What would you do if a senior leader was dismissive of the media opportunities you secure and was reluctant to be interviewed?
Perhaps your press releases are signed off by a committee of senior leaders, stripping them of impact and meaning.
Maybe you need to give feedback to the leadership team about their latest media interviews, and it is not all positive.
These are all challenging scenarios comms and media teams tell us they face.
So, we offered a solution during a recent exclusive masterclass for members of The Media Team Academy.
Kirsty Waite, a leading business coach, believes managing up could be pivotal in helping you overcome these challenges.
And in a rapidly changing workplace, where you may have less face-to-face access to your senior leaders, help you use the time you do have with them more effectively.
What is it?
“Quite simply, managing upwards is about managing your manager or another senior person,” Kirsty said.
“It is about making their job easier and supporting them in their role. And, at the same time, helping you achieve what you need to get done more efficiently.
“Most of the time, employees expect to take direction from their managers or people more senior. They don’t expect to be the ones doing the managing.
“So, the concept of managing up reverses how we naturally work.
“It is all about taking control and responsibility for a situation and nurturing the relationship. It comes down to you using your skills and abilities to influence the situation, and everyone in it, to deliver the end goal easier.”
Kirsty believes PAs working for the senior leadership team is a perfect example of managing upwards in action.
She said: “If you want to get a CEO to do something or need to know anything about them, who do you go to? It is their PA. The PA controls the CEO’s life. A top PA will know everything there is to know about the CEO.
“You typically can’t do anything with that CEO without going through the PA. That PA will be on a lot less money than the CEO, will have a lot less responsibility and there is a big gap in seniority.
“But they know they need to manage that CEO to be effective in their job and to be able to get on and do their job. And the CEOs love it because they have someone doing all this stuff for them. They trust the PAs to make their life easier.”
Kirsty says people sometimes have a negative impression of managing upwards, believing it implies senior leaders are not performing.
“It is vital to be clear that managing upwards is not about trying to fix a bad manager,” Kirsty said.
“It isn’t about disregarding the hierarchy and taking things into your own hands.
“We are talking about using the traits of a good manager to bring out the best in you and them.”
Benefits
Let’s look more closely at the benefits of managing upwards.
Why should you do it? What do you gain?
“There have to be some benefits for us to nurture this skill,” Kirsty said. “We have to know what we are doing it for.
“And those benefits are a better working relationship, improved understanding of what is going on in the world of senior leaders, and it gets things done quicker and easier.
“It makes things easier for them, and you nurture your relationship with them. Then when you ask for their help in future, they are more likely to do it.
“It also builds trust. And once you have trust, you are brought into more things, get more involved, and leaders share more with you.”
It can also help comms professionals with career progression.
Kirsty said: “If you are known to be helpful, trustworthy and help people make their lives easier, you will be seen in a much more favourable light. Because you are trusted, you get more involved in what is happening and get exposed to different things you may not have previously worked on.”
How do you do it?
We know what managing upwards means. And we can see the benefits.
But how do you move it from theory to something you do?
Self-awareness, initiative and time investment are integral.
“Managing upwards involves input from both people - you and the person you want to do something,” Kirsty said.
“It is about give and take.
“But you need to take the initiative. No one is going to ask you to do it. It is not going to be on your to-do list.
“And taking the initiative is about nurturing that relationship. It takes emotional intelligence and being able to read what is going on with them and the wider business, and how you can help.
“This may involve having conversations with them directly or with the wider team. If the person you are trying to manage upwards is in the middle of a crisis, it will not land well. You are trying to build trust through letting them know you understand what is happening with them.”
What about self-awareness?
Kirsty said: “You need to understand when it is appropriate to manage upwards and when it isn’t.
“If it is business-critical or highly-sensitive, for example, it may not be appropriate for you to get involved and try to manage up. You also want to ensure that doing it does not cause conflict with your manager or undermine anyone.”
To break this down further, Kirsty offered 10 expert tips for managing upwards:
1 Connection
Build a relationship – it is fundamental to managing upwards. Trying to manage someone you have not spoken to before will be difficult.
Kirsty said: “Show them that you are here to help. Let them know you are here to make things easier for them.”
