Who does it well?

Barbara’s coaching had barely begun when she was promoted to senior vice-president. Because she had worked in many divisions of her global packaged goods company, and had always been viewed as a high performer, her promotion had been only a matter of time.

The company’s goal for her coaching was for her to manage up more effectively—a skill that would serve her no matter what her position. When she and I discussed what she wanted out of the coaching, managing up was on her mind, too.

“I want your help being more political,” she told me, “but before that, I want to be ready to manage the guy who’s going to my new boss. I’ve heard lots about him but I don’t really know him. What should I be thinking about managing up to a new boss?”

“How have you managed up in the past?” I asked her.

She laughed. “I don’t want to be guided by what I’ve done before! If I were any good at it, I wouldn’t need coaching!”

I laughed, too, then asked, “What about your team? Who’s managing you well right now?”

Without hesitation, she said, “Indra. She’s one of my rock stars. Her one-on-one meetings are so productive. She always has an agenda and she sticks to it. And whenever we’re done, she’s taken at least one thing off my plate.”

The cardinal rule of managing up

“Wow! Good for her,” I said. “That’s the cardinal rule of managing up!”

“What is?”

“Well, it’s actually a question you ask yourself,” I said. “Before and after every exchange with your boss, ask yourself, ‘Am I putting work on her plate or taking work off?’ That’s the cardinal rule: take more off your boss’s plate than you put on. But a lot of people never think of it.”

“I’ve got a guy just like that,” she said, shaking her head. “Carl. Every time he sees me he wants another piece of me.”

“Sounds like a zombie movie!” I said with a smile.

“Not that kind of piece! He wants me to be his thought partner about his work. And that’s not all bad. I actually love the work. I miss doing it. But I don’t think he understands that it really uses up my capacity.”

“Do you set limits?” I asked.

“Sure. I’ve had to, but I wish I didn’t. I’d love to have the time to get into his work, but I don’t.” She looked at me and asked, “Am I being selfish about this?”

“No, Barbara, it’s completely personal. You feel he’s putting work on your plate. Some other boss might not. What’s too bad is that Carl hasn’t learned to ask the question himself.”

She shook her head. “No, don’t put it on him. What’s really too bad is that I haven’t taught him to ask the question. In fact, I’m going to talk to my whole team about this. ‘Hey! Folks! Either you’re putting work on my plate or taking it off!’ That’s a great way to think about managing my people.”

“And for you to think about managing up to Jean-Michel,” I said, referring to the executive vice-president who would be her new boss.

“You know what?” she said, as if she’d just discovered the obvious. “I’ll just ask him. ‘How can I take stuff off your plate?’” She nodded with finality. “OK! What else should I be doing when I manage up?”

No problems without solutions

As if it were a well-known proverb, I said, “Don’t raise a problem without recommending at least one solution.”

“Oh! That’s Mitsuko! When she uncovers a problem, boy, does she come running. And I gotta say, her judgment is flawless. She’s always right. But then I say, ‘Oh, wow, Mitsuko, this is great. What do you think we should do about it?’ She always looks like I just banged her with a mallet. But I send her away until she’s got a recommendation.”

“I hear about a lot of people doing that with job scope these days.”

“You mean, when someone will say to her boss, ‘What am I supposed to be doing?’”

“Exactly!” I said. “And I always tell them, ‘Asking your boss to define your job is giving her a problem without a recommendation.’ And, by the way, it’s also missing an opportunity to define your job yourself!”

“OK. So that’s another way to manage up: don’t bring up a problem without suggesting a solution.” Then, clearly changing the subject, she asked, “What do you think about saying yes?”

“As a tool for managing up?” I asked.

Is yes always the right answer?

“Right. I had a boss who said you should always say yes. I don’t quite believe that. But this year I caught myself saying no over and over. I’d been arguing my position about a month before I asked myself why I wasn’t saying yes. And I realized I was just being stubborn—that I could say yes. After that I started wondering if maybe I needed to say yes more often.”

When I asked for details, Barbara told me that Graeme, her current boss, had asked her to create a new report. The new report would become part of his quarterly presentations to the board of directors. Barbara created the report as a document with graphs and supporting text; Graeme said he wanted the report as a slide presentation with graphs only. For a month, Barbara argued that the report would be better as a document, not a slide deck.

She shook her head. “One night driving home, I suddenly asked myself, why am I saying no to him and telling him he’s wrong? Why can’t I say yes? So I said yes. I gave him the presentation he wanted. He’s the boss. Why did my idea have to be better than his?”

I nodded but didn’t speak. After a moment she asked what I was thinking.

Speak truth to power

“I’m wrestling with two ideas,” I said. “One is your idea about saying yes. And I agree, it’s good to say yes to your boss whenever you can. I also think an important part of managing up is to speak truth to power. I was wondering if those two cancel each other out or if they can co-exist?”

“Oooh! Speak truth to power!” she said, as if it were a spooky movie title. “Well, I sure hope my people are telling me the truth. Even stuff I don’t want to know. I hope I’m making it easy for them to speak truth to power.”

“What about you? Do you speak truth to power?”

“I’m better now than I was,” she said. “I used to speak my truth really loudly. I wasn’t so much speaking truth to power as yelling. I was known for, uh—how should I put it?—standing up for my position.”

“And now?” I asked.

“I’m much more effective these days. Mostly because I talk to people behind closed doors. I’m not trying to make my points in meetings.”

“And it’s welcome?”

“Well, it depends on the person. But, yes, even if people don’t want to hear it, I do tell them the truth. At least once.”

“You know what I’ve found is effective?” I asked. “Talk about it like it’s a weather report from last week.”

“How do you mean?” she asked.

“When something feels like a ‘truth to power’ situation, it’s usually a little volatile. I say, take the volatility out of it. Talk about it like it’s last night’s traffic report. It’s just a fact. Don’t make it personal. Talk like you’ve got no skin in the game—even if you do!”

“That’s something Mitsuko does really well. When she brings me her problems she’s completely calm. That style really helps me listen.”

Barbara wrote a list of how she could manage up effectively with Jean-Michel:

• Take work off his plate.
• Don’t bring a problem without a solution. Then, underlined, she’d added: “And don’t take it personally when your solution isn’t followed!”
• If he doesn’t define my job, take a crack at it myself. And check it out with him.
• Say yes more often.
• Speak truth to power—as if it’s old news.

I admired the list and asked her, “Would you like to be managed that way?”

“Oh, my gosh, yes!” she said.

At her next staff meeting, she shared her list with her leadership team. And, being smart people, they began to manage up to her more effectively. Some of them even rolled the list down to their direct reports.

When she began her relationship with Jean-Michel, putting her list into action helped her maintain The Look & Sound of Leadership™.