The relationship between a manager and their report is a two-way street: navigating the road falls on both parties. Some managers are easy to get along with, while others can feel near impossible. However, there are several strategies you can use to manage up:<ol><li>Leave your assumptions at the door.</li><li>Hone your delivery for communication that comes through clearly.</li><li>Boost your chances of hearing 'yes' to your ask.</li><li>Get comfortable with feedback.</li><li>Set the tone in your1:1s</li><li>Share your impact the right way.</li><li>Build lasting rapport and trust.</li></ol>

Managing up - How to manage your boss

The biggest reason people can't manage up is that they don't understand their boss's job. You only see a small part of what your manager does.<ul><li>Regularly align on these two questions: What is success for me personally? What is a win for my manager's team?</li><li>Show your work. It's about knowing what your boss wants, then ensuring that you provide them with a steady drumbeat of the things they care about.</li><li>Understand what is your manager's most urgent priorities, then adjust accordingly.</li><li>Focus on what's keeping your manager up at night and identify what you can take off their plate.</li></ul>

Leave your assumptions at the door

<ul>
<li>Open up about your "work love language." From early on, share with your manager what motivates and drives you, including what's important to you outside of work.</li>
<li>Observe how your manager listens and processes inputs. If he stops listening halfway through describing a problem, switch to your proposed solution first.</li>
<li>Calibrate to match your manager's involvement. Share your team's wins, and ask for feedback on challenges.</li>
<li>Communicate early and often.</li>
<li>Don't get stuck in your ways of doing things.</li>
<li>Focus on OKRs to ensure you know what's important to your manager.</li>
</ul>

Hone your delivery for communication

<ul><li>Leave some breadcrumbs. Don't hoard information until you feel you have all the answers. Anything complex needs multiple exposures for someone to internalise the concept.</li><li>Create a shared understanding of the problem. Share information you have and consider alternative paths.</li><li>Don't bury your requests. Write regular email updates, including project updates, team wins or personal progress. But don't mix requests in. Treat it separately.</li><li>Always do your homework. Include two or three options and create a table with pros and cons.</li><li>Keep communication open.</li></ul>

Boost your chances of hearing 'yes' to your ask

<ul>
<li>Feedback should be ongoing and not be left to a formal discussion during performance reviews.</li>
<li>Allow positive feedback to come through louder. When you receive constructive criticism, try to stomach it even if it first rings false.</li>
<li>Don't just try to please your boss. Push back if you believe it is in the company's best interest. If your manager dumps a task on you, mention all your other priorities on your plate and ask where this new task fall.</li>
<li>Train your manager on how to treat you. E.g. don't answer emails after 7 pm or at weekends.</li>
</ul>

Get comfortable with feedback

You likely got a regular 1:1 meeting with your manager. While they can feel more obligatory than critical, meetings are a powerful tool to build trust and up-levelling your impact. <ul><li>Ensure that the shared agenda and notes are pre-populated with topics you want to discuss plus necessary context.</li><li>Ask a new manager what they care most about, their biggest challenges, your role and responsibilities, and their pet peeves.</li><li>Give a bird's eye view before going deep on any topic.</li><li>Grade yourself on alignment. After a meeting, ensure you know what's top of mind for your manager.</li></ul>

Set the tone in your 1:1s

<ul>
<li>Give regular updates. Written asynchronous communication is vital in the remote world. Managers can read at their leisure and comment async rather than live discussions.</li>
<li>Send weekly "State of Me" emails to your boss. Share what you're doing, what you plan to do, and what you've done. Include current priorities, things on your mind, and blockers you need help with. Using a template can make it easier to digest.</li>
</ul>

Share your impact the right way

<ul><li>Build rapport. You don't have to be best friends to build rapport. However, show interest. Pick a few topics you feel are common ground, such as kids or a shared hobby.</li><li>Get tactical with building empathy. Assume positive intent. Check assumptions and ask questions to get clarity on how your manager is thinking. Summarise what you're learning to ensure you understand their point of view.</li><li>Understand that your manager is likely a mentor. They see the good and bad and provide guidance and direction. A sponsor can indirectly help you manage up. They see your potential and can sway a manager.</li></ul>

Build lasting rapport and trust

Top startup leaders share their best tips for managing up, including communication tactics, building trust, and goal setting with your manager. 

