14th April 2026 | Beverly Landais
The single most important relationship you have at work is with your manager. It shapes your daily experience, your performance, and your career trajectory. But what happens when your working style clashes with theirs, or when you need to influence senior leadership?
At its heart, managing up is the skill of proactively building a highly effective and trusting partnership with your leader. It is not about manipulation or changing your personality; it is about expanding your communication toolkit while remaining completely authentic.
By learning to understand their priorities and pressures, you can adapt your approach to create powerful alignment. This enhances your personal effectiveness and ensures your team's hard work gets the visibility and resources it deserves.
What is Managing Up?
Many professionals mistake managing up for office politics, but it is actually a vital skill for reducing friction and building teamwork. It requires moving from one-sided expectations to a relationship based on shared goals. In practice, this means:
- Proactive Updates: Giving progress reports before your manager has to ask.
- Clarifying Priorities: Asking clear questions when the path forward is unclear.
- Early Warning: Pointing out potential risks and offering options for dealing with them before they become issues.
The Five Key Principles of Managing Up
Keep these five principles in mind as you seek to develop a productive relationship with your boss:
1. Recognise mutual dependence. Accept that you and your boss need each other to perform well. Avoid the blind spot of thinking you are entirely self-sufficient.
2. Learn your manager's style and preferences. Observe how they like to give or receive updates and what they respond to quickly. Ask directly, such as, "How do you prefer project updates?" or "What would make my team's updates more useful for you?"
3. Be self-aware. Knowing your own style and needs will help you to meet external expectations more effectively. Learn the difference between facts and making assumptions.
4. Establish clear communication. Share with your boss how you work best and arrange regular check-ins to share work updates and provide opportunities for two-way feedback.
5. See the 'Bigger Picture'. Look beyond your daily tasks and try to understand the challenges your boss faces so you can support them more effectively.
A Moment for Self-Reflection
Ask yourself if you can confidently answer “yes” to these questions:
Do I seek help when needed? I don’t assume my boss knows my needs; I proactively ask for support.
Do I ask for feedback? I make sure to talk regularly with my boss about how we can improve our collaboration.
Do I avoid working in isolation? I pay attention to how my work fits into the bigger picture and how key people in the company affect my team.
Practical tip: In your one-on-one meeting, explain how your manager can help you work best, such as, "I appreciate feedback on projects as I go," or "Regular check-ins help me stay aligned." Simple phrases make conversations easier and help everyone feel comfortable.
14th April 2026 | Beverly Landais
