Managing Up (Pocket Mentor)

by Harvard Business Review (Compiler)

Managing up is not political game playing. Rather, it's a conscious approach to working with your supervisor toward goals that are important to both of you. Through managing up, you build a productive working relationship with your boss and create a way to use the complementary strengths of you and your boss to deliver value to your company.

This volume helps you:

Understand the business results you produce by learning how to manage up

Cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship with your manager

Communicate effectively with your boss about priorities and problems

Negotiate win-win solutions to on-the-job challenges with your supervisor

Genres: Business

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2008

Reviews

[Yuting · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and very light read...I finished the book in 45minutes. If you're in a management/project management/coordinator/professional role, then this book will be a useful read and of value.

Managing expectations, expressing disagreement, and working effectively with your boss to get things done is emphasized as well as the consequences of not doing this at all or effectively.

Of considerable value is the book's bibliography; The cited sources are all easily accessible electronically and can provide more "meat" that this book either doesn't do or simply glosses over.

I was very disappointed in the Negotiation section of this book--it recommends negotiating with your boss but provides scant details of how to approach it, what to do, how to negotiate, etc.

Overall, I would recommend against buying a brand new version of this book. Ideally, get it from a library and photocopy the sections of the book relevant to you and don't forget to photocopy the bibliography. This book may also be available in used bookstores or on www.abebooks.com

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very brief read. Some key takeaways.

- communicate in manager's preferred style
- clarify goals and tasks

Dealing with disagreements.
- tie back to organization and manager goals
- provide actionable suggestions rather than just concerns
- explain how the idea would avoid pitfalls
- give alternative choices
- reflect manager concerns

Credibility = trust + expertise
- build track record, be open to ideas, own up to weaknesses
- research ideas
- use first name experience
- prove it using experimentation
- avoids arguments, focus on generating options

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick Read - valuable points