What does it mean?

Managing up is a strategic approach to fostering a relationship of trust and influence with your superiors. It involves understanding their priorities, communication styles, and expectations, and aligning your own work and communication accordingly, ultimately optimizing success for both you and your manager.

It’s also important to clarify what managing up is NOT:

• It’s not about managing your manager in a controlling sense, but rather about enhancing mutual understanding and productivity.
• It’s not about manipulation or flattery but rather fostering a mutually beneficial partnership that enables both parties to succeed.
• It’s not about circumventing management hierarchy to make decisions, but rather enhancing collaboration and decision-making within it.

Why is it Important?

Despite its critical role in workplace dynamics, managing up is often overlooked and rarely taught. Effective management upwards is key to advancing your career and achieving your professional goals. By proactively managing up, you can:

• Gain Support and Resources: Building a strong rapport with your superiors can lead to increased support for your projects, access to resources, and opportunities for career advancement.
• Enhance Communication: Clear and effective communication with your higher-ups ensures alignment on goals and expectations, reduces misunderstandings, and fosters a culture of transparency and trust.
• Influence Decision-Making: When you understand your manager’s priorities and concerns, you can tailor your proposals and recommendations to resonate with their objectives, increasing the likelihood of buy-in and support.
• Navigate Organizational Politics: Every workplace has its politics and dynamics. Managing up allows you to navigate these complexities with finesse, ensuring that your voice is heard and your contributions are recognized.

How to Manage Up Effectively

In an environment where technical skills are often prioritized over management skills, the likelihood of encountering a less-than-ideal manager is high, making mastering the art of managing up essential for navigating professional challenges effectively.

Managers are humans too and are susceptible to all the complexities that makes each one of us.

Here are some steps on how to effectively Manage Up.

1. Understand their Goals & Priorities: Spend time to understand what their most important KPI is and what success means to them in the eyes of their management. When you don’t have straightforward answers to some of these questions, use your observations and the knowledge of the environment to fill in the missing pieces.
2. Understand their work style and Communication Preferences: This is extremely important to improve the working relationship with your manager. It’ll also be the difference between you being the go-to person and a pest. Work Style & Communication preferences vary and you can understand these by talking to them or observing them at work. Focus on the details – how do they like the status report structured, do they prefer email updates on Slack messages, Would they prefer you ack the message from stakeholders even if you don’t have the complete solution ready for them at this time, how do they view punctuality and meeting attendance and meeting invite responses, etc.
3. Adapt your style to suit them: While this is easier said than done, understand that their success also depends on your success and they will equally adapt as mutual trust is built. I’ve found it easier when this is done in small bits. Start by synchronizing styles for the most important aspects and work your way down. Adapting does not mean that you completely change or forego your own style of working.
4. Build Trust: I’ve mentioned before that building trust in any relationship requires, the 3 C’s – Character, Competence, and Communication. Be consistent and keep your promises, build competence, and exhibit an extreme ownership mindset. Managers rarely like surprises, so be proactive in communicating statuses and ask for help when you need it. Let them know soon enough if something is falling apart and provide your thoughts on what we could do to mitigate problems.
5. Be Solutions Oriented: Rather than be the person who can find and articulate all the problems, be the one who also provides what you think are possible solutions. This not only shows your resourcefulness but also highlights your competence and intention to do the right thing.
6. Seek & Provide Feedback: Once enough trust is built in a relationship, you can both seek and provide feedback to improve the working relationship. While seeking feedback, Reduce cognitive load and make it easy for them to give you feedback. Always set clear context without assuming anything and ask specific questions. For example, Rather than say – “Can you help me on how to think about setting goals/expectations for engineers“, Say, “I drafted these role expectations for engineers, can you review and provide feedback on what you think is missing or could be done better“. When providing feedback, identify the areas where you can genuinely help and then participate. Know the right time and place to provide feedback and bring it up there so it’s more effective.
7. Set up expectations on how you’d like to be Managed: Managers come in many styles and it’s important that you also set expectations on the best way they can manage you and help you do your best work. Be specific on what you need and respectfully bring it up. Give them time to adapt to your style and needs. For example, you may have a specific time of day when you are most productive and don’t want distractions. Talk to them about it and assure them that your availability when needed is not going to be an issue for them or your team.

