Upward management: control your own growth
All of us hope to maintain a good relationship with our managers and carry out influential projects to help us develop our business, to be highly valued in our work, and to be trusted and respected by others. But how often are we responsible for our own growth?
In our minds, the deep-rooted work hierarchy views management as top-down, that is, managers who report directly. We believe that the responsibility of the manager is to win trust, establish a strong rapport with us, provide us with work that can help us stand out, and remove all obstacles that may hinder our success.
It may be their mission to help them become their best self, because their success lies in our growth, but do we see and have the other side of this two-way relationship?
We rarely think about our role in the process, how we understand the work of our managers, what are their goals and challenges at work, what they care about, what their priorities are, and how we make them successful.
Management is just an investment in building a relationship with the manager for better cooperation. To adapt to this dynamic, you must take the initiative, take care of the people above, share the responsibilities, and have your own growth with a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.
Why should we avoid management?
We avoid management because of beliefs, worries about what might happen, and denial of our role in the process. In order to facilitate memory, we think of it as a BAD framework in our minds . We think it is bad to manage and vice versa.
Belief-faith
In my conversations with many people, upward management seems to bring negative emotions. People associate upward management with their distrust of managers, thinking that upward management is only necessary when the manager is not competent for the job.
Upward management works for everyone, including managers and leaders — they also have bosses.
Your manager will always need your support to influence them and help them make the right decisions. This will not happen unless you actively seize the right opportunities to increase productivity.
Apprehension-worry
In some situations, fear is the greatest influence of our actions or inactions in some situations. We do not take action because we are afraid of what our managers might think, how they might react, or how they might react or how they might feel if we try to solve the problem.
If you look at it in the right light, upward management is actually very beneficial to managers, because you both learned to care, challenge each other, become partners in achieving goals and have success together.
Managers cannot do it alone. They have no single path to success. Your success is their success.
Denial-Denial
In the current situation, we deny our role because it is easier to blame others than to take responsibility for ourselves.
We sit happily in a comfortable area, dare not go out, take responsibility and solve problems that need to be solved. This not only leads to poor performance, but also prevents us from exploring and creating a better future for ourselves and others.
It is easy to blame the manager for your status, but it takes courage to manage upward. It needs to control its own growth.
In the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey wrote about taking responsibility:
"A humble person, he/she can accept and be responsible for his situation, and has enough courage to take any necessary initiative, creatively overcome or deal with these challenges, I will show you the highest power of choice."
If you can do more upward management, your manager can reduce management efforts. Let us learn how.
How do you effectively manage upwards?
The idea of management can be daunting. How do you manage your manager?
How to rephrase it as "choosing to communicate upwards effectively"? Pay attention to the word "choice", it makes us feel powerful through autonomy and control. Therefore, the next time the idea of management makes you feel creepy, just rephrase it as "choose upward and effective communication".
The key to management is deciding to take action, establishing a relationship with your manager, acting in a trust-building manner, aligning priorities with priorities, and doing work with a common goal and mission. It requires exiting the theater triangle and assuming the role of creator, not the role of victim.
Therefore, although we cannot change others, we will try our best to influence them by practicing these seven effective management strategies.
1. Work hard to build trust
Take time to get to know your manager, understand the challenges in their work, what motivates them, what keeps them busy, what they care about, and their priorities. An easy way to gather this information is to simply ask.
You don’t need to deal with it in a formal one-to-one manner, and you don’t need to define a meeting agenda to learn about your manager. Use informal chat to query and collect this data regularly, show curiosity and ask questions. When talking to them, ask the following questions:
- Why is this important to you?
- What is your priority?
- What is the most important thing in your mind?
- What bothers you?
- I would love to know the challenge of your role. Would you like to share some?
- What inspired you from your work?
This information will enable you to establish better communication channels with your manager, do work consistent with their goals, share your concerns in a way that highlights the potential risks of their plans, and work together to find better solutions to problems .
Upward management in this way will build trust by keeping minds aligned and eager to do better by opening up to constructive conflict.
Managing in this way will build trust through the desire to align ideas and open up to constructive conflicts to do better.
