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Managing Up Isn't Brown-Nosing: Why Your Boss Needs You to Succeed (Even When They Don't Realise It)
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Most professionals have this completely backwards. They think managing up means sucking up to the boss, playing office politics, or becoming some corporate suck-up. Absolute rubbish.
After seventeen years in management consulting across Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane offices, I've watched countless talented people stagnate because they fundamentally misunderstood this crucial skill. Managing up isn't about managing your boss - it's about managing your relationship with your boss. Big difference.
The wake-up call came during my stint at a major consulting firm in 2019. Sarah, one of our brightest analysts, consistently delivered exceptional work but remained invisible during promotion discussions. Meanwhile, James - decent work, nothing spectacular - got fast-tracked to senior consultant. The difference? James understood that his manager's success was directly tied to his own advancement.
Here's what managing up actually means: It's the deliberate practice of working collaboratively with your supervisor to achieve mutual success. You're not manipulating anyone. You're creating alignment.
The Communication Frequency Problem
Most people under-communicate with their managers by roughly 73%. They assume silence means everything's fine. Wrong. Your boss is juggling multiple priorities, competing deadlines, and pressure from their own superiors. If you're not proactively keeping them informed, you're creating anxiety in their world.
I learned this the hard way when my own manager pulled me aside in 2021. "I never know what's happening with your projects," she said. Fair point. I was delivering results but keeping her in the dark about challenges, progress, and wins. She couldn't advocate for me effectively because she didn't have the ammunition.
The solution? Weekly check-ins, even when everything's running smoothly. Five minutes. That's it.
Share three things consistently:
- What you've accomplished since last week
- What challenges you're facing (with proposed solutions)
- What support you need to succeed
Understanding Your Boss's Pressure Points
Every manager has specific areas that keep them awake at night. Usually it's budget constraints, team performance metrics, or deliverables to their own boss. Smart professionals identify these pressure points and position themselves as problem-solvers rather than problem-creators.
When I was working with a Perth-based manufacturing company, their operations manager was constantly stressed about production delays. Instead of just reporting problems, I started presenting solutions alongside issues. "The supplier delivery is delayed by two days, but I've arranged temporary stock from our Brisbane facility to maintain production schedule." That's managing up.
Your boss doesn't want surprises. They want predictability and solutions.
The Documentation Advantage
Here's something they don't teach in business school: document everything important via email. Not because you don't trust your manager, but because they're human and forget things. When promotion time comes around, having a paper trail of your achievements, problem-solving abilities, and initiative becomes invaluable.
I keep a simple weekly summary that I send every Friday afternoon. Nothing fancy - just bullet points of completed tasks, upcoming priorities, and any decisions needed. This serves multiple purposes: it keeps me organised, demonstrates my communication skills, and provides my manager with ammunition when they need to justify my value to their superiors.
Making Your Boss Look Good
This is where people get uncomfortable, thinking it's political game-playing. It's not. It's strategic alignment. When your manager succeeds, you create more opportunities for your own advancement. When they fail, you're potentially going down with the ship.
Supporting your manager's success means understanding their goals and finding ways to contribute meaningfully. If they're focused on improving team efficiency, become the person who identifies process improvements. If they're concerned about client satisfaction, proactively gather customer feedback and present insights.
The key is authenticity. Don't manufacture support - genuinely align your efforts with their objectives.
Saying No Strategically
Managing up also means protecting your manager from making poor decisions that affect you. Sometimes this requires respectfully pushing back or offering alternative approaches. The trick is framing disagreement as additional perspective rather than opposition.
Instead of "That won't work," try "I see some potential challenges with that approach. What if we considered this alternative?" You're not being confrontational - you're being strategic.
The Feedback Loop
Most professionals wait for formal reviews to understand how they're performing. That's too late. Managing up means creating informal feedback loops throughout the year. Ask directly: "What could I be doing differently to support you better?" or "What should I prioritise to have the biggest impact on our team goals?"
These conversations achieve multiple objectives: they demonstrate your commitment to improvement, provide valuable insights for your development, and strengthen your working relationship.
The bottom line: Managing up isn't about politics or manipulation. It's about professional alignment and mutual success.
Done correctly, it creates a positive feedback loop where your manager becomes your strongest advocate rather than just your supervisor. They understand your capabilities, trust your judgment, and actively look for opportunities to advance your career.
The professionals who master this skill early in their careers consistently outperform those who rely solely on technical competence. Talent gets you noticed. Managing up gets you promoted.
Start small. Improve your communication frequency. Understand your manager's priorities. Look for ways to make their job easier. The results will speak for themselves.
And if you think this sounds like office politics, you're missing the point entirely. Politics implies deception. Managing up is about authentic alignment and mutual success.
Time to stop waiting for recognition and start creating the conditions for your own advancement.