A mentee reached out to me during last week’s Diwali break, seeking guidance on how to better “manage up” with her boss. Having recently transitioned into a leadership role at a new organization, she wasn’t sure if she was ticking all the right boxes.
I gave her two specific pieces of advice.
Get Aligned with Your Boss
Make sure you and your boss share the same answers to two key questions: 1) What is success for me ? 2) What is success for my manager and team?
As someone new to an organization, it’s your responsibility to know what your boss cares about—and to ensure your boss knows what you care about. Great chemistry happens where your success and your boss’s success meet.
Show Your Work on What Matters Most
To manage up effectively, you need to understand what signals your boss uses to trust your work. Is it metrics? Proactive updates? Figure out what matters and tap into it. This will make the rest of your job easier.
Invest time in understanding what’s important to your boss and why. What keeps him or her up at night? When you focus your work on those priorities and provide consistent updates—whether through metrics, milestones, or feedback from your peers—you build trust and align with what matters most.