SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 210,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.
How effectively do you “manage up”?
- Very — I manage my boss/superiors quite well: 41%
- Somewhat — I occasionally don’t do this well: 47%
- Not very — I struggle to manage up on most occasions: 10%
- Not at all — I’m not effective at managing up: 2%
Managing in Both Directions. It’s encouraging to see many folks investing the time and energy in managing their boss. Their needs and expectations have just as much impact on your/your team’s performance as do the members of your team. That impact requires a commensurate amount of time and energy to manage. Specifically set aside time to manage your boss. Keep a log of issues and information you want to get in front of them to ensure you’re always approaching the business from the same perspective. No matter how great your results are, if they’re not what the boss expects, you’ll have an issue on your hands.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, author of the upcoming book “The Elegant Pitch: Create a Compelling Recommendation, Build Broad Support, and Get it Approved” and “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”