Managing Up in Your Career
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Managing up: Helping your boss is the best way to iielp yourseif
By Ken Jacobs
Having the basic PR skills — such as writing powerfully, building client relationships, understanding the media, liupervising well, giving persuasive presentations and managing time efficiently — simply isn't enough these days to keep you on an accelerated career track.You must be able to "manage up." Managing up is not "brownnosing," but creating mutually beneficial relationships with your supervisors by communicating effectively, and it can play a critical role in getting you to the next level and beyond.The following five recommendations will help you start: supervisorfiximresponsive to proactive.
No surprises
Surprises are for birthdays, not the office. Sharing bad news — a deadline that can't be met, a budget cutback or unanticipatedresults— is pan of your job; sharing it so late your supervisor cannot help solve the issue is unacceptable. Many of us delay sharing bad news witli our bosses. Perhaps we think we can solve it on our own,or that it will go away But it won't. It will only get worse. We also foi^et that our supervisors have managed the problem we're facing, perhaps many times.That's why they're supervisors. When you get bad news, the best approach is to quickly think through the pros and cons of various responses, determine your recommendation and get to your supervisor ASAP They'll appreciate the early warning and that you've brought them a possible solution, even if they don't follow your recommendation. You and your boss may discover you have a talent for thinking through solutions in a pinch. Most important, you'U have created a bond of trtist with your supervisor that is priceless. supervisor. Only then move on to other assignments. In our fa.st-paced business, despite our best efforts, we often face conflicting goals — too much to do in too little time. Break this logjam by consistently focusing first on those actions
on
>career tfeve/opmenf
Managing up: Helping your boss is the best way to iielp yourseif
By Ken Jacobs
Having the basic PR skills — such as writing powerfully, building client relationships, understanding the media, liupervising well, giving persuasive presentations and managing time efficiently — simply isn't enough these days to keep you on an accelerated career track.You must be able to "manage up." Managing up is not "brownnosing," but creating mutually beneficial relationships with your supervisors by communicating effectively, and it can play a critical role in getting you to the next level and beyond.The following five recommendations will help you start: supervisorfiximresponsive to proactive.
No surprises
Surprises are for birthdays, not the office. Sharing bad news — a deadline that can't be met, a budget cutback or unanticipatedresults— is pan of your job; sharing it so late your supervisor cannot help solve the issue is unacceptable. Many of us delay sharing bad news witli our bosses. Perhaps we think we can solve it on our own,or that it will go away But it won't. It will only get worse. We also foi^et that our supervisors have managed the problem we're facing, perhaps many times.That's why they're supervisors. When you get bad news, the best approach is to quickly think through the pros and cons of various responses, determine your recommendation and get to your supervisor ASAP They'll appreciate the early warning and that you've brought them a possible solution, even if they don't follow your recommendation. You and your boss may discover you have a talent for thinking through solutions in a pinch. Most important, you'U have created a bond of trtist with your supervisor that is priceless. supervisor. Only then move on to other assignments. In our fa.st-paced business, despite our best efforts, we often face conflicting goals — too much to do in too little time. Break this logjam by consistently focusing first on those actions