MANAGING UP
Helping You Help Your Supervisor
Adapted from Idealist on Campus/Action Without Borders
Presented by Aliza Mazor to CLIP Interns
MANAGING UP
• Managing the people who manage you
• Managing peer relationships (managing
out)
• Advocating for what you need and want
• Increasing organizational effectiveness
and efficiency
• Increasing job satisfaction
GOALS
1) Identify some basic managerial styles
2) Identify our own management style
3) Understand what enables different styles
to work more effectively together
4) Identify strategies for increased
effectiveness in our current jobs
5) To practices skills and strategies for
“managing-up”
Four Basic Types
TYPE
EMPHASIS
APPROACH
People Person
relationships
fairness and
goodwill
getting things
done
Go-To Person
tasks and
outcomes
Analyzer
logic and a
Planner
sound plan
Idea Generator big picture
thoroughness
vision and
strategy
Management Styles
•
People Person – Its all about having the right people involved. You get
the most out of people by investing in them. Spends a lot of time on
relationship building. Spends a lot of time getting to know people as
individuals. Enjoys management.
•
Go-To Person – Very task oriented. Good at prioritizing. Good at
designing and implementing systems. Always good at producing outcomes
– no matter what the challenges. Strong on logistics. Makes quick
decisions.
•
Analyzer Planner – Slower at decision making. Cannot proceed without
logic and rationale. Good at estimating the kind and amount of resources
required to get something accomplished. Good at sequencing activities to
avoid duplication of effort or un-necessary expenditure of resources.
Conservative in a good way.
•
Idea Generator – Passionate. Expansive thinker who sees connections
and associations between different ideas and systems. Not focused on
details. Less focused on people and logistics.
Talk in Pairs
• Who do you think you are? Do you think
you gravitate towards one type? Why?
• Who do you think your current supervisor
is? Where does s/he gravitate?
• If you are similar in type how does that
impact your working relationship?
• If you are different in type, how does that
impact your working relationship?
What tools do we use to manage
up?
•
•
•
•
•
•
E-mail
Supervision meetings
Hallway conversations
Formal memos
Meeting agendas
??????
Playtime
Pick a scenario that is similar to one you
have faced at work.
Explain how your styles impact this
scenario.
Suggest three ways you could approach this
more effectively next time.
Scenarios
•
Your supervisor is stressed and exhausted but won’t ask for help; you are under-utilized.
•
You need your supervisor to sign off on something and s/he is not available.
•
Your supervisor drops projects on your desk without warning; messes with your time
management.
•
You get no feedback on your work. You want feedback
•
Your supervisor has a great new idea – very different from the game-plan you have been
working on.
•
You have a great new idea – very different from the game-plan agreed to with you’re your
supervisor.
•
Your supervisor is not around a lot. You need some face time.
•
You don’t understand how your job fits into the big picture. You think context would
increase your motivation and productivity.
•
There are some parts of your job you love and other parts you loathe. Could some
responsibilities be shifted?
•
A department that I don’t work in has ideas for my department. I don’t know how to
prioritize their recommendations with my current workload.
People Person
•
•
•
•
Face to face meetings
Make a joint calendar
Articulate your needs– connect tasks to needs
Use face time to check-in, re-prioritize, monitor
progress
• Offer to help
• Empathize and sympathize
• Stroke
Go-To Person
• Catch him/her early in the day so you don’t get bumped
• Use e-mail for everything that does not need face time –
clarify if it is ok to proceed if you don’t hear otherwise
• Always prepare an agenda, always send in advance –
use agenda to share preliminary thinking and make
recommendations
• Summarize up front, frame meetings with questions or
decisions that need to be made
• Leave the office for important meetings
• Use someone else as a sounding board
• Don’t take abruptness and missed meetings personally
• Create a feedback loop in writing
Idea Generator
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Listen
Meet face to face
Help sort ideas based on urgency and importance
Find the right way to do a reality check – if new plans contradict old
ones, find a detached way to engage the contradiction
Discern whether s/he is more interested in the what or the how
Once ideas have been vetted, make sure there is a clear plan and
timeline
Don’t un-pack ideas all at once – let them simmer – schedule followup
Use updates as an opportunity to re-engage in the big ideas around
the work at hand
Don’t nag
Don’t say no immediately
Frontload meetings with important items – attention will drift
Analyzer Planner
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Use short memos to sketch out idea and rationale
Plan out details and anticipate questions
Think about implications for policy and logistics
Use someone else as your sounding board – only
present when it is well thought out
Deliver coherent, organized presentations
Project confidence and personal commitment to ideas
Give notice through e-mail and voice mail – no surprises
Lighten things up in an appropriate way
COMMON THEMES
•
Unrealistic Expectations – how to manage them without appearing unenthusiastic
•
Time Management – juggling priorities, demands from other departments
•
Doing More with Less
•
Navigating the Generation Gap – different approaches to technology and communications
•
Multiple Reporting Relationships
•
Getting My Ideas Heard
•
How to gain access to senior managers who are not my direct supervisors
•
Asking the right questions in the right moment
•
Access – checking e-mail, availability on weekends, nights, etc.
Strategic Use of Touch-Points
•
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Regular Supervision (1:1)
Calendars
Annual Performance Review
Team Meetings
Staff Retreats
Job Description
Professional Development