2. Strive to define success
We are too focused on personal goals to recognize the success of the team. Without understanding the meaning of team success, you may achieve your goals, but still fail.
By understanding the team’s success criteria, you can realize and contribute to opportunities to exceed your goals. After you understand what success looks like, you can become a part of success in the following ways:
- Negotiate and determine your own priorities.
- Seek clarity at work.
- Question the effectiveness of your work.
- Determine and assume additional responsibilities.
- Say it doesn't match the team's successful work.
Managing by being part of the team's success, instead of focusing on personal goals, can promote your growth.
3. Strive to get the support you need
Want more responsibility and autonomy? Become your own champion and demand it.
You may also need support to do the job better. Unless your manager is deeply involved in your day-to-day activities and takes time to contact you for external work, they may not be able to determine what kind of support you need.
If you are not responsible for your own efficiency and efficiency at work, the results of your work and the impact it can have will be limited.
Therefore, first determine the support you need through discussion:
- What prevents you from achieving your goals?
- What can you do to overcome these obstacles?
- How can they help?
By understanding your own needs and finding the best way to meet these needs to manage, you can make your work more efficient and make you better.
4. Upward management makes your work visible
Your manager may know your intentions, but unless you show them the impact of your work, they may not realize the value you bring to the team.
Expect your manager to get the latest news from you. You need to fully obtain their time and be willing to show interest in your work.
By using the push model, you can provide them with necessary updates at the right time, including good news and bad news.
By keeping them in touch on important issues, you can not only build trust, but you can also provide them with the opportunity to solve the problem before it is too late.
For you and your manager, isn’t driving efficiency more efficient than pulling efficiency?
By actively presenting your work and seeking help on important issues, you can get the support of your manager to do more forward-looking work.
5. Try to help them see their blind spots
Most managers completely ignore the views of other people in the workplace and the impact of their actions and actions on others. These blind spots will cause them to make certain decisions or act in ways that are not conducive to team growth.
By helping your managers understand their blind spots, you can enable them to recognize and change the way they work with others.
However, be careful. Although conveying information is essential, it should not be disrespectful. As long as they don’t hurt their self-esteem, your manager will engage in constructive discussions.
for example. Instead of saying "you micro-management" to your manager, say "try it, I think I'm ready now, you have less supervision and guidance on my work. I hope you can believe that I will make major progress. To provide you with the latest news and seek any support I may need. Meetings several times a day will distract me and prevent me from making progress at work. Do you think this is okay?"
The first information can make them defensive, while the second information can make them think and reflect on their intentions.
Management through shared feedback is not only beneficial for managers, but also very useful for the team, because the team can benefit from the changes provided by this feedback.
6. Manage upwards to suit work preferences
Do you need to work from home on specific days of the week, take care of children at home at specific times in the evening, or have other work preferences?
If your manager does not ask about your work preferences (in most cases not), it is your responsibility to communicate.
If you don’t let them know about your situation and how you plan to manage your work, it can lead to confusion, inconsistent expectations, and prevent them from effectively helping you with your work.
Discuss your job preferences publicly and understand the manager’s expectations.
- Seek advice instead of demanding.
- Discuss how to organize the meeting to maximize participation.
- Discuss how and when to provide help to team members.
- Discuss how to plan and manage other dependencies.
Your manager will not anticipate your needs, and unless you talk to them about this issue, he cannot help you. They may also have work preferences. So remember to ask them this question and be flexible to agree on a common solution that works for both of you.
Managing your work by being transparent about your specific needs allows you to shift your attention to work instead of worrying about its impact.
7. Be prepared for effective communication
Not knowing your manager’s preferred communication method for different types of issues is very ineffective for the team. You may send an email for an urgent issue without knowing that your manager only checks their emails twice a day, or sends them a text update of the information best communicated via email.
By using your preferred method of communication, you can draw their attention to the right things at the right time.
By learning the manager’s preferences and following the communication guidelines for management, you can help you increase productivity by using the right channels to communicate and get the attention you need.
Imagine a team where everyone can effectively communicate upwards and strive to control their own growth. You can be the person in the team to achieve this change. Make your choice now.