DigiWorks

What is Managing Up?

Jan 20, 2023 • 13 min read

Managing up is about building a strong professional network and positive relationships within your organization. It’s about being able to speak freely with people who are above you without worrying about upsetting your boss. It’s also about helping others grow professionally. If you don’t manage up, you won’t have much career development.

There is nothing wrong with having opinions and asking key questions about how your boss manages and leads. In fact, there is nothing wrong with sharing your thoughts with your manager. However, you must keep in mind that your opinion isn’t necessarily shared by everyone. And even though you might feel like you are speaking truthfully, your words could come across as disrespectful. You need to make use of an affirmative but respectful communication style.

Your job is to help your manager grow professionally. As long as you do what you are asked to do, you shouldn’t worry too much about whether or not you are doing things correctly. Instead, focus on providing value to your manager. Help him or her learn something new. Be willing to take initiative. Share knowledge. Offer suggestions. Ask questions. All of these actions show your manager that he or she is capable of growing professionally and can form a strong working relationship with supervisors and other employees.

If you don’t know someone well enough to offer advice, ask around. Find out who knows the person best. Then reach out to that individual. Don’t just wait for your boss to tell you what to do. Take action yourself.

You’ll learn:

  • How do you manage up?
  • 8 Characteristics of Effective Leaders
  • Why is managing up important?

Ready to build your remote team?

Use the DigiWorks platform to hire, manage, and pay remote talent from all over the world.

How do you manage up?

Managing up is something we all do every day without even realizing it. We communicate with our colleagues and superiors, and we listen to them and help them solve problems. But how exactly does one go about managing up? And why is it important to managers?

The answer lies within the concept of communication. In today’s workplace, most employees feel like they don’t know where they stand with their boss. This often leads to frustration and feelings of powerlessness. This does not lead to a productive working relationship and can be a hindrance to your professional goals. Even worse, some employees may feel like they don‘t matter to their bosses.

In contrast, those who manage up are effective because they take the time to learn about their subordinates and make sure they are aware of what matters to them. These managers are able to identify their team members’ strengths and weaknesses and use that information to build relationships. This allows them to effectively communicate with their teams and allows them to be seen as a team player.

As such, managers who manage up are effective listeners. They listen to their team members and act accordingly. For example, if a subordinate tells them he feels undervalued, the manager might say, “I hear you,” and work to rectify the situation. If another employee says she needs more training, the manager might suggest ways to improve her performance.

Finally, managers who manage up show empathy and care about their team members. They understand that everyone faces challenges and struggles on a daily basis, and they try to empathize with their team members. They show effective leadership skills and as a result, they become trusted advisors and allies for their employees.

8 Characteristics of Effective Leaders

1. Be caring

A manager who cares about her team members takes care of their needs before she takes care of herself. She makes sure everyone feels comfortable, included, and like a valuable asset to the team. She helps people feel good about themselves and is open to leadership advice. She creates a positive environment where people want to work hard and succeed. She treats others how she wants to be treated. A manager who is caring takes care of her employees’ needs before taking care of herself. She ensures that her employees know they matter. She provides opportunities for growth and development. She encourages collaboration among team members. She is willing to listen to ideas and suggestions. She listens actively to what her employees say. She doesn’t interrupt unless it’s important. When someone asks for help, she responds quickly. She does not hesitate to ask questions. She respects the opinions of those around her. She values diversity and inclusion. She knows that every employee brings something different to the table. She understands that each person has strengths and weaknesses. She recognizes that no one person is perfect. She appreciates each individual’s contributions. She acknowledges mistakes and learns from them. She believes that teamwork leads to success. She supports and promotes women.

2. Coaching

Coaching is one of those things that sounds great in theory but doesn’t always work out in practice. If you’ve ever been coached yourself, you probably remember feeling like it wasn’t really helping much. But coaching provides a lot of benefits, including improving employee morale, increasing productivity, and boosting retention. So even though it might sound scary, try giving some thought to whether coaching could help your team. Coaching can be a major catalyst for employee engagement.

3. Communicating

A great way to manage up – and keep your job – is to know what your manager’s preferred channels of communication are. If he prefers email, make sure you’re checking it regularly. And if she prefers texting, don’t assume she’ll respond to texts.

Active listening skills will help you better understand your manager’s needs. When you ask questions about his requests, you show interest and demonstrate that you care. You might even learn something you didn’t realize needed to be done.

Know your manager’s preferred communication method before reaching out. Email is probably best for quick messages, while phone calls are best for longer conversations. Texting works well for both short and long conversations. Communication can be especially challenging if you have a remote/virtual team.

One way of overcoming the lack of constant face-to-face supervision is to have daily or weekly check-in calls with your teams. We know this can be very time consuming and that’s where making use of hiring platforms like DigiWorks can be extremely useful for not only managing your team but also for growing it. The DigiWorks platform is amazing at connecting business owners and managers with pre-vetted and assessed talent from all over the world. They also handle check-ins and performance reviews as well as the entire onboarding and payroll processes which is a HUGE win.

4. Emotionally resilient

Emotional resilience is the ability to recover quickly from emotional distress. In fact, it is the opposite of emotional vulnerability. If you are vulnerable to negative emotions, you are likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and low self – esteem. You might even develop eating disorders. However, if you are resilient to negative emotions, you can bounce back easily. This allows you to maintain high levels of energy, focus, and productivity throughout the day.

In addition, people who are emotionally resilient tend to make fewer mistakes. They are less likely to blame others for failures and are highly functional leaders. And they are more likely to take responsibility for their actions.