Stashed ideas

There’s an oft-repeated phrase: “People don’t quit a job, they quit a boss.” Certainly if you want to go the manager route, it’s critical to <a href="https://firstround.com/review/radical-candor-the-surprising-secret-to-being-a-good-boss/">become a trusted captain </a>in order to retain a top crew. But foisting all the blame onto bad bosses when these pairings go awry is also an oversimplification — one that takes agency away from the employee.

Like any relationship, that of the manager and their report is a two-way street, and the task of navigating the often bumpy road along a startup’s course falls on both parties. There are those managers who you instantly click with, falling into an easy rhythm as though you’ve worked together for years. Others duos may seem like you’re trying to force two repelling magnets together. But more likely, your relationship with your boss falls somewhere in between these two extremes.

Whether <a href="https://firstround.com/review/our-6-must-reads-for-first-time-managers-to-hit-the-ground-running/">you’re taking on your first direct report </a>or you’re a <a href="https://firstround.com/review/6-counterintuitive-rules-for-being-a-better-manager-advice-from-lambda-school-quip-and-facebook/">seasoned leader looking to sharpen your skills </a>, there’s plenty of advice to go around when it comes to managers. But when the focus shifts to those who are being managed , many of those concrete tactics and strategies get decidedly less detailed. While it’s universally understood that building a good relationship with your manager takes work — even if you take to each other like a duck to water — the prescription for how to do so often fails to pack a punch.

That’s in part because managing up is a rather amorphous category, encompassing everything from developing rapport and trust, decision-making, communication style, conflict management and goal-setting with higher-ups. To further sketch out the do’s and don’ts for managing up, we’ve spent the past few weeks reaching out to some of the sharpest folks we know for their take on this important question:

We were especially focused on borrowing tactics that can be applied right away. The responses we got back from these experienced startup leaders opened up a vault of knowledge that’s rarely unlocked. Some tips focus on templates for communicating most effectively and consistently, while others are from experienced managers with plenty of examples for what they wish more direct reports would do. You might not agree with each tip, but we promise you’ll find at least a few that you’re excited to try out.

Whether you’re joining a brand-new team and want to start your partnership with a new manager off on the right foot, or you’re looking to make an already great working relationship with your boss even better, there are plenty of low-lift tactics ahead for how to manage up effectively. We’ve broken this mega-list down into seven categories — click below to navigate to each section.

We hope this provides a detailed map to follow as you put together your own managing up playbook. Let’s dive in.

“The biggest reason people suck at managing up is because they don’t actually understand their boss’s job — but almost always think they do,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/varunsrinivasan/">Varun Srinivasan </a> , former Senior Director of Platform at <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/">Coinbase </a> . “Building context is hard to do, because you only see a small sliver of what your manager does, and each step of the management hierarchy brings different problems,” he says.

Acknowledging this inevitable divide is the first step before you actively work to paper over the gaps that exist between manager and report. Here are some tactics for doing just that:

Two-time Review subject <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-zhuo/">Julie Zhuo </a> is a product design powerhouse (formerly of Facebook) who we’ve previously turned to for tactical advice on <a href="https://firstround.com/review/An-Inside-Look-at-Facebooks-Method-for-Hiring-Designers/">hiring designers </a>and <a href="https://firstround.com/review/the-essential-questions-that-have-powered-this-top-silicon-valley-managers-career/">essential questions for new managers </a>. It’s no surprise that the co-founder of <a href="https://www.inspiritvr.com/">Inspirit </a> ’s got a succinct way of simplifying the hazy concept of managing up.

“Make sure you and your manager have the same answers to these two key questions: 1) What is success for me personally? 2) What is success for my manager’s team? If you aren’t sure your manager knows what you care about, or you don’t know what your manager cares about, ask in your next 1:1,” she says.

