Managing the Manager

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Knowing your manager’s communication preference to receiving information about day to day activities or progress on a project is another way to manage your manager. By paying attention to the way your manager conveys information to you, is a way to learn how they like to communicate. You learn if your boss prefers e-mails daily or weekly summaries, and this is the way you should convey information to them as well. This is the best way to be assured that your manager is retaining the information that they are receiving. (Trunk) “If we want someone to understand what we have to say, we must learn to speak their language, rather than expect them to learn ours.” By learning your boss’s “language” you can accomplish what you need, help the boss succeed, and make the project and the organization a success.” (Knowdell)

Be inquisitive and ask valuable questions to make yourself intriguing and obtain new ideas from others that are around you. Find out the vital weaknesses in your department and take responsibility for handling those issues before your boss notices them. This will make your boss appreciative and show them your leadership goals and your ability to take on more responsibility as well as being able to stay on top of your current job duties. (Trunk)

Employees depends on their managers for direction, feedback and support; while managers depend on their employees for new ideas, hard work and cooperation to achieve the organization’s goals. Both sides have needs, and both sides have something to offer. It is a critical relationship worth tending to when managing up. (Kotter)

Closing Section:

Successfully learning how to manage your manager will empower every worker to break through their professional glass ceiling. Accepting your manager’s weaknesses and shortcomings as well as your own, is a great starting point to manage your manager. Learning the type of manager that you’re dealing with will help guide you on how to interact and effectively communicate with them.

By grasping and perfecting the “managing up” concept, others will recognize your value within the company, and it will give you an advantage when being considered for bigger and better job opportunities. It also gives you an edge over the competition for being considered for promotions and career advancements. (Paraphrased from Garone)

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Works Cited:

- Delves, Roger. "Workplace Doctor: Manage Up the Chain as well as done." 28 October 2014. The National Business. Web. 2 December 2015.

- Zubre, MD, Thomas J. and James, PHD, Erika H. AAFP. June 2001. 04 December 2015.

- Richard L. Knowdell, author of Building a Career Development Program: Nine Steps for Effective Implementation

- Kotter, JP/Gabarro,JJ. “Managing Your Boss.” Harvard Business Review. 1993: 150-157

- Trunk, Penelope. “7 ways to manage up.” 03 November 2006. http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/11/03/7-ways-to-manage-up. Web. 05 December 2015.

- Garone, Eizabeth. “What It Means to Manage Up.” 30 October 2008. The Wall Street Journal. Web. 06 December 2015.

- Rousmaniere?

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