Managing up when done right feels like performing a Jedi mind trick – getting your manager to do things for you.
One of the best lessons I have learned about managing up was from my past work colleague, Alex Kohlhofer.
Alex said, that at work, we all have bags of poop. And your job is to scoop some poop out of your manager’s bag and place it into yours.
Your boss is busy. Likely context switching from the demands of their role.
By scooping poop out of their bag and into yours, you’re creating margin for them to be able to focus.
The value of managers is that they have the ability to be strategical – connecting dots, aligning resources and figuring out how to move your team and projects forward – thus making your work easier.
So what can this proverbial poop to be scooped look like?
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Easy ones could be mundane tasks that you’ve seen your manager do over and over. It could be something as small as, helping to put together or rehearsing a slide deck or approving things like timesheets.
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Actively giving updates to your manager about projects instead of them having to chase after you first to find out what’s going on.
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Synthesizing large amounts of information (think long Slack threads or email chains) before pulling in your manager so that they can make a quick and informed decision.
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One of the phrases I often use is in project meetings is, bad news early is still good news. Telling your manager about risks and roadblocks early in a project is helpful because you’re giving your manager time to explore options. This also reduces the need for your manager to react to a situation or have to be the deliverer of bad news to their managers.
When you scoop poop out of your manager’s bag and successfully make sure that the poop doesn’t return in their bag, you build trust.
This trust can turn into getting the help you need when you’re stuck in your work, less micromanagement, more responsibilities and even promotions and raises.