Think about the relationships you have already in the workplace. Who do you interact with on a daily, weekly and monthly basis? How effective are those relationships right now? Are you building relationships with the right people? What are you doing to nurture those relationships?
2 Put yourself in their shoes
Take time to understand what is happening with the person you are trying to manage. What can you do to make this an easier task or project? How can you give them what they need right now?
If you need some help with this, speak to the PAs. Kirsty said: “When you build connections with the senior team, get to know the PAs. They can tell you exactly what is going on with that person that week and the slots where they will have more time to help you.”
3 Be courageous
To manage upwards, you are going to need to take the lead. And that may feel scary.
But the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
4 Build trust
It is crucial. How do you do it? By doing what you say you are going to do.
“If you are showing up to help, make sure you are delivering on that,” Kirsty said. “If you start to offer things and then don’t follow through on that, the trust will be quickly broken.”
5 Managing expectations
You must be clear about what you expect from the person you are managing up and how you can help them.
“You need to be transparent,” Kirsty said. “If it will take some of their time, be clear with them about how long you think it will take.
“The last thing you want to do is go in with surprises. Don’t leave anything hidden because they won’t be happy when they find out. That’s when you will get people disengaging from the process.
“And the trust will be impacted next time you go back and ask them to do something.
“This is about long-term relationship building. If you do what you say you will do, and people realise they can trust you, they are more likely to invest time in you next time you need them.”
6 Communicate effectively
Be more deliberate with your communication and understand the other person’s preferred communication method.
Kirsty said: “Make sure you are communicating clearly and effectively in a way they react to better.
“They might prefer picking the phone up and having a conversation. Some leaders may prefer an email they can read when they have a moment.
“It goes back to building the relationship, knowing how they perform better and what they like.”
7 Respect their time
Senior leaders have lots on their plate. Time is precious. So, you must be concise.
Kirsty said: “People don’t have a lot of time, especially those in senior leadership positions. Even when you get time with them, their emails will probably be going off, and they have millions of things going through their head.
“For them to be present with you in that moment, you need to get to the point, be clear and concise. No fluff.”
8 Clear and confident
Make sure you know what you want the senior leader to do. And you sound confident.
Kirsty said: “If you ask them to do something and are unsure about it, and it feels vague, you will not get far, and you are wasting their time. And again, that damages trust.
“They may be more senior than you, but you are the comms expert. You must sound confident, ensuring they know you have this covered and that they can trust you.
“If you are not confident, you need to figure out what you need to feel that way.”
9 Coaching
Coaching is something we have covered in more depth in an earlier masterclass. And it plays a role here.
“Coaching is a conversation that moves someone from a current state to the desired one. It helps them move toward their goal.
“It is based on asking questions and getting people to think more about the situation they find themselves in.
“So, rather than telling the senior leader what to do – which can feel like you are challenging them – ask questions that get them to think things through.
“Taking a coaching approach rather than a telling one is an easier way to get people to move because you are empowering them. They go through the thought process themselves.”
10 Polite
Be polite and nice.
“This is a simple one but being nice and polite is crucial,” Kirsty said.
“Remember, the key is to make their role easier in this process. We can do this more easily by being nice, polite and helpful. And it helps to build and nurture that relationship.
“And if we do all these things correctly, they will be grateful because we are helping them. Who would not want that?”
How about a bonus tip just for those of you reading this exclusive blog for members of The Media Team Academy?
When I met with Kirsty to preview the masterclass, she also mentioned the importance of going to leaders with solutions rather than problems.
She said: “Go with solutions, not problems. If there are problems, give them options. Don’t just land a problem on their desk last minute.
“Even if it is a solution they don’t go with, they will appreciate you exploring what can be done.”
Managing sideways
Of course, as well as managing upwards, comms professionals may need to manage sideways.
For example, a media spokesperson could be an expert in their field but may not have a more senior role.
Do the same principles apply?
“I think they do,” Kirsty said. “Think about what’s in it for them. You know what’s in it for you, but what’s in it for them?
“When you turn up at their desk, have an idea of what is going on with them.
If you say, “I know you are busy, but I’ve got this opportunity I think will benefit you, and this is how we will support you…”, that’s a lot better than turning up and saying, “I need you to do this.”
“It is all about building that connection and understanding again and putting yourself in their shoes.”