If you want to become emotionally resilient, here are some tips:

  1. Understand what causes your emotional vulnerabilities
  2. Learn how to manage your emotions
  3. Practice mindfulness
  4. Find ways to cope with difficult situations

5. Fair treatment

Fair treatment is an important part of management and is a trait of successful leaders. When we treat people fairly, it makes us feel good about ourselves. And we want to make our employees happy because happiness leads to productivity. So how can we provide fair treatment to everyone around us? Here are some tips for making sure that you’re treating everyone fairly.

1. Be honest and transparent

When someone does something wrong, tell him or her what happened. Don’t try to cover up mistakes or hide information. If you don’t know why someone did something, ask. This way, you won’t have to guess. You’ll know exactly what went wrong. Performance reviews are a good way to convey this honesty and transparency.

2. Give credit where credit is due

If you notice someone doing a great job and being a stellar employee, let him or her know. Let others know when you appreciate their work. Even if you didn’t think of the idea yourself, giving credit is still nice.

3. Make decisions based on facts

Making emotional decisions can lead to sticky situations and make your team feel you are a bad manager with major blind spots.

6. Fostering innovation

The best way to foster innovation is to avoid micromanaging. This includes micro-managing people, processes, and projects. Instead, give employees room to make decisions and take risks.

Learn from mistakes and successes. When something goes wrong, ask yourself why it happened, what could have been done differently, and how you might prevent similar problems in the future. Then, learn from your mistakes and successes. Take note of what worked well and what didn’t work so well.

Letting your boss know that he or she appreciates autonomy is another great way to encourage innovation. You don’t want to undermine your manager’s authority, but you also don’t want to let him or her think you’re afraid to speak up. If there are ideas or suggestions that you feel aren’t working out, say so.

7. Results-oriented

Results oriented managers are great at getting things done. They’re always looking for ways to make sure that projects move forward. If you’ve ever worked for one of these bosses, you know how demanding they can be. But it doesn’t mean that they don’t care about people. In fact, they often go out of their way to ensure that employees are happy and satisfied with what they do. “They want to see people succeed,” says Jim Collins, author of Good To Great. “And they’ll take the blame for anything that goes wrong.”

That’s why it’s important to keep track of whether your boss is being effective. You might think that there’s no way to measure results—but there are plenty of ways to gauge success. Here are some questions to ask yourself to determine if you’re working for a results-oriented manager.

1. Do I feel like my boss cares about me?

If your boss isn’t concerned about your well-being, it could be a sign that he or she isn’t interested in helping you grow professionally. And that’s something that most people want. So if you’re feeling unappreciated, it’s probably time to look for another job.

2. Does my boss acknowledge my accomplishments?

You can tell if someone values your contributions by seeing how much credit he or she gives you for your successes. If your boss never mentions your hard work or recognizes your efforts, it’s clear that he or she doesn’t value you. Instead, he or she likely focuses on your mistakes and failures.

8. Vision and goal setting

If you don’t understand where you’re headed, how are you ever going to get there? And if you don’t know what you want out of life, how are you ever gonna find it? In short, vision and goal setting are fundamental to success. But too often we fail to do either one correctly – or even worse, we fail to communicate our visions and goals to others. Here are some tips to help you make sure you’ve got both covered.

1. Know Where You Want To Go

This sounds obvious, but most people never really stop to think about where they want to go. If you don’t know where you want to end up, how are you ever supposed to get there? Start by asking yourself questions like “What am I passionate about?” “Where do I see myself five years from now?” “How does my career fit into my overall life plan?” Once you’ve answered those questions, write down your thoughts. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling; just jot down whatever pops into your head. Then take your list somewhere quiet and uninterrupted and read over it. This step helps you clarify your thinking and crystallize your ideas.

2. Set Goals

Once you’ve figured out where you want to go, it’s time to figure out exactly how to get there. Write down three specific goals that you’d like to accomplish within the next six months. These goals could include things like “I’m going to save $10,000,” “I’ll start exercising every day,” or “I’ll learn Spanish.” Whatever you decide, make sure each goal is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. For example, “I’m going to lose 10 pounds” isn’t very specific. Instead, try something like “I’m going cut 500 calories per week.” Or maybe you’d like to improve your Spanish skills by taking a class. Be honest with yourself here. What are your real goals?

3. Communicate Them to Others

Now that you’ve written down your goals, it’s time to tell someone else about them. Tell your friends, family members, co workers, and mentors. Ask them what they think about your goals. Ask them what they would advise you to do if they were in your shoes. Let them know what you’re working toward and why. They might offer advice or feedback that will help you reach your goals faster.

Why is managing up important?

Managing up is about demonstrating your commitment to your boss, showing you care about his/her well-being, and demonstrating that you are willing to help him/her succeed. It is about building a solid relationship between supervisors, managers, and other employees so you can maximize efficiency and productivity within your team.

Ready to build your remote team?

Use the DigiWorks platform to hire, manage, and pay remote talent from all over the world.

Final Thoughts

Managing up simply means earning respect and trust within your organization. If you do this well, you will gain opportunities, promotions, and raises. You will become indispensable. But you must understand one thing: it takes time.

If you’re a manager, you probably spend a lot of time trying to figure out why your team members aren’t happy. Maybe you try to help them find better jobs. Or maybe you offer to cut their hours or change their schedules, or whatever else you can think of. But no matter what you do, it never works.

So what happens next? Do you start looking around for someone else to blame? Is that what management is supposed to do? Of course not. Instead, you go to your supervisor and ask her what she thinks needs to happen. She tells you that she agrees with you. Then you both decide together what steps need to be taken to make the situation better. This is managing up and doing successfully!

.

Related Articles

About DigiWorks

DigiWorks is an easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and start ups hire amazing remote talent from around the world. DigiWorks offers a way for you to hire, manage and pay people from all countries. If you find an amazing virtual assistant from Philippines, a content writer from Nigeria, or operations manager from South Africa – manage and pay your entire team from one platform with no hassle.