3 Tips for Managing Up: What it looks like in practice
Part 3: Managing Up Series
#1 Lead with the point, not the process
This one is beyond obvious. And yet, the number of folks who don’t do this is honestly staggering.
Don’t make your boss dig for the takeaway.
It’s not a comedy show. No one is waiting for the punchline. Especially senior leaders, who might be nodding politely while internally wondering how long they have to sit there before it’s socially acceptable to escape.
What people think they’re doing:
demonstrating rigour
showing their thinking
proving they’ve done the work
What they’re actually doing is burying the point.
You’ve got 45 slides of process, context and intellectual gymnastics (no gold star for this- your boss calls it overengineering behind your back)...and by the time you land the point (if at all)...everyone’s mentally checked out halfway to a simpler life trimming bonsai trees.
Start with:
Context:“The focus of today is to…” (like literally one verbal paragraph long)
What you want from the audience:“The decision we need is…”
The End: “The recommendation is…”
Then explain how you got there.
Not the other way around. This isn’t Lord of the Rings.
Now, on a good day, people quietly check out. On most days though, you’ll get abruptness, bluntness or visible impatience. Sound familiar?
Senior people don’t lack intelligence. And most of them are probably decent humans underneath the mildly terrifying exterior. (Not all. Some are exactly the mo fo’s you think they are.)
What they lack is time.
Time is the scarcest resource on planet leadership.
So when someone uses that time to prove themselves instead of getting to the point, it’s not impressive. At all. It’s beyond frustrating.
And the “rude” reaction is them just trying to get to the point you haven’t given them yet.
This is the number one skill in managing up.
And the absence of it slowly kills careers.
Because if no one gets to the part that proves you’re good... it may as well not exist.
#2 Stop explaining the work. Start telling them what it means.
Ok, so you got to the point faster… and then immediately ruined it by over-explaining the work and under explaining the meaning.
Let me explain... (see what I did there?)
Most people walk their boss through what they did. Step by step, detail by detail. Like a guided museum tour no one asked for.
Your boss is not sitting there thinking:
“Wow. Such craftsmanship. What a privilege to witness this level of subject matter expertise...”
More likely they’re thinking:
“FML...what do I do with this?”
“Why am I here?”
“How many more slides till death?”
This is where people massively overengineer the wrong thing.
They overcook the background, the methodology, the detail, the blow by blow of how they got there.
And undercook the bit senior people actually care about:
what this means
why it matters
what it changes
what happens next
That’s the part they need from you. Not the extended directors cut.
Most people assume if they explain the work thoroughly enough, the meaning will somehow reveal itself.
Ah, no.
Senior people are not sitting there with a highlighter and a fresh mind, lovingly piecing together your logic like it’s a Sunday puzzle.
They are:
under time pressure
context switching every three minutes
already thinking about the next decision, risk or meeting
So if the meaning isn’t obvious fast... it doesn’t land.
Your job is not to show how much work went into the thing. Your job is to make the meaning of the thing impossible to miss.
That’s what makes the boss think you’re:
strategic
a clear thinker
someone with good judgement
Not the 14 slide preamble on how you got there.
A lot of people would argue they’re just being thorough. What they’re actually being is exhausting, hard to follow and weirdly vague at the exact moment they need to be crystal clear.
So now your boss has to do the heavy lifting of figuring out what it means.
And when that happens, they don’t reconstruct your thinking, they simplify it. They fill in the gaps.
And they make a call on you. Typically not a great one and definitely not the one you’re hoping for.
And once that perception sets… it sticks.
No one promotes the person they have to work hardest to understand.
What to try:
Replace explanation with consequence: Most people explain what they did. Senior people are listening for: What happens because of this?
For every point you make, add:
“This means…”, “The impact is…”
Force yourself to answer: What changes? What breaks? What moves? If nothing changes, it’s just interesting. And interesting doesn’t get prioritised.
#3 Design your work for the meeting you’re not in
So far you’ve got to the point and made it meaningful. Great. But even if you get the meaning right in the room...that’s not where it stays.
Your work doesn’t stop once you’ve said it. It moves. Into other meetings, conversations and rooms you’re not in. And in those rooms, you’re not there to explain it, clarify it or stop it going slightly off script. So whatever version of your work is floating around... that’s your work now.
So ask yourself, “What will this sound like when I’m not there?”
If the answer is vague, overly detailed, hand wavy or needs you standing there translating, you’ve made it too hard to carry.
And when something is hard to carry, people don’t carry it carefully and treat it like fragile cargo.
They shorten it. They simplify it. They butcher it slightly. Like a corporate game of Chinese Whispers.
And that version is what gets repeated, judged and becomes your reputation.
Fact is, most of the folks deciding your career aren’t seeing your work directly. They’re hearing about it. Through second hand summaries, updates and whatever your boss says when you’re not there.
Which means your boss isn’t just your manager. They’re the narrator of your work.
So managing up isn’t just about getting them aligned. It’s also about shaping the story they carry forward, because that story is what travels. And that’s what gets believed.
What to try:
Don’t assume they remember anything (they don’t): Not because they don’t care. They’ve just got too much going on.
So instead of:
“As I mentioned last week...”
Say:
“Quick recap: we agreed X, I’ve progressed Y, next step is Z”.
That line isn’t just a recap. It reminds them. And it gives them something to repeat later without you there.
Because this isn’t a one off. Every time you do this, you’re shaping how your work gets talked about after you leave the room.
You’re not repeating yourself.
You’re controlling the narrative.
Next up is Part 4 of our Managing Up Series: The Difficult Boss, because managing up is all well and good when your boss is clear, consistent and behaves like a fully functioning adult, but if you’re dealing with someone vague, reactive or changes their mind like it’s a competitive sport, the rules shift. Learn how to speak “Difficult” boss.
Thought your work should speak for itself?
Cute.
Turns out it gets translated, usually by folks with less context and more confidence.
Boss Whispering 101 teaches you how to read what your boss needs, survive the Friday 4:57pm priorities switch, and communicate in a way that doesn’t get lost between your desk and the next meeting.