Manage-Up… Carefully
By Vic Downing
© Vic Downing September 2009
The way you manage-up will make or break your career… regardless of how well you perform.
There is no one way to manage-up. First, you manage-up differently if your boss is ethical and competent as opposed to being incompetent and corrupt. Second, you manage-up differently based on the specific situation you are facing. This article explores how to manage both kinds of bosses relative to:
The way you manage-up will make or break your career… regardless of how well you perform.
Performance
Problems
Progress
Pay
Promotions and New Positions
Politics (the bad kind)
Politics (the good kind)
Personal Feedback (getting it)
Personal Feedback (giving it)
Managing an ethical and competent boss (ECB) is mostly different than managing an incompetent and corrupt boss (ICB). The ECB insists on honesty, specifics, discretion, and performance. The ICB thrives on insinuation, ambiguity, expediency, and self-aggrandizement. You face significant risks from each depending on how you respond to each. When you manage the ECB properly, you, the team, the ECB and the business all benefit. When you manage the ICB well, you exit the relationship having suffered only nominal retaliation.
It is critically important to accept that you alone are responsible for managing your boss, regardless of the type. Don’t wait for your boss to adjust to you. Don’t wait for HR to step in and make the relationship work the way it should work. It is your career. It is your boss. Manage-up… carefully.
| ECB: Ethical, Competent Boss | ICB:Incompetent and /or Corrupt Boss | |
|---|---|---|
| Risks | If you don’t “make your numbers” —and especially if don’t you let your ECB know it until late in the game— you are far more likely to be fired, demoted, and given low value assignments. | If you do your work in a way that makes your ICB appear less competent or unethical to others, or if you do your work in a way that affords “the credit” for success or contribution to someone other than your ICB, then you risk career-killing passive aggression in public and outright threats in private. |
| Do This | 1. “Make your numbers.”
2. Get in touch early with your ECB if your numbers are trending negative. Deliver the bad news immediately and plainly. Come with a solution. Listen. Implement immediately. |
1. Keep excellent records: get written confirmation of your accountabilities, keep an at-home, hard copy e-mail file of critical issues.
2. Intro ideas to your ICB first, defer “credit” to your ICB … and keep documents that prove your contribution. |
| Risk | If you bring a problem to the table without bringing at least one solution, if you are unwilling to explore other solutions or you are unwilling to have your statement of the problem challenged, or if your problem statement lacks specific illustrations and/or data, then you will be seen as “Chicken Little” or as unprofessional. | If you bring a problem to the table without first briefing your ICB, if your problem statement reflects negatively on the performance of your ICB, or if your solution requires or implies increased accountability for your ICB, then you are (at least) wasting your time or (more likely) black listing yourself. |
| Do This | 1. Always bring a solution with every problem.
2. Always bring problems to the table asap. 3. Always support your problem statement with illustrations and/or data. 4. Always welcome challenges and alternatives. |
1. Bring problems and solutions to your ICB in private first. If your ICB “sits on the problem” and you think it needs to be surfaced, raise the issue again. If that continues, decide if surfacing the problem beyond your ICB is worth the shunning or retaliation you will receive.
2. Keep excellent records of who said what to whom and when it was said. Keep an at-home, hard copy of these notes and related e-mails. |
| ECB: Ethical, Competent Boss | ICB:Incompetent and /or Corrupt Boss | |
|---|---|---|
| Risks | If you keep your ECB up to date on your progress as a way of protecting yourself from potential problems, you will be viewed as insecure and political in the negative sense.
If you fail to give your ECB the information he/she needs to respond to probing questions from his/her boss, then you will be viewed as unreliable and not ready for more significant assignments. |
If you keep your ICB up to date on your progress as a way of protecting yourself from potential problems, you will be viewed as insecure and political in the negative sense.
If you fail to give your ICB the information he/she needs to respond to probing questions from his/her boss, then you will be viewed as a personal threat and saboteur. |
| Do This | 1. Before your ECB asks for it, make sure you give your ECB all information he/she will need to answer tough questions.
