How Do I Manage Up without Overstepping?
To manage up without overstepping, bring your manager what you're seeing, your recommendation, and the options you weighed, and leave the decision with them. Raise problems and disagreements with them before anyone above them, in the way they prefer to get information. Once they decide, act on the decision, including one you argued against.
You can see that a date is going to slip, or that two teams have scheduled the same people for the same weeks, before your manager can. You want to tell them and recommend what to do without making the decision for them or going to their boss first.
What Does Managing Up Mean?
Managing up is what John Gabarro and John Kotter called managing your boss. They described it as consciously working with your boss to get the best results for you, your boss and the company (Gabarro and Kotter, Harvard Business Review, 1980, reprinted 2005). They described the relationship as one of mutual dependence between two people who can both be wrong. Your boss needs cooperation, reliability and honesty from you. You rely on your boss to connect you with the rest of the company, to set priorities, and to get the resources your work needs.
Overstepping is making a decision or a commitment that belongs to your manager, or taking an issue to someone above them before you've raised it with them.
How Do I Manage My Boss?
Gabarro and Kotter wrote that at a minimum you need to understand your boss's goals and pressures, and their strengths and weaknesses. They also suggested learning your boss's preferred way of working.
Some bosses want to be involved in decisions and problems as they come up, and Gabarro and Kotter suggested checking in with them as things happen. Others prefer to delegate. They expect you to come to them with major problems and to tell them about important changes.
Gabarro and Kotter wrote that finding out what your boss expects is your job. Most bosses don't spell out their expectations, formal planning and review systems are imperfect, and expectations change between reviews. One approach they described is writing a memo on the main parts of your work, getting your boss's approval, and then going through it with them item by item. Use that conversation to ask which decisions your manager wants to make and which they'd like you to make and tell them about afterward.
How Do I Bring a Problem to My Manager?
When the fix is outside what you can do yourself, escalate the problem to your manager with your recommendation and the options you already weighed. Gabarro and Kotter noted that your boss has a limited amount of time, energy and influence, and every request you make uses some of it. A recommendation with options lets your manager decide without redoing your analysis.
A problem that's ready for a decision sounds like "The integration is two weeks behind. I recommend we drop the reporting feature from this release and keep the date. We could also move the date two weeks, or move someone off the data migration. Here's what each option costs."
Say what you need from your manager in the same message, such as a decision, an introduction to someone, or help with another team. If your manager asks for a date you don't think the team can meet, negotiate the project timeline the same way, with options and what each one costs.
Gabarro and Kotter also wrote that effective managers recognize they probably underestimate what their own boss needs to know, and that a boss needs to hear about failures as well as successes.
How Do I Influence My Manager?
Allan Cohen and David Bradford's influence model describes how to get cooperation through exchange when you lead without authority at work (Cohen and Bradford, 2005, Journal of Organizational Excellence). You give the other person something they value in return for what you need. They call the things people value currencies. The model covers your own manager as well as the other stakeholders whose buy-in you need.
They wrote that employees lose influence when they don't see the range of things they can offer their manager. Their examples need no budget or formal permission. They include finishing work on time, passing on important information from other teams, defending your manager to others, and warning them early about problems you see developing.
Cohen and Bradford also wrote that how a person is measured and rewarded, and what their own manager and peers expect of them, shape what they want in return for cooperating. Gabarro and Kotter wrote that your manager's pressures include those from their own boss and from others at their level. Find out what your manager is measured on and what their boss is asking of them. Then make your request in those terms, such as a deadline it helps them meet or a cost it saves.
Your manager may have to take your message to their boss without you, so write it to be forwarded as it is, with a one-line summary, your recommendation and the reasons. When an idea needs approval from someone above your manager, write it as a business case.
How Do I Disagree with My Manager?
Disagree with your manager in private first, and give your reasons and what each option would cost. Raise it before the topic comes up in a meeting their boss attends. You might say "I see this one differently. Here's the risk I think we'd be taking on."
Gabarro and Kotter described a manager whose disagreements with his boss kept getting worse. The boss held to his position more firmly and overstated it, and the manager argued harder against the flaws he saw in the boss's reasoning. The manager decided to change his own reaction. When they couldn't agree, he suggested they stop, think it over, and meet again. When they met again, they were better able to work through their differences.
Once your manager decides, act on the decision, including one you argued against. If you still see a risk, write it down once, with the date, where the project's decisions are recorded.
How Do I Follow Up with My Manager without Nagging?
Agree on when you'll follow up at the time you make the request. For example, "I'll send a short recap today and check back Thursday if I haven't heard." Keep the recap to a few lines that say who owns what and by when, and send it where everyone involved can see it.
Follow up when you have something new, such as a decision that's now needed or a status that changed. If you want to get pulled into decisions earlier, add your recommendation and the reasons for it to each status update.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Do I Do If My Manager Takes Credit for My Work?
Keep a written record of who did what as part of the normal work. Send recaps that name the owner of each task, log decisions where the team can see them, and send updates to the group as well as to your manager. If it keeps happening, ask your manager how they'd like to name each person's work in their updates to their own boss.
How Do I Manage Up to a Boss Who Avoids Decisions?
Ask for one small decision with a date on it, and give the options and your recommendation. Then ask which decisions they'd like you to make on your own. For those, tell them what you plan to do and by when, so they can change it before that date if they want to.
What If My Manager Doesn't Act on a Problem I Raised?
Raise it again when something has changed, such as a new cost, a date that's now at risk, or a decision that's now due. Put it in writing once more, with what it's costing the project and the date you need a decision by. If that date passes, ask your manager who else can decide, or whether they want to take it to their own boss.
Should I Raise It with My Manager in an Email or a Meeting?
Use the one your manager prefers. Gabarro and Kotter, drawing on Peter Drucker, described some bosses as listeners and others as readers. For a listener, brief them in person, then follow up with a memo. For a reader, put the main points or the proposal in writing first, then discuss it. If you're not sure which your manager is, ask them.
When Should I Stop Pushing Back on My Manager's Decision?
Stop arguing once your manager has made the decision, and act on it. Keep a dated note of the risk you raised. If that risk happens later, point to the note and bring a recommendation for what to do next. If the decision changes work you're responsible for, tell your manager what you'll need to do it, such as more time or another person.
If you need a yes from people you can't direct, Get the Buy-In gives you fifteen tools for working out who needs to agree, in what order, and what each person needs to hear.
Related Blog Posts:
How to Get Stakeholder Buy-In without Authority
How to Lead without Authority at Work
When Should I Escalate a Problem at Work?
How Do I Get Pulled into Decisions Earlier?
References
Gabarro, J. J., & Kotter, J. P. (2005). Managing your boss. Harvard Business Review, 83(1), 92-99. Originally published 1980. https://hbr.org/2005/01/managing-your-boss
Cohen, A. R., & Bradford, D. L. (2005). The influence model: Using reciprocity and exchange to get what you need. Journal of Organizational Excellence, 25(1), 57-80. https://doi.org/10.1002/joe.20080