In conclusion, mastering the art of managing up is essential for career success and organizational effectiveness. By understanding your manager’s preferences, communicating effectively, and aligning your goals with theirs, you can build a strong relationship based on trust, mutual respect, and shared success. Embrace the challenges as opportunities for growth, and approach managing up with enthusiasm and intentionality.

Additional Reading

https://hr.ucmerced.edu/content/managing-what-it-and-why-do-it
https://houseofmangalam.com/blogs/camphor-tales/story-of-lord-vishnu-narad-muni
https://www.purewow.com/money/types-of-bosses-tips
https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/managing-up-how-to-provide-feedback

As I reflect on my journey, I’m transported back to that moment over a decade ago when I made the leap from being an accomplished lead engineer on PayPal’s Core Platforms team to assuming the mantle of a manager within the same team. The questions, uncertainties, and challenges that punctuated that juncture continue to resonate with many who find themselves at a similar crossroads today.

Address the WHY?

Understanding the motivations behind your decision to transition into a management role is paramount, as it sets the foundation for your long-term success. Consider the following questions:

What are your motivations driving this transition?

• Are you drawn to the potential for accelerated career growth that management offers compared to an individual contributor role?
• Has your current leader recognized leadership qualities in you and offered you the role based on your demonstrated behaviors?
• Are you considering the switch because your peers have expressed confidence in your managerial potential, and you’ve been exhibiting behaviors that resonate with effective leadership?
• Do you believe that your skills and ambitions are better aligned with the responsibilities of a successful manager?

You may have more than one reason from the above example or some other completely different reason, but it’s important that you spend time thinking about it honestly as it’ll guide your progress and help identify areas that you need to focus on.

One important caveat to bear in mind is that if you’re considering this transition solely for the sake of growth opportunities and nothing else, it’s crucial to pause and reconsider. Making this decision based solely on perceived advancement prospects can potentially compromise both your effectiveness in the role and your long-term well-being. It’s worth noting that many corporations offer parallel career tracks that allow individual contributors to experience significant growth and development similar to those in managerial positions. Take a moment to reassess your motivations and consider the broader implications before proceeding.

Identify Necessary Skillsets

It’s crucial to identify the skillsets required for a successful transition into management and assess your current proficiency level, as well as your plans to learn or enhance these skills.

Effective Communication: This will serve as your superpower in your new role. Unlike your code, which spoke for itself as an individual contributor, your ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, will be essential for managerial success.

Strategic Thinking: Managers must navigate the organizational landscape strategically, understanding overarching objectives, defining priorities, and anticipating trends. Unlike individual contributors, who focus on depth, managers must take a breadth-first approach, making trade-off decisions in an ever-changing ecosystem.

Decision Making & Dealing with Ambiguity: Managers must be comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and be willing to revisit and adjust decisions as needed.

Conflict Resolution: Managers are responsible for handling conflicts within the team and across stakeholders diplomatically to maintain productivity and progress.

Time Management: Effective time management, including prioritization and delegation, is essential for balancing multiple responsibilities in managerial roles.

Emotional Intelligence: Understanding and addressing the emotional needs of the team and building trust are crucial for fostering high-performance team dynamics.

Assess your comfort to some hard truths of management

Accountability vs. Delegation: While you’re accountable for the team’s results, you won’t be executing all the work yourself. Success hinges on your ability to delegate effectively and empower others to deliver.

Impact on Others: Your actions as a manager will significantly impact the happiness and well-being of your team members. Their success and satisfaction are intertwined with your effectiveness as a leader.

Delayed Gratification: Unlike the immediate feedback of resolving technical issues, the outcomes of management efforts may take months or even years to materialize. Patience and long-term vision are essential.

From Tech Debt to Management Debt: Transitioning from handling technical challenges to managing people introduces a new set of responsibilities, including addressing “management debt” such as team dynamics and performance issues.

Shift in Focus: Your primary focus will shift from coding and architecture to activities like conducting 1:1 meetings, setting performance goals, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and delivering presentations.

Different Skill Set: Managing people requires a distinct skill set from managing code. Formal authority alone is insufficient to drive change; effective leadership involves understanding and motivating individuals.

Charting the Course

Identify Relevant Training Opportunities: Work with your leaders to Explore available training programs, workshops, or resources that can help you develop essential management skills. Look for opportunities that align with your learning objectives and career goals, such as leadership development courses or mentorship programs.

