Managing Up 101: Think Like Your Boss
Part 1 of 5 in our Managing Up Challenge for Leaders: How to Stay Ahead By Anticipating Your Boss’s Needs
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Now, on to today’s post:
Some bosses are just easy to work with. My current boss is like that. 😌
I don’t know about you, but I can usually tell pretty quickly if my boss is someone who’s easy to stand behind. I’d even consider following a good boss from job to job if they impressed me enough. (And in fact, I have.)
It took me longer to recognize that this sentiment can be shared – that a boss might appreciate me just as much as I do them. A good employee (or contractor or freelancer) can be hard to come by, and when a boss finds someone who makes work feel easy – or even better, not like work at all – that’s something worth holding onto.
This is where managing up comes in. Done right, without sucking up, it can help you create that kind of strong, effortless relationship with your boss. Over the next five days in our Managing Up Challenge, we’ll cover five key aspects of managing up and help you master each of them. (You’re about to experience day one right now!)
Here’s what you can expect throughout the Managing Up Challenge:
Day 1: Anticipating Your Boss’s Needs (You Are Here)
Day 2: Winning Buy-In by Understanding Your Boss
Day 3: Bringing Problems to Your Boss the Right Way
Day 4: Disagreeing Respectfully and Productively
Day 5: Adding Real Value as an Effective Leader
Today, let’s dive into anticipating your boss’s needs. You’ll learn what managing up is (and isn’t) and how to understand your boss’s world, spot important patterns, and master the art of perfect timing.
*Sips tea*
Let’s begin!
What is Managing Up? More Than Just Playing Politics
In some circles *cough* Leadership subreddits, managing up is seen as a bad thing. But it’s not inherently bad. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t mean brown-nosing or political maneuvering for personal gain. In fact, done with the right intentions, it can be a very positive thing. It makes your boss’s life – and, by extension, your own – easier.
Managing up means building a strategic partnership where you help your boss succeed, and as a result, it often helps you advance in your own career, too. When done right, managing up creates a win-win(-win) situation that benefits you, your boss, and your organization.
The first step to managing up is getting your mindset right. If you see your boss simply as someone who assigns you work, we need to shift that around. Try to view them as a partner who faces their own challenges, pressures, and goals, just like you do. Your job is to help anticipate and address these challenges before they become problems.
How? By understanding your boss’s role, recognizing recurring patterns in their behavior, and proactively checking in with them. We’ll get into each of these points in detail today. Starting now. 👇
Understanding Your Boss’s Role: Your Secret Weapon
If you want to stand out and increase your value at work, one simple action can help: become an expert in your boss’s world.
Ask your boss if you can schedule a one-on-one together, specifically to better understand their role and their current responsibilities, deadlines, and top priorities. Ask about their biggest challenges and what success looks like for them.
Most bosses will appreciate your interest and openness to learn – and this knowledge will help you better assist your boss in meeting their needs and reducing stress.
After all, you can’t anticipate your boss’s needs if you don’t have any understanding of what those needs are in the first place. Understanding their role allows you to offer relevant help and take proactive steps to reduce setbacks.
Grasping your boss’s role is step one. You can take this further by understanding their patterns and priorities, too. Read on.
Observe Patterns and Priorities: Become a Detective
Your boss is leaving clues everywhere about their needs and preferences – you just need to learn how to spot them.
Pay attention to:
When they’re most stressed
What makes them light up in meetings
Which types of problems get their immediate attention
Their communication style (Do they prefer detailed emails or quick chats? Are they most receptive to new ideas in the morning or afternoon?)
Understanding these patterns based on past actions can help you better anticipate your boss’s future needs. And when you can predict what your boss will ask for, you can have it ready before they even think to request it.
Does your boss always ask for status updates before board meetings? Have them prepared a day early.
Do they get anxious about quarterly reports? Start gathering data ahead of time.
This kind of proactive support will make your boss’s job easier – and it shows that you’re paying attention, tuned in to what really matters to them, and invested in their success. (And in many cases, your success is directly tied to their success.)
If you can make your boss’s life a little easier and take some pressure off their shoulders, it will go a long way toward building trust. They’ll come to see you as someone who can be relied upon to anticipate and solve problems before they escalate, freeing them up to focus on the bigger picture.
💡 Pro Tip: Create a one-page “boss manual” documenting their responsibilities, preferences, priorities, and pet peeves. Update it regularly as you learn more.
Proactive Check-ins: Master the Art of Perfect Timing
You probably don’t enjoy being micromanaged – and neither does your boss. But you can still take a “light touch” approach to check-ins to see where and if your boss needs support.
To do this, approach check-ins with two things in mind:
Connect with your boss when they’re typically most receptive. (Avoid check-ins when your boss is in meetings, taking breaks, or deep in focused work – check their calendar first.)
Come armed with solutions rather than just problems or questions.
For example, you might wish to try something like:
“I’ve drafted next week’s report. Would you like me to walk you through the highlights?”
“I noticed you have back-to-back meetings tomorrow. I don’t have any specific questions or concerns to raise in our 1-1. Want to skip it this week to free up some time?”
“The client deadline is approaching. I’ve outlined three options to speed up delivery. Would you like to review them?”
These approaches demonstrate awareness of your boss’s time and challenges while offering concrete solutions. Notice how each example shows you’ve already thought ahead and taken initiative. You’re not just raising problems or asking for direction – you’re removing obstacles and making decisions easier. This is exactly the kind of proactive support that can make you invaluable.
💡 Pro Tip: Stay alert for signs of stress or upcoming challenges that could put extra pressure on your boss, like tight deadlines, major projects, or unexpected issues. If they seem overwhelmed, a simple “What can I take off your plate?” can be incredibly helpful.
Time to Take Action
Here’s the bottom line: anticipating your boss’s needs doesn’t require mind reading – but it will take keen observation skills and strategic action. Start by mapping out your boss’s role, tracking their patterns and priorities, and mastering the art of timely check-ins. Already, this can go a long way to making you a valuable partner in your organization’s success.
💥 Your Action Item:
Pick just one strategy from this article to implement this week. Start small, observe the results, and build from there. Your future self (and your boss) will thank you.
Tomorrow, we’ll go one step further and examine how to decode your boss’s motivations (and frustrations) to get buy-in for your ideas. See you then. 👋
P.S. Wish your team would manage up like that? Share this post with them to improve support throughout your entire organization.