2. Get to the most important points immediately, briefly, and with specifics. If you are reporting on threats, weaknesses, problems, and foul-ups, then begin with these … don’t “grease the skids” with good news or try to back into it with chit-chat. When you have a problem to report, always report what you are doing to solve the problem. |
1. Before your ICB asks for it, make sure you give your ICB any information he/she will need to answer tough questions.
2. Get to the most important points immediately, briefly, and with specifics. If you are reporting on threats, weaknesses, problems, and foul-ups, then begin with these … don’t “grease the skids” with good news or try to back into it with chit-chat. When you have a problem to report, always report what you are doing to solve the problem. 3. Keep a detailed, written record of your briefing… and keep a copy at home. |
| ECB: Ethical, Competent Boss | ICB:Incompetent and /or Corrupt Boss | |
|---|---|---|
| Risks | If you raise the pay issue more than one time per year, if you threaten to leave if your pay does not increase, if you are unprepared to talk about pay when your ECB raises the issue or as you and your ECB are planning the new fiscal year, then you will be seen as focused on money and not on business or as not confident of your worth. | If you raise the pay issue more than one time per year, if you threaten to leave if your pay does not increase, if you are unprepared to talk about pay when your ICB raises the issue or as you and your ICB are planning the new fiscal year, then you will be seen by your ICB as a commodity that can be bought and sold and you will be a prime target for dollar-based manipulation. |
| Do This | 1. Don’t raise the pay issue until the fourth quarter, and then raise it only after you’ve done your homework regarding business objectives for the new fiscal year.
2. Never “negotiate” your accountabilities relative to your pay; rather, discuss your value-add to your ECB’s business deliverables, and support this with specific data. |
1. Keep excellent records: get written confirmation of your verbal discussion and agreements, keep an at-home, hard copy e-mail file of critical issues.
2. Don’t raise the pay issue until the fourth quarter, and then raise it only after you’ve done your homework. 3. Never “negotiate” your accountabilities relative to your pay; negotiate your value-add relative to your pay. 4. Don’t expect oral agreements to be kept and don’t expect to be treated equitably. 5. Be suspicious of an unexpected raise in pay… there are probably strings attached. |
| ECB: Ethical, Competent Boss | ICB:Incompetent and /or Corrupt Boss | |
|---|---|---|
| Risks | If you are not working toward your next position you will be viewed as a “blocker.” If you take a promotion without ensuring your current job will be well handled by your replacement, you will be viewed as irresponsible and “not a team player.” If you seek a different job and don’t bring your ECB in on the process, you will have permanently ended that relationship. | If your ICB recommends you for promotion, she/he will expect a “kickback” in the form of not revealing his/her shortcomings, providing inside information, not opposing his/her initiatives, money, or sexual favors; if you don’t deliver, your ICB will never forget the “offense” and will incessantly seek to “get even.” If you get promoted without “the blessing” of your ICB, you are likely to be a target for retaliation. |
| Do This | 1. Know where you want to go next in your career and involve your ECB as a mentor and coach.
2. Actively prepare your replacement, beginning on day one. 3. If you plan on “going deep” in your current position while not seeking any other position, let your ECB know that at the first moment and come with a plan for dealing with the “block” you have created. 4. Have a written action plan ready for how your job can be handled by your replacement. |