Trial Period or Exploration: Consider trying out aspects of management in a temporary or experimental capacity before committing to a permanent transition. This could involve shadowing a manager, leading a small project or team initiative, or volunteering for leadership roles in cross-functional projects to gain firsthand experience and assess your suitability for the role.

Contingency Planning: Anticipate potential challenges or obstacles that may arise during the transition process and develop contingency plans to mitigate them. Identify potential rollback options or exit strategies, such as revisiting your original role or seeking alternative career paths, in case the transition does not proceed as planned.

Feedback and Reflection: Seek feedback from peers, mentors, or managers throughout the transition process to identify areas for improvement and ensure alignment with organizational expectations.

Things to remember

Here are some important reminders to keep in mind:

Role Modeling Behaviors: Remember that your actions as a manager will set the tone for your team. Be mindful of the behaviors you exhibit, as your team members will often emulate your approach to work, communication, and collaboration.

Exhibiting Vulnerability: Embrace vulnerability and acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers. It’s okay to seek input from your team, admit mistakes, and ask for help when needed. This fosters a culture of openness, trust, and continuous learning within your team.

Seeking Feedback: Actively solicit feedback from your team members on your leadership style, communication effectiveness, and areas for improvement. Constructive feedback can provide valuable insights for personal and professional growth and strengthen team dynamics.

Networking Within the Company: Cultivate strong relationships and networks within your organization. Building rapport with colleagues from different departments can be invaluable for gaining support, sharing insights, and navigating challenges effectively, especially during times of crisis.

Thinking About Systems and Processes: Look beyond day-to-day tasks and consider the broader systems and processes within your team and organization. Identifying areas for optimization, streamlining workflows, and implementing best practices can improve efficiency, effectiveness, and overall team performance.

Finding a Mentor or Coach: Consider seeking guidance from experienced mentors or coaches who can offer support, advice, and perspective as you navigate the challenges of management. Their insights and expertise can help accelerate your development and enhance your effectiveness as a leader.

Maintaining Technical Skills: Being a manager doesn’t mean you abandon your technical skills. You can still contribute by picking up small, non-urgent tasks, or assisting with technical challenges when needed. This not only supports your team but also demonstrates your commitment to staying engaged with the technical aspects of the work.

Relating to an old Indian proverb, Don’t aspire to be a banyan tree leader who shields & protects the team in all situations. Remember that while shade is great, there can be no growth if there’s no exposure to sunlight. Be the guiding light that empowers others to flourish on their own.

In conclusion, transitioning from an individual contributor to a management role is a significant step in your career journey. By understanding your motivations, honing essential skill sets, acknowledging the challenges ahead, and charting a clear execution plan, you can navigate this transition with confidence and success. Remember, the path to becoming an effective manager is not without its obstacles, but with dedication, resilience, and a willingness to learn and grow, you can unlock new opportunities for personal and professional fulfillment. Embrace the journey ahead, and may it lead you to new heights of leadership and accomplishment. Remember, your job is not to create followers, your job is to create more leaders.

Further Reading

“Management Skills: New Manager Training” (Udemy).
“Becoming a Manager: Transitioning from Individual Contributor to Leader” (LinkedIn Learning). —
“Conflict Resolution in Leadership and Talent Management” (Udemy) –
“Time Management Fundamentals” (LinkedIn Learning)

While the original content was written with CEOs in mind, I’ve adapted that to managers at all levels given the audience of this networking session.

Management is both Art and Science. It is science because there’s systemic study material, repeatable processes, and causality that can be learnt. It’s an Art because management requires a considerable amount of skill, practice, creativity and Individual application – what works for one may not work for another person. It’s therefore imperative to understand what one can expect as they embark on their management journey and chart a course for success.

Let’s start with what new managers may find surprising as they embark on their management journey

You can’t do everything

As you enter management, you have to get comfortable with the feeling that you can’t be directly involved with everything that’s happening in your project / organization, yet you are fully accountable for outcomes & results. This is in stark contrast to back when you were an individual contributor and now your time will be needed in more places than you can imagine.

To avoid/overcome problems with this surprise, you have to learn to

1. Effectively Delegate to your direct reports and trust them
2. Manage your time efficiently

You can’t always tell people what to do

You cannot micromanage every decision by telling people how to do things. Like Steve jobs said “It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to to , We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” We should enable people by providing the right amount of clarity on the needs and expectations around outcomes/ results and provide autonomy to execute.