The intersection of your success and your manager’s success is where magic happens, and where your opportunities for fulfilling impact lie.

But this isn’t a one-and-done conversation in your earliest meetings with a new manager. How your manager defines success will shift as a company’s goals pivot — which is a guarantee when working at a startup. To stay aligned, raise these questions on an ongoing basis.

2. Show your work with what matters most.

“To effectively manage up, you’ve got to understand what your boss wants and needs. This is an exercise in radical empathy and motivation ,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/janchong/">Jan Chong </a> , VP of Engineering at <a href="https://www.meettally.com/">Tally </a> . “What signal does your manager use to determine whether they can trust your work — is it peer validation? Metrics? Identify the mechanisms and tap into them. Getting that right will ease nearly every other aspect of your job,” she says.

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/randhirv/">Randhir Vieira </a> , VP of Product for <a href="https://www.omadahealth.com/">Omada Health </a> , echoes this — it’s not just about discerning what your boss wants, but how they best respond to your evidence. “Make an effort to understand what is important to your manager and why. When you make this investment, you can provide them with a steady drumbeat of the things they care about — whether it’s metrics, milestones, progress reports, testimonials from your cross-functional partners, and so on,” he says.

Managing up is not an event — it’s an ongoing process that, when done right, can be very rewarding. Treat it as an investment, not an overhead.

Leave it to <a href="https://firstround.com/review/when-grin-and-bear-it-isnt-the-right-answer-this-behavioral-scientist-shares-what-to-do-instead/">the Review’s favorite behavioral scientist </a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattwallaert/">Matt Wallaert </a> , to carefully examine the shifting dynamic between manager and direct report. “When you’re working for someone, you often have a spotlight effect on your relationship : You naturally think of your relationship with this person as their most important (and by extension, your project is their most important project). In reality, being a manager is about competing priorities across team members,” he says.

“One of the essential parts of managing up is understanding what actually are your manager’s most urgent priorities, and then adjusting accordingly. If you’re at the top of the stack, over-communicate. If you’re not the most pressing thing right now, you have to learn to drop back and do really great work. That way, when you do become the top of the stack, it’s for the right reasons — and not because everything is on fire.”

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/evita-grant-phd-061aaa2/">Evita Grant </a> , CEO and Founder of <a href="https://aficards.com/">TecHustle </a> , agrees that empathy for what’s piling up on your manager’s to-do list — even if it means your own projects aren’t on the forefront — goes a long way to building lasting rapport. “Managers are just like everyone else, juggling a million things at a time. Many managers are incredibly stressed and do not know how to manage their stress. Look out for moments when you can empathize, connect, and help alleviate that stress,” she says.

4. Focus on what’s keeping your manager up at night.

“Often people are so focused on solving their own problems, they don’t think about how their proposed solutions create more problems one level up. What are your boss’s problems and how can you solve them?” says Jan Chong of Tally.

Proposals that solve your problems and your boss’s problem are gold.

To really get your manager’s attention, keep an eye out for the walls they seem to run into over and over again. “Anticipate their needs and identify things you can take off their plate. That way, they can do more of what they value,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/juleswalter/">Jules Walter </a> , Product Leader at YouTube.

HONE YOUR DELIVERY FOR COMMUNICATION THAT COMES THROUGH LOUD-AND-CLEAR.

It’s no surprise that the majority of the tactics we sourced focused on communication. After all, you can’t predict how your manager reacts in situations or what they prioritize, but you can control your delivery. Putting in the work to correctly calibrate your message to your manager’s style is a win-win.

5. Open up about your “work love language.”

Starting off a new role by outlining the who, what and how is critical to hit the ground running. But often left behind — yet equally important — is the why. “Early on, share with your manager what motivates you and drives you to do great work — including what’s important to you outside of work and what your long-term goals are,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-galos-alioto-9140832/">Erica Galos Alioto </a> , Chief People Officer at <a href="https://www.opendoor.com/">Opendoor </a> .

