Managing Up: Communicating With Your Manager So Work Flows Better
What managing up means, and how to read your manager's style, give updates, raise problems and ask for decisions, with phrases you can use right away.
You finish a report and send it to your manager. The reply: Not like this. You revise based on what you understood and send it again. Still not right. Only on the third round do you learn they needed just three numbers on one slide to answer executives at tomorrow morning's meeting. Had you known from the start, it would have taken half an hour. Problems like this are not solved by working harder, but by communicating with your manager systematically, which is called managing up.
What is managing up?
Managing up means understanding your manager's goals, constraints and working style, and adjusting how you communicate so you both work better. It is not flattery, and it is not controlling your manager. It is taking responsibility for the working relationship from your side, because your manager has many reports while you have one manager.
1. Understand your manager first
What are their goals?
What is your manager measured on: sales, costs, customer satisfaction, or delivering projects on time? Once you know, you can describe your work in terms of what they have to report upward.
How do they like to receive information?
- Short or detailed. Some want the conclusion first, others want the background.
- Written or spoken. Some prefer email or chat, others prefer a 5-minute conversation.
- Frequency. Some want to know daily, others only when there is a problem.
If unsure, ask directly: How would you like updates on this project, and how often? This does not make you look clueless; it shows you care.
2. Update before you are asked
A manager who has to come and ask how far along the work is usually starts to worry. Short, regular updates build a lot of trust. Try this three-line structure:
Done: draft contract for Client A sent to legal / In progress: price comparison of 3 suppliers, done Thursday / Need from you: approval for the budget difference by Friday
This can be read in seconds and states clearly what you need.
3. Raise problems with options
A problem your manager learns about late is a bigger problem. Raise it as soon as you see the work may slip or miss what was agreed, and bring options.
Instead of: The work definitely will not make it.
Try: Data from sales arrived 3 days later than planned. There are two options. One, deliver the report on the original date using data to the end of last month. Two, move delivery to Tuesday with complete data. I recommend the second, because executives will certainly ask about this month's figures. What do you think?
This lets your manager decide in a minute instead of having to solve the problem themselves.
4. Get clarity when you take on work
Before starting a big task, ask three questions: what is this for, who will see it, and what should the finished work look like? If possible, ask for an example they liked, and send a rough outline before doing the full work. The report in the first paragraph would never have happened with this step.
Your manager cannot read your mind, and you cannot read theirs. So ask.
5. Make the most of 1:1s
If you have regular 1:1s, always bring your own agenda: items needing a decision, blockers, and questions about your development. If you do not have them, ask for 20 minutes every two weeks, explaining that you want work to move faster and would like feedback.
What managing up is not
- Sharing only good news and holding bad news until it is too late to fix.
- Talking about your manager behind their back instead of speaking directly.
- Agreeing with everything even when you know the plan has problems. Disagreeing politely with data is part of the job.
How to start
- Write down 3 things your manager is measured on.
- Ask your manager what kind of updates they want and how often.
- Send a three-line update every Friday, starting this week.
- Next time you hit a problem, raise it with at least 2 options.
Read more on communicating with senior executives and asking for resources inside your organisation. If you want to rehearse a difficult conversation with your manager, try the AI Career Assistant. A good relationship with your manager does not come from luck; it comes from consistent communication.