A Masterclass on Managing Up

Summary

The speaker discusses the art of 'managing up' in a professional context, emphasizing the importance of regular communication with management to ensure mutual understanding of goals and challenges. They share personal experiences, highlighting the evolution of their approach to status updates, the necessity of escalating issues, and aligning one's work with management's priorities. The talk also touches on the balance between high agency and the need to share difficulties with superiors for better support and recognition.

Takeaways

• 📝 Regular communication with management is crucial for effective 'managing up', as it helps align expectations and keep them informed about the status of projects and business.
• 📈 The speaker initially disliked writing status updates, viewing them as low-priority tasks, but later recognized their importance in keeping management in the loop.
• 🤝 Delegating status updates to team members who enjoy the task can be a strategic move, allowing leaders to focus on higher-priority activities.
• 💡 Leaders should operate in a way that their teams feel ownership and success, even if the leader has significantly influenced the outcomes behind the scenes.
• 🗣 Over-communicating successes and wins, even if already known to management, can reinforce the team's achievements and keep them in the forefront of management's mind.
• ⚠️ Escalating issues and challenges to management is important, as it not only seeks their help but also conveys the difficulty of the job, ensuring they understand the effort involved.
• 🏋️‍♂️ High agency can lead to under-escalation, as individuals may feel overly confident in their ability to solve problems independently, neglecting the value of involving management.
• 🔄 Being flexible and responsive to changing company priorities is part of aligning one's work with management's focus, but it can also lead to shifts in strategy that may impact team stability.
• 🧭 Actively soliciting management's priorities and aligning one's work with them can demonstrate value and proactiveness, but it requires a keen awareness of the evolving goals of the organization.
• 🛑 Choosing not to align with certain initiatives perceived as less relevant can have costs, such as missing out on potential benefits or leaving a negative impression.
• 🔑 The balance between aligning with management's priorities and maintaining the integrity of one's own product or project is a key aspect of successful 'managing up'.

Q & A

What is one aspect of managing up according to the speaker?

One aspect of managing up is being in constant and regular touch with management to understand their wants and to keep them informed about the business or product status through regular updates.

Why did the speaker initially dislike writing status updates?

The speaker disliked writing status updates because they found them to be rarely an L task (strategic and important) but more often an E task (operational and less critical), and they preferred focusing on tasks that were more fun and aligned with their strengths.

How did the speaker change their approach to status updates as they became a PM leader?

As a PM leader, the speaker delegated the task of writing status updates to team members who enjoyed it, allowing them to focus on other high-priority tasks.

What is the speaker's leadership philosophy regarding team success?

The speaker's leadership philosophy is to ensure teams are successful in business, quality, and happiness without directly attributing the success to their own actions, making team members feel like they are the driving force behind the success.

Why did the speaker sometimes face problems with delegating status updates to their team?

The speaker faced problems because they preferred to operate behind the scenes and not be the center of attention. When team members wrote updates, it sometimes led to misalignment with the speaker's vision or expectations.

What is the importance of over-communicating and emphasizing wins in managing up?

Over-communicating and emphasizing wins is important in managing up because it reassures management of the team's success, helps managers remember key achievements, and maintains open lines of communication.

What is the speaker's view on high agency and its impact on escalating problems to management?

The speaker believes in high agency and its benefits, but acknowledges that it can lead to under-escalating problems to management because of the confidence in their ability to solve issues independently.

Why is it important to share job difficulties with management according to the speaker?

Sharing job difficulties with management is important because it conveys the complexity of the role, provides concrete examples of challenges, and helps management understand the extent of the job's demands.

How can aligning a product with management's priorities benefit a PM leader?

Aligning a product with management's priorities can benefit a PM leader by ensuring that their work is in line with the company's strategic goals, which can lead to better support, resources, and recognition.

What are the potential downsides of not aligning a product with management's priorities?

The potential downsides include missing out on support and resources, causing whiplash for the team as priorities shift, and possibly not achieving the product's full potential due to misalignment with the company's focus.

What is the speaker's advice on managing up when company priorities change frequently?

The speaker advises to be aware of the changing priorities but also to use judgment to decide when alignment is necessary and when it might be more beneficial to shield the team from frequent shifts in focus.