Managing Up is your guide to the most valuable 'soft skill' your career has ever seen. It's not about sucking up or brown-nosing; it's about figuring out who you are, who your boss is, and finding where you meet. It's about building real relationships with people who have influence over your career. Managing up is good for you, good for your boss, and good for the organization as a whole. This book gives you strategies for developing these all-important connections and building more than rapport; you become able to quickly assess situations, and determine which actions will move you forward; you become your own talent manager, and your boss's top choice for that new opportunity. As a skill, managing up can do more for your career than simply 'networking' ever could - and this book shows you how.
Real-world strategies give you a set of actionable steps, supplemented by expert advice from a top leadership consultant that helps you get on track to advancement. It's never too early or too late to start adjusting your alignment, and this book provides the help you need to start accelerating your trajectory.
- Develop robust relationships with influential people
- Enhance your self-awareness and become more adaptable
- Gain new opportunities and accelerate your career
- Stop 'schmoozing' and develop true, lasting connections
Managing up helps you build the sort of relationships that foster more communication, collaboration, cooperation, and understanding between people at different levels of power, with a variety of perspectives and skills. This type of bridge-building builds your reputation for effectiveness and fit, so you can start skipping rungs on the ladder as you build a strong, successful career. Managing Up is your personal manual for building this vital skill so you can begin building your best future.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
About the Author xiii
Introduction xv
Chapter 1 Stop Complaining and Start Winning – Managing Up is the Key to Your Success 1
Chapter 2 Is Your Boss an Innie or Outie? 13
Chapter 3 The Innie 21
Chapter 4 The Outie 31
Chapter 5 Workplace Styles – Assessing Your Boss’s Workstyle Personality 39
Chapter 6 The Energizer 47
Chapter 7 The Advancer 55
Chapter 8 The Harmonizer 65
Chapter 9 The Evaluator 73
Chapter 10 Difficult Bosses 81
Chapter 11 The Micromanager 85
Chapter 12 The Hands-Off, Absentee, Ghost Boss 95
Chapter 13 The Narcissist 103
Chapter 14 The Impulsive Boss 113
Chapter 15 The Pushover 123
Chapter 16 The BFF Boss 131
Chapter 17 The Workaholic 141
Chapter 18 The Incompetent 151
Chapter 19 The Nitpickers and Seagulls 161
Chapter 20 The Truly Terrible – Psycho Crazy Bully Tyrannical Screaming Egomaniacs 169
Chapter 21 It’s Okay to Quit 185
Chapter 22 Bonus Tips – 50Ways to Manage Your Manager 195
Index 203