“This will help keep your morale and productivity high and ensure your long-term happiness and retention. Great people can easily falter or burn out if their manager doesn’t know their ‘work love language,’” she says.

Not sure where to start? “There are tools out there that will help you understand how a person thinks and acts — use them. Better yet, schedule a meeting with your manager where you walk each other through your Myers-Briggs assessment. It’s free and almost guaranteed to leave you with a much better understanding of your manager (and vice versa)” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nels-gilbreth-36a9821/">Nels Gilbreth </a> , former Head of Commercial Strategy at <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/">Eventbrite </a> .

Another tactic we’ve leaned on here at First Round to iron out different working styles is for managers and reports to both <a href="https://firstround.com/review/the-indispensable-document-for-the-modern-manager/">create a user guide </a>, including preferred communication channels, working schedule — anything that’s valuable to know right off the bat. Even if you’ve worked with a manager for some time, going through the user guide exercise can be a valuable refresher or illuminate some assumptions you’ve made along the way.

You can spend hours crafting the perfect message, but if your manager doesn’t hear it in the way you intended, all that work goes out the window. It’s a lesson <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliabanks/">Julia Banks </a> , Director of Global HR Operations at <a href="https://zendrive.com/">Zendrive </a> , learned the hard way. “With observation over time, you can learn how your leader processes inputs. For example, one of my bosses had a tendency to stop listening after my first sentence, because his mind would race to find solutions to what I was talking about,” she says.

“Once I observed this, I flipped the order of my words, which made a huge difference in our relationship. Instead of saying, ‘Here is the problem, and here’s what I propose we do,’ I would say, ‘Here is what I propose we do to solve this problem. ’ My position sky-rocketed with this simple tactic,” she says.

7. Calibrate to match your manager’s involvement.

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tingtingzhouqy/">Ting-Ting Zhou </a> , Product Manager at Facebook , has had managers all over the spectrum from micro-management to completely hands-off. For the former, she leans on concise-but-full updates detailing everything she’s working on (and then some) to make sure they’re always in the loop. “I think through what they’re probably going to ask me and always stay a few steps ahead so they’ll start to develop more trust and I can create more autonomy for myself,” she says.

But for managers where she’s having a hard time getting their attention, Zhou employs a specific formula. “When I have a manager who’s more hands off, I share with them my team’s wins and challenges, with a focus specifically on the latter when I need their support. I’ve found these types of managers mostly want to make sure they’re available to support me when I need them, so I focus most of our time on sharing a recent challenge and asking for their feedback. I rely on the ratio of spending 15% of time on wins, 85% of time on the challenges,” she says.

8. Communicate early and often to avoid surprises.

“This is something I see a lot of junior folks struggle with at the beginning of their careers. They think they’re bugging others with constant, timely communication, but this isn’t true at all. When you communicate proactively, you’re giving your leaders up the chain of command the gift of choice: To act on that information, to store that information as notes, or just not do anything with it,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/peteratt/">Pedro Álvarez-Tabío Togores </a> , Engineering Manager at <a href="https://www.stridehealth.com/">Stride </a> .

“It’s a far better position to be in than the alternative: Leadership asking you directly when something isn’t right, which almost always happens when they’re removed from the inner workings of your work. Nobody’s perfect — deadlines slip and the unexpected occurs. But the more data points they have, the better,” he says.

There’s nothing managers hate more than surprises. At the first sign of something not going according to plan, just be upfront and communicate clearly. I’ve learned that the hard way.

9. Don’t get stuck in your ways and ignore your audience.

While most directly connected to building trust with your boss, when you strengthen your managing up muscles, it will pay dividends across all your cross-functional partnerships — just ask Evita Grant. The fintech leader’s got plenty of partners to manage, and they each come with a different set of do’s and don’ts.

“Everyone has a preferred communication style. Once you learn this, you can develop a working relationship and rapport around it. For one partner I worked with, brevity was key. I avoided any unnecessary emails, meetings or calls about things I knew the partner expected me to handle. Instead, once a week I scheduled 30 minute or one hour meetings to discuss issues that needed the partner’s attention,” she says. “Another partner was social and liked to be involved. I cc’d that partner on every email with the clients, and frequently made a point of dropping by the office to discuss client issues in person.”

