Managing Up : The Secret to Success
Great people are at the heart of a successful company, and upper management must set the stage for those people to thrive. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Difficult or ineffective bosses can sap the vitality of you and your co-workers.
"Managing up can help you be calm under pressure, more creative, and more productive"
The good news? There are ways that you can make a positive, proactive contribution. Start by evaluating your manager's leadership style and embark on a path to complement and subtly improve their approach. You can help them banish bad behavior by deftly modeling better ways to "enact and react" in the office.
By bringing an approach of "managing up" to your company, you can contribute to the success of the company and your manager/employee relationships. When you position yourself as a problem solver — while being more cognizant of your boss's management style, you are taking steps to better mesh your own work style with that of your supervisor.
For example, if you thrive on working independently, but have a boss who tends to micromanage, a managing up approach entails you taking the initiative to provide regular project updates to your detail-oriented boss to demonstrate your abilities and reassure him that the work is in good hands.
Managing up is all about using good judgment and being a pro-active problem solver. It's finding creative avenues to deal with potentially prickly problems, and staying focused on the needs of others: the boss, the customer, and the company. A little managing up can go a long way to reducing stress and making worklife a little better. But best of all, you and your boss end up feeling calm under pressure, more creative, and more productive.