Managing up: You and the boss

Being a star performer does not guarantee career success. Often, it is how well you manage the relationship with your boss that can make or break your future in a company.

A case in point: A talented finance executive who made a lot of money for his company was denied a promotion after four years in the role. Instead, he was given a sizable bonus.

The managing director to whom he would have reported told me privately that he was irritating and that she did not want him reporting directly to her. She described him as a “dog with a bone,†not knowing when to back down from making his case. She found herself trying to avoid him.

With his career stagnated, he resigned for a comparable position elsewhere. Both he and the company lost out.

Managing up effectively takes more than doing your job well.

We all know the importance of helping your boss to “look good,†by ensuring for example that he or she is prepared for an important meeting.

Equally important is to make the boss “feel good†with you around. So important is the “feel good†factor that top officials in government and business often surround themselves with longtime associates, even though they may lack the requisite qualifications.

Making your boss “feel good†is not simply showering him or her with flattery. Rather, it entails building a relationship in which the boss is comfortable in your presence and assured that you are looking out for his or her best interest.

I’ll give some examples of how to “manage up.â€

• Pick your battles carefully. Your boss’s time is valuable; you need to separate important issues from more routine issues, recognizing which to fight for. Also, as illustrated in the opening example, it is important is to know when to back off.

• Keep your boss in the loop. No one wants to be caught off-guard. It is therefore wise to give your boss advance notice of a potential problem area. If you feel it necessary to go over the boss’s head, make your intentions clear. Keeping your boss informed demonstrates loyalty and respect.

• Consider how your boss thinks and processes information. A woman I coached who was spontaneous by nature, reported to a controlled and reflective boss. Not surprisingly, he was annoyed when she approached him on-the-spot to obtain permission to act on her ideas. The relationship improved dramatically when she put her ideas in writing, thereby giving him time to think things through.

• Share deserved praise with your boss. The obvious way to make your boss “feel good†is through praise. This becomes particularly challenging when you dislike your boss. For example, although your boss may take credit for your ideas, perhaps you are empowered to make decisions. You could therefore let the boss know that you appreciate that aspect of his or her management style.

Aside from direct compliments, asking for advice conveys your appreciation for what the boss has to offer.

• Carefully manage relationships with your boss’s allies. One needs to consider the consequences before alienating those close to the boss.

A banking executive had little tolerance for an arrogant peer and frequently “locked horns†with her, even though it was known that she was the boss’s protégée. Within a year, his job “disappeared†and he was assigned to a lesser role. It was later learned that she engineered his demotion.

• Be discreet in voicing negative feelings about your boss to others. You never know who might leak your confidential comments. Or your negative views might be overheard and made public.

These are just some of the ways in which you can help ensure that your boss is comfortable with you. Feel free to e-mail me with other tips that you have found to be helpful in your own experiences managing up.

Danella Schiffer, Ph.D., is an industrial/organizational psychologist who resides in Salisbury and works nationally, with organizations and individuals. She can be reached at danella.schiffer@att.net.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less