1. Actively prepare your replacement, beginning on day one.
2. If you discuss your next career move with anyone, be absolutely certain that he/she will protect your confidence perfectly. Don’t talk about your next career move with your ICB and remain vague and yet honest if your ICB asks about your next career move. 3. Do everything you can to keep your exit secret until the eleventh hour and the fifty-ninth minute. When you do tell your ICB, have your written plan for the management of your current position in-hand. Immediately after your meeting, write a report (to yourself) regarding the specifics of your meeting. |
| ECB: Ethical, Competent Boss | ICB:Incompetent and /or Corrupt Boss | |
|---|---|---|
| Risks | If you engage in “spinning” the truth, omitting critically important information, betraying confidences, passing on gossip, or even implying that you will trade “looking the other way” for return of similar favors, then your relationship with your ECB is permanently terminated. | If you don’t at least “play along with” “spinning” the truth, omitting critically important information, betraying confidences, passing on gossip, and implying that you will trade “looking the other way” for return of a similar favor, then your ICB will exclude you from his/her “inner circle” and will find ways to get you off of his/her team. (Therefore, this may be the safest and fastest way to rid yourself of an ICB.) |
| Do This | Never “spin” the truth, omit critically important information, betray confidences, pass on gossip, or imply you will look the other way in exchange for a similar favor. Furthermore, do not tolerate those who do those things… “blow the whistle.” | Never “spin” the truth, omit critically important information, betray confidences, pass on gossip, or imply you will look the other way in exchange for a similar favor. Furthermore, do not tolerate those who do those things… “blow the whistle.” |
| ECB: Ethical, Competent Boss | ICB:Incompetent and /or Corrupt Boss | |
|---|---|---|
| Risks | If you can’t “make small talk,” don’t have compelling interests outside of work, don’t attend business-social events, can’t “take a joke,” or don’t take the initiative to get to know your ECB as a person (without being “artificial” or intrusive), then you will be seen (at best) as “a very solid player who will never lead.” | If you don’t “make small talk,” don’t have compelling interests outside of work, don’t attend business-social events, and/or can’t “take a joke,” then your ICB will exclude you from his/her inner circle. If you make authentic efforts to get to know your ICB as a person (without being “artificial” or intrusive), then you will be seen (at best) as a “touchy-feely” threat, or possibly as a “spy” from another ICB who is a competitor of your ICB. |
| Do This | If you want to lead, then do whatever you need to do to be minimally competent with “small talk,” developing interests outside of work, participating in business-social events, “taking a joke,” and authentically getting to know your ECB. | 1. Never trust what appears to be self-disclosure and intimacy from your ICB… there is always a hidden agenda, strings are always attached, and the truth is never (fully) revealed.
2. If you want to lead, then do whatever you need to do to be minimally competent with “small talk,” developing interests outside of work, participating in business-social events, and “taking a joke.” |
| ECB: Ethical, Competent Boss | ICB:Incompetent and /or Corrupt Boss | |
|---|---|---|
| Risks | If you are offered unsolicited feedback, or ask your ECB for feedback, and you argue with the feedback or don’t take action based on the feedback, then you will be seen as manipulative, insincere, and insecure. | If you ask your ICB for feedback, or if your ICB offers unsolicited feedback, and you tacitly or explicitly agree with the feedback, your ICB will assume you agree with the feedback and with all the ICB’s unvoiced assumptions and implications. If you disagree with the feedback then you will have established an adversarial relationship with your ICB. |
| Do This | 1. When your ECB offers you personal feedback, stop what you are doing, give your ECB your undivided attention, and assume (for the time being) that the feedback is accurate and valuable.
2. Make it your goal to find something in the feedback that you can act on. Confirm that with your ECB before the conversation ends. 3. Take action on the feedback within a week, and preferably the same day. |
1. Don’t argue with, or agree with, your ICB’s feedback. Instead, listen intently, take notes, and ask for specifics that illustrate the feedback.
2. Ask what your ICB wants you to do with the feedback. 3. Announce that you are going to give this some “serious thought” and then get back to your ICB. 4. Write what you heard and be careful to be painfully accurate… don’t editorialize. Send a copy of that to your ICB and ask for verification/correction. If the ICB’s response is oral and not written, then commit that conversation to writing. If your ICB does not respond after a second request, end the exchange and note this in your records. 5. If your ICB does respond and if there is any piece of the feedback with which you agree, then describe in writing what action you will take relative to the feedback and ask for your ICB’s opinion of that action. Keep precise records of these exchanges. |
| ECB: Ethical, Competent Boss | ICB:Incompetent and /or Corrupt Boss | |
|---|---|---|
| Risks | If you offer your ECB feedback in the presence of others, without asking permission to do so, without specific support of your comments, or in a vague way, you will be seen as presumptuous, disrespectful, and unprofessional.
If you are asked by your ECB to offer feedback and your comments are vague or if they are flattering while overlooking shortcomings, you will be seen as a “lightweight” who lacks courage and who seeks to get ahead by “kissing up.” |
If you offer your ICB feedback in the presence of others, without asking permission to do so, with specific support of your comments, or in a vague way, you will be seen as “out of line” and as a threat to your ICB. |
| Do This | Before you offer feedback to your ECB, make certain it is substantiated with specific examples and that it has the potential to significantly improve the performance of part or all of the team. Then and only then ask for a private conversation and let your ECB know that the purpose is to offer your feedback.
