Managing Your BossThe two-way conversation of management

By Prof. Sattar Bawany

Managing Your Boss or commonly known as managing upwards describes the two-way conversation of management, i.e. that subordinates can influence their own workload and their manager’s workload in the same way the manager can. Closely aligned with emotional intelligence, managing upwards requires a relationship of mutual trust and respect, based around a commitment to common goals. The benefits for both parties are significant. The subordinate can significantly relieve the load of the manager, and more effectively meet their needs. The manager can make more effective decisions, and provide better support for the subordinate’s needs and objectives.

Management is a two-way street, and effective managers need to maintain and develop good relationships - not only with their teams, but with their senior managers, too.

As a business leader, you will also need to be able to exert influence upwards - whether directed towards an immediate su-perior, or a wider senior team - to drive and deliver appropriate organizational policies.

As well as influencing direction, effectively managing upwards can help to alleviate pressure on both sides, by managing and aligning expectations, and reducing the incidence of manage-ment by interference.Where do you start?

Form a thorough understanding of the person to be managed or influenced, and their raison d’etre. Appreciating what motivates, disheartens, or even frustrates the individual will help you to un-derstand their priorities. What defines their working style? Under what circumstances are they likely to feel pressured? What are their expectations and scope of their role? Do they have any burning issues?

Put yourself in their shoes and try to get under their skin. Confirm what it is they want as this will bypass common misunderstandings and enable you to successfully meet and surpass their requirements and expectations.

One of the most important things for successfully managing upwards is understanding the context your boss works in, i.e. what are the priorities, pressures, strategic drivers, key measures/performance indicators, etc. that define success (and failure) for your boss. Under-standing these factors allows you to identify the kind of information and action that best supports your boss. When you are proactively meeting your boss at their point of need, this naturally leads to an increase in your credibility. On the one hand, this means being given tasks with more responsibility, and on the other, more attention to the advice that you provide.

You can learn a lot about your boss’ context from watching them interact with others, especially their peers and superiors.Understand yourself

Effective upward management requires a good understanding of the strengths that you bring to the table, and how they complement your boss’ strengths and weaknesses. Do you share a common passion for strategic thinking? Are you able to navigate effective solutions to

challenging relational problems? Knowing your abilities allows you to identify and contribute to the issues and challenges facing your boss.

Be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses, as how you behave in the relationship is just as important as what makes your manager tick - it is also the part over which you exercise greatest control. Contemplate your personal style of management and gauge whether you have any obstructive personality traits. Conversely, you may have attributes that will smooth the path of the relationship, so identify them and utilise them fully.Relationship building

Having acquired an understanding of your manager and yourself, it is time to develop the practical side of the relationship. This should extend to being fully conversant with and sensitive to their timetable. Don’t, for instance, present your best ideas 24 hours before a board meeting, as they will be preoccupied with the next day’s agenda.

You should also have determined whether your boss is a ‘reader’ or a ‘listener’ (management guru Peter Drucker claims all managers fall into these two categories). Readers prefer information presented to them in report form, so they can study it methodically, while listeners would rather have the information presented orally.

Create an environment of mutual respect, where if you know they have weaknesses, or even dislike certain aspects of their job, you can offer to take on or share those duties. Above all, keep the lines of communication between you open and lively to ensure you stay on side and share priorities.

In brief, managing your boss really means “managing the relation-ship” you have with your boss. You can’t control his actions; all you can control are your own actions. When there is a conflict in a boss-employee relationship, the best employees usually are the first to leave. But if you can’t leave right away, develop coping skills. Try to deal skillfully with the situation and avoid career-limiting moves like setting up a crisis situation between you and your boss or lying to your boss or deliberately withholding important information from him. LE

Prof Sattar Bawany is the CEO & C-Suite Master Executive Coach of Centre for Executive Education (CEE Global). CEE is a premier network for established human resource development and consulting firms around the globe which partners with our client to design solutions for leaders at all levels who will navigate the firm through tomorrow’s business challenges. Email sattar.bawany@cee-global.comWebsite www.cee-global.com

47leadership excellence essentials presented by HR.com | 10.2014 Submit your Articles