Managing Up: Engaging your supervisor in productive ways
1. Managing Up:
Engaging your supervisor
in productive ways
Presented by: Jennifer Gould, M.B.A.
Joshua Hettrick, Ed.D.
NEACUHO Fall Drive-In, October 5, 2012
2. Managing Up
“Managing up is the process of consciously working with
your boss to obtain the best possible results for you, your
boss, and your organization. This is not a political
maneuver or kissing up. Rather it is a deliberate effort to
bring understanding and cooperation to a relationship
between individuals who often have different perspectives.”
~Thomas Zuber & Erica James
3. Isn’t this manipulation?
No! It’s a way to create a win-win-win situation (the
people, the organization and the project at hand!).
Failure to manage the boss can result in
misunderstandings and wasted time and effort.
Don’t forget to manage down as well-only managing the
boss and paying no attention to the staff team can result
in looking a little bit like a suck-up! (And none of us
want that!)
4. Things to consider when Managing Up
Communication Understand your
supervisor’s preferences
No surprises
Understand your own
Providing solutions, not
management style
problems
Be aware of your boss’
Be honest and
strengths and
trustworthy
weaknesses
Be loyal and committed
Know the hot buttons
Understand your boss’
Request Feedback
perspective and agenda
Don’t go over your boss’
head
5. Communicate
You know this is a two-way street!
Good communication skills are the basis for success in
almost every situation.
Brush up all of the skills-verbal and written (and know
which way your supervisor likes to get things).
Readers will prefer notes or emails before hearing you say
things to give them time to digest
Listeners often need to hear the information before
consuming the written version
If you want to be heard, make it easy by using your
supervisor’s preferred method
Ask questions to understand wants and decisions
6. No Surprises!
No, not even the good ones. Those can backfire on you
too!
Keep your supervisor in the loop regularly about what is
going on with specific projects and the staff team
Stop by the office daily
Send regular email updates if you can’t connect in person
Use your scheduled one-on-ones and office hours
effectively to discuss important issues
7. Provide Solutions, Not Problems
Yes, problems will happen, they always do…
When letting your supervisor know about something
that’s gone wrong, be ready to propose at least 2-3
solutions to go with it
It’s okay to push an issue-some of us like to avoid
problems, but they’ll need to be confronted in the end,
so help with that.
8. Be Honest and Trustworthy
Things that will hurt you: dishonesty, covering up
problems or failures, sweeping issues under the rug
The truth will come out eventually, and unlike a fine
wine, it doesn’t get any better with age!
Maintain your honesty and dependability by honoring
your commitments, project schedules and constraints
9. Be Loyal and Committed
Loyalty and commitment shows support
This extends beyond your supervisor…think about your
hall staff, maintenance staff, central staff, etc
If you don’t demonstrate these things to a boss, don’t
expect them in return (not a good place to be!)
10. Understand your Boss’s
Perspective and Agenda
Put yourself in his shoes and align your priorities
Many people think they understand the boss’s goals and
pressures, but don’t always understand strengths,
weaknesses, aspirations or work styles, or the
constraints they are under
Explore these things to help identify commonalities and
gain insight on how to better interact effectively
11. Understand your Supervisor’s
Preferences
…and try to conform to them!
Does your supervisor want a daily update? To get the big
picture and not the details?
Use tact when suggesting different methods for
completing tasks
Don’t assume you know what your boss wants-ask
questions if you’re unsure to clarify his/her needs and
expectations
Don’t set standards for yourself that you can’t
consistently meet
12. Understand your own
management style
…and take responsibility for it’s effect on others
Recognize your own strengths, weaknesses, goals and
personal needs; how you respond to being managed;
how others respond to you
Know the effect you have on others and how they react
to you (especially your staff)
13. Be Aware of your Boss’s
Strengths and Weaknesses
Use your boss’s strengths to your advantage! Go to your
supervisor for his/her expertise.
Compensate for the weaknesses.
Nobody is good at everything-provide support in those
areas
Chances are you won’t be great and terrible at all of the
same things, so find ways to work as a team to get
things achieved
14. Know the Hot Buttons
What are your supervisor’s triggers and pet peeves?
Find out what these things are and avoid them!
Ignoring items that are hot buttons for your supervisor
will likely sour your relationship and can lead to
unsuccessful projects or negative evaluations.
15. Request Feedback
And learn to accept the feedback that you request
Ask periodically if you aren’t sure how you’re doing-don’t
wait until end of semester evaluations
If you get negative feedback, discuss concerns, but do
so maturely, not emotionally or confrontationally
Listen to what is being said and act on it appropriately
16. Don’t Go Over the Boss’s Head
Don’t go behind the boss’s back either
Go to your supervisor first with any concerns-you’d want
the same courtesy
IF something is VERY serious and not being addressed,
or if you supervisor IS the problem and can’t be
confronted, go up the chain
If you do need to go over the supervisor, keep the
information as private as possible, discussing only with
people that need to know and be willing to document
what you are reporting
17. Case Study
Your department is currently in the process of collecting
spring intention forms from students in the residence halls.
This form is completed by all students in housing during the
fall semester to determine if they will be returning to
housing for the spring semester. The due date for these
forms to be turned in to the Assistant Director for Housing
is Monday, October 8th. It is now Thursday, October 11th.
The Director of Residential Life is waiting for results to pass
on to the VP of Student Affairs so he is prepared for his
cabinet meeting. The ADH realized late Wednesday that an
entire section was missing from one of the halls. The RA in
the section has already been given a written warning for
paperwork this semester by their RD. The Assistant Director
for Staff Development who supervises the RD and RA staff
has been made aware of the problem as well. Placing
yourself in this situation based on your current role, what is
the process you take to help bring a resolution to this
problem?
18. Managing up sounds simple, but
managers, and everyone else
need to learn this basic concept.
If we want someone to
understand what we have to say,
we must learn to speak their
language, rather than expecting
them to learn ours.
~Richard L. Knowdell
Building a Career Development Program: Nine Steps for
Effective Implementation
19. Resources
Turk, W., (2007). The art of managing up. Defense AT&L,
March & April, 2007.
Notes de l'éditeur
IntroductionsJosh - Why we are doing this presentation
Jen - Engage the audience about what they believe “Managing Up” meansShow quote following the discussion
Jen – Asks audience about perception of “Managing Up” being manipulationShow information regarding what this is INTENDED to be about
Josh – quick overview
Josh
Jen
Josh – personal anecdote regarding facilities concerns being handled by the RD
Jen – has a few personal anecdotes from spouse and a fire alarm to missing duty
Josh -
Jen – personal anecdote about the nature of Jon’s position (micro vs. macro level of thinking)
Josh – personal anecdote about when I first started working at WSU