Practice the following and you’ll steer clear and learn more

• Provide Clarity
  • Set Vision & Standards
  • Define operating principles (review cadence, stakeholder communication, cost etc)
  • Learn from mistakes (remember that we all learn from our mistakes, so create and embrace a culture where people can freely talk about failures and learnings from them)
• Avoid Decision Bottlenecks
  • Share power and make people part of the decision making process. This can hugely improve trust.
  • Encourage the culture of calculated risk taking.
  • Learn and make use of Decision making tools.

You won’t always know what’s going on

As a manager, you’ll have a lot of things going on around you (meetings, stakeholder management, planning, people issues, budgeting, hiring, performance management and tons more). Amidst all of that, it’s very difficult to keep track of every aspect of what’s happening. People won’t immediately be willing to give you the bad news, so by the time it gets to you, it may be late or have some glossy touches added.

But to manage effectively, you need to stay on top of things and be in the loop. Here are some thoughts on what can help you get there.

• Identify ways to collect as much information as possible about what’s happening in the team from different sources.
  • Practice Management by walking around (MBWA)
  • Another alternate is Gemba walk, popularized by Toyota, where you walk to the place where the action happens, ask questions and learn.
  • Have skip level 1:1s and team meetings.
• Build strong partnerships with all your stakeholders
  • Talk to your peers, customers, cross functional leaders, HR partners etc. This will give you a rounded perspective of what’s happening.

You are always being watched!

I don’t’ say this as something to be scared about, but as a manager/leader of the organization, you are always sending a message. The way you speak (or don’t speak!), your body language, choice of words, way to write, everything starts to matter now. People will try to read between lines and there are chances you can be misinterpreted.

To avoid potential issues because of this, try to

• Lead by example. Role model the behavior you would like to see in your team members. Your actions will soon be replicated in your team, so use it to your advantage.
• Communicate clearly and ask for clarifications. Don’t assume people understood what you said.
• Improve your self-awareness and Emotional Quotient
• This is a continuous learning process, so you will have Blind spots. Get an accountability partner who can help provide feedback.

Organizational Politics is real!

Not all politics is bad. Organizational politics is real and how well you deal with it will also define your success trajectory. Studies show that individuals with political skills tend to have a greater impact on organizational outcomes. Understanding and navigating organizational politics and improving your influencing authority will provide better outcomes for your teams.

Here are some thoughts about how to handle this

• Be Politically Savvy. What this means is that you are aware of what’s going on around you, you’re paying attention to the dynamics, paying attention to who has power and influence, and what the culture of your organization is, and you are positioning yourself successfully with all that information.
• Build and leverage your network.
• Understand your stakeholders and map them. Power/interest grid for stakeholder prioritization on the left can be one useful technique.

You are still only Human!

You must remember that your position as a manager/leader does not automatically make you better or more capable. Like everyone else, you will learn from experience and the many mistakes that’ll provide important lessons along the way. However, as a manager, you have more accountability and responsibility, and how you role model your behaviors will be replicated.

It is essential to keep the following things in mind as you embark on your management/leadership journey.

• Your Work/Life balance is extremely important and how you manage it will be emulated by your team. Remember your mood will affect your team’s mood as well.
  • A friend once gave me this priority list that I strive to follow – Health -> Family -> Relationships -> Work
• Being vulnerable and asking for help will improve trust with your teams and you’ll achieve more together.
• Be Thankful, stay humble and praise generously.
• Get a mentor/coach who can help you along the way and share their learnings.

Appendix

• Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person, and therefore one of the core concepts of management leadership. The process involves managers deciding which work they should do themselves and which work should be delegated to others for completion.[1] From a managerial standpoint, delegation involves shifting project responsibility to team members, giving them the opportunity to finalize the work product effectively, with minimal intervention. The opposite of effective delegation is micromanagement, where a manager provides too much input, direction, and review of delegated work. Delegation empowers a subordinate to make decisions. It is a shifting of decision-making authority as well as responsibility for the results from one organisational level to another lower one. However, a certain level of accountability for the outcome of the work does remain with the person who delegated the work to begin with.
  • How to Delegate Effectively
  • Radical Delegation by Shreyas Doshi

• Time Management
  • Eisenhower Matrix
  • Other Techniques

Soil & Sunlight – It all starts here

Every plant needs a specific type of soil to flourish. Clay, Sandy, Silty, or Peaty. There are many combinations depending on what plants you’ve got. Likewise, sunlight is also an important growth factor. Some plants need full sunlight, others need partial shade, while some grow remarkably well indoors with minimal light. Using the wrong soil type or lighting is a sure shot way to fail.

