role, so make time for them to do so.