"How do I manage upwards?"

My experience and tips for managing seniors

Morning team! Happy Tuesday welcome to another glorious week

I regularly ask you guys “What is your biggest struggle in your leadership role right now?”

And there is something that comes up time and time again (that I haven’t tackled yet)…

Managing up.

A recent study found that 54% of managers feel that senior leadership is ‘ineffective in communicating clear goals and expectations​​’.

This answer came through just last week:

I’d love to know first (this poll is anonymous):

Managing up

My biggest struggle with managing upwards was having different ideas to my seniors, and we’d just end up going round and round in circles until someone ‘backed down’ (usually me).

Especially being ‘young’ and inexperienced in a management role, I always felt as though I had pushback because those senior to me didn’t want to see change or innovation coming from my team.

So over the years, I tried many different routes, and I want to give you a list of tips that I’ve found super helpful when working well with, and ultimately managing, those above me.

1. Being proactive in talking about my wins
   
   Unless we make it clear to them, our seniors won’t be able to see the struggles or wins that our team is having. We have to ensure we’re communicating often and clearly, so we don’t have any missed opportunities.
   
   I love the idea of a ‘loud list’ to do this.
   
   This one helped my seniors to see that innovation and new ways did work - and I didn’t want to wait until I was mid-decision to explain why things were working so well. I wanted them to be regularly reminded about how well my team was working.
   

2. Build proper relationships
   
   An EVP in corporate, who was at least 2 decades more experienced than I was, when my team was moved into his department, I knew it was adding so much more stress and responsibility to his workload.
   So I reached out, said I wanted to make his life as easy as possible, and asked:
   
   “What are the 5 metrics I can show you only a weekly basis that will allow you to stop worrying about our team?”
   
   We decided the 5 metrics together, and I started to truly understand his priorities so I could lean into them and align my team’s efforts with those goals.
   
   Building relationships doesn’t mean be-friend them.
   
   But learn what their goals are, what they love (and don’t love) doing, so you can help to make their life as simple as possible.

3. Tailoring communication
   
   I noticed so many meetings being wasted unable to make a decision because our views were so different - and I always wanted to ensure that I got my point across, but without being so forceful that we were just in an argument.
   
   So I had to get really good at speaking differently with different people.

   
   Some just want the data and facts, fast, and others want to talk deeply into the stories.
   

4. Start with the purpose

   
   When you’re getting your point across, start with the purpose and link your ideas to the wider organisational goals. Bring in core values often.
   
   Instead of: “I’m looking to get marketing budget to try X”
   Try: “Because we’re looking to boost our sales in Canada this year, and one of our core values is innovation and experimentation, I have seen X marketing outlet might be the best way to do that because of YZ - I’d love to experiment in it, can we talk about budget?”
   

I know how big of a challenge managing up can be, and it feels like a double-edged sword because we shouldn’t realllllly have to do it at all…

But if we lean into this as part of our job, and be proactive about working with those above us, we give ourselves the best opportunity for success.

Ultimately, managing up effectively will work out well both personally, and for our teams.

What challenges have you faced with seniors in the past? Let me know in the comments 👇

Peace,

H x