Like soil and sunlight form the foundation for the growth of plants, the right work assignments determine your team’s success. New project features vs fixing tech debt vs support vs building a product from scratch, each needs a specific type of individual. Some are suited to platform work, some can learn new tech quickly and adapt to a fast-paced environment, some are very good at dealing with ambiguity, etc, so identify the right place for team members based on their skills, interests & aspirations.

Water & Fertilizer – Keep up the growth

Now that you have foundations out of the way, let’s talk about regular care.

Water and fertilizer are two very important needs for a splendid garden. Every plant in your garden may have a specific need. Some don’t need any fertilizer for months, while others need it every week. Same with water. Some plants have to be watered daily and others are drought resistant and can sustain for weeks. Root rot, yellowing leaves, stunted growth, fertilizer burns, etc are very common issues you’ll see in gardening support forums and the only way to fix them is to fix your watering and fertilizing schedules. 

In management, this is like providing the right training, setting the right expectations, and following up on progress. Inadequate or incorrect training will create under-skilled members and frustrate the team. Lack of expectation setting and follow-up on progress will lead to suboptimal outcomes. Some team members do well with very minimal follow-up, whereas others will either need frequent follow-ups or someone to assist them continuously to ensure progress. RCG’s, mid-level engineers, senior engineers, architects, managers – each one has a different need and successful leaders should be mindful of these, spot opportunities, provide clarity for the team to flourish.

As a manager regularly ask yourself – Does your team have the right skills needed for the job? Do you micromanage a lot when you should let the team decide? Do you stay away from the action, only to pitch in when a crisis occurs?. Get your team’s feedback and adapt.

Climbers need stability & support

If you’ve grown flowering climbers (like Allamanda or morning glory) you may have noticed that beyond a certain height they can no longer grow without support. Strong Climbers sometimes use other branches in the same plant to continue growing, but even that has a limit.

The same is true for you and your team. Beyond a certain limit, they can no longer grow without leadership support. As a manager, always create the right support ecosystem both within and outside your teams. Find the right coaching / mentoring opportunities and share them. Have regular 1:1s and create an individual development plan which aligns with their aspirations.

Seeds or stem cuttings – building next-gen

While you may have picked the best seeds or the strongest cuttings for propagation, you may never see a 100% success rate. Anything between 50-70% is a respectable success rate and you’ll eventually get better. Time is another important factor to consider too. Some seeds germinate quickly while others will take more time, don’t judge too soon, and start taking action.

You’ll have similar observations during hiring as well. Someone fantastic during interviews can be inefficient at the job and an average person could be a rockstar. Give it time, observe progress at regular intervals, and course-correct accordingly. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you land a bad hire. Learn from it and move on. You’ll get better, eventually.

Re-Potting – Moving on…

All plants eventually outgrow their containers. For you to sustain their growth and keep them from dying, you’ll need to move them to a larger pot with more soil/nutrients.

Likewise, in management, you should always watch out for successful people on your teams who are now ready for expanded roles, scope, etc, and create opportunities for them to grow. Depending on your situation, you may need to move them to other teams or, in some rare cases, even encourage them to look outside of the company. Remember, this is both good for the individual and the team. You don’t want cracked pots or stunted plants!

Pruning – It’s never easy

Pruning boosts yields, improves aesthetics, reduces diseases & prevents infestations. Every beautiful garden needs regular pruning. Don’t be afraid to prune – knowing when and how are important skills every gardener should learn.

Likewise, managers need to review their team structure periodically and make changes. You may have to remove misfits and underperformers, deliberately move out people who’ve been in your team for long to other teams, so they can grow (and your team can grow/adapt as well) or split teams into smaller units so they are more focused. Being a successful manager requires you to master these skills and know when the time is right to apply them.

It’s important to realize that whether in plants or humans, growth is the same, and demands much of the same conditions and requirements. It’s hard work, takes a lot of effort and patience, but like a proud gardener admiring the beauty of their garden, seeing your team grow and succeed is both a rewarding and fulfilling part of being a manager.