When your ECB asks for feedback, stop, think, and don’t speak until you have specific items to reference. If you lack these specifics, say so and make a commitment to re-engage the conversation when you have the specifics. |
It is very unlikely your ICB will ask for feedback, or if he/she does ask for feedback it is very likely it is an insincere request that has a hidden agenda.
If at all possible, avoid offering feedback, even if it is requested. If your ICB presses you for the feedback, then make absolutely certain everything you say is true and backed-up with specifics. Follow-up that conversation with an e-mail summary of it. |
| But, What If I Have An Ethical Boss Who Is Not Fully Competent (EIB)? | But, What If My Boss is Competent and Corrupt (CCB)? |
|---|---|
| First, make sure you know what you’re talking about.
It is easy to assume from your position of lesser accountability that you have a boss who is “not ready for prime time.” It is quite likely your opinion is based on your personal resentment of not getting the job or not having someone you favored get the job. It may be true that your boss has moved into a position that is a big “stretch” for him/her. Your EIB may be desperately trying to learn the ropes, may use the wrong terms, may be befuddled by complex reports, and may not see when colleagues are camouflaging mistakes or lying. In both cases, your first, main, and ongoing course of action is to excel at your job and to treat your boss as an ethical, competent, boss (ECB). If your EIB is truly ethical, he/she will request feedback and will accept your comments when you spot a problem that can be, and needs to be, solved. The fastest route to helping your EIB “learn the ropes” is to do your job well and in a way he/she can see, and to build an authentic relationship with your boss. By all means don’t presume that you are the expert coach your boss needs. Be invited to comment before you share your “pearls of wisdom.” |
This is the most dangerous boss.
The CCB moves up and is admired because he/she “gets results” —without regard to how those results were achieved. This is Enron executive, bought-and-paid-for Senator, and Mafia godfather of business. The CCB is lethal because you are more vulnerable to being corrupted by a “winner” (who is sophisticated in hiding corruption) than you are by a “loser” whose unethical behaviors are obvious. The CCB is also lethal because the CCB has the real potential of harming customers and exposing the entire enterprise to company-ending lawsuits. Manage the CCB the same way you manage an incompetent and corrupt boss (ICB). In addition always ask this question of every decision and every success: Have we done this in a way I would be proud to have reported in detail in my hometown newspaper? If your answer is “no” or “I’m not sure,” then dig deeper and dig fast. |
What kind of leader are you?
Do you ask for and seriously consider feedback? Do your colleagues readily challenge your opinions? Do the people with whom you work know you authentically and substantially? If you answer in the affirmative, then you will attract more of the same. 
Track Record
30 years experience… North America, Asia, Europe… BioTech, Transportation, Distribution, Health Care, Manufacturing, Wholesale, Retail, Construction, Financial Services, Software… Sales, Service, Marketing, Environmental Health and Safety, Human Resources, Information Technology, Customer Service, Technical Services… CEO, CIO, CFO, Line Manager, First Line Supervisor, individuals, teams, virtual teams… find the problem, design the event, facilitate the meeting, train, inspire, build the process, fix the process, develop in-house expertise, listen, keep confidences.
Vic Downing
President, Global Advantage, Inc.
Sample Assignments
In two years increase per-square-foot net profit of a retail chain by more than 30% while expanding outlets by 10%… and be recognized as the number one quality vendor in the industry.
In one year reduce $300,000,000.00 operating budget by $47,000,000.00, not including savings associated with reduction in force.
Convene North American-Western European-Asian summit to resolve operational and cross-cultural issues that were impeding performance. Walk away with an integrated, measurable plan and a unified team with an extremely high level of rapport.
Jump-start a high potential manager whose performance was neutralized by the inability to delegate.
Prepare a Senior Vice President to plan, announce, and successfully manage two downsizings in six months, while improving the performance and loyalty of top performers.
Ramp-up emerging, high-technology production by 300% in 12 months while shortening cycle times, reducing waste, and improving morale.
Yeah but…
At Global Advantage, our customers sit at the top of the organization chart. Please let us know if you’ve got a question regarding this article, have a different perspective on this subject, or see something specific you want us to address.