10. Lean on OKRs to make sure the message sticks.

“I’ll be the first to admit I still have a lot of work to do with managing up, but one of the most successful tactics I’ve learned to use — and really appreciate when my own direct reports use it with me — is to make sure I’m speaking the same language as my manager. By language I mean understanding what’s important to the manager and business as a whole, and then framing anything I’m doing or want to do in that context,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattnicosia/">Matt Nicosia </a> , Director of Growth at <a href="https://www.crossbeam.com/">Crossbeam </a> .

“Looking to the company and team OKRs really helps here, because they’re already agreed-upon goals that you can tie your work to. But sometimes there’s something even more specific that you know keeps your manager up at night. Highlighting how something you want to work on will move the manager’s goals or that specific metric can give you a lot more freedom to define your own strategy and take some pressure off the person above you,” he says.

11. Distinguish between communicating and vocalizing (there’s a difference).

“Communication is the foundation for everything. This encompasses communicating your goals for career development to try to align your work to those goals, or voicing your opinion on a task, strategy or process that you believe could use an adjustment for the better,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrurrutia/">Michael Urrutia </a> , Senior Data Analyst at <a href="https://thirtymadison.com/">Thirty Madison </a> . “But being more vocal doesn’t necessarily mean you’re better at communicating. You need to be thoughtful with the message you communicate, otherwise the result will not align with your intention. Pointing out areas for improvement without ideas for solutions is not worth much,” he says.

BOOST YOUR CHANCES OF HEARING ‘YES’ TO YOUR ASK.

The waters of managing up can feel choppiest when you’ve got an idea or a project that you want to run with. Navigating the thicket of approvals — from getting buy-in on the small kernel of an idea, to committing resources, and pulling in other stakeholders — can often put even the strongest manager-report relationships on thin ice. Here’s how to lay the groundwork for a smoother negotiation.

When it comes to making a big ask, it can be tempting to hoard all the information until you’ve crafted the perfect plan to present. That’s a mistake, says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphloura/">Ralph Loura </a> , SVP CIO of <a href="https://www.lumentum.com/en">Lumentum </a> and former CTO of Rodan + Fields. “Don’t save up a big topic until you feel you have all the answers — anything worthwhile takes time to build. An old manager of mine had a ‘rule of seven dippings,’ which essentially means that anything sufficiently complex or abstract takes multiple exposures (in his case, seven) in order for someone to internalize the concept ,” he says.

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/margiemathewson/">Margie Mathewson </a> , VP of Business Operations at <a href="https://www.ossiumhealth.com/">Ossium Health </a> , has also seen that even the best ideas need time for processing. “When I present an idea to leadership that I really care about, I try to do it in pieces by dropping the idea casually at first, and then following up with a more thorough conversation or a presentation.”

Especially for big changes, you can’t expect someone to see things your way right off the bat. Give them time to absorb the idea.

13. Create a shared understanding of the problem.

“Managing up is about building a relationship with your manager where the two of you are partners in problem solving,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bettyliao/">Betty Liao </a> , Senior Director of Product Management at <a href="https://www.invisionapp.com/">InVision </a> . First, she recommends you ask yourself:

What information do you have that your manager doesn’t yet know?

What are the constraints you’re operating under?

What are your current unknowns? How are you planning to get more clarity?

Next, consider the possible strategies together:

What constraints do you believe should be challenged?

What alternative paths have you considered? What are the tradeoffs?

How can your manager best support you?

“This approach contributes to a productive dynamic where managing up becomes an ongoing partnership. It may not always lead to a clear ‘yes’ to the solution you’ve proposed, but it nurtures trust and collaboration, so difficult conversations are easier to navigate in the future, says Liao.

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewbonventre/">Andrew Bonventre </a> , Staff Product Engineer at <a href="https://stripe.com/">Stripe </a> , is a big fan of leaning on email — as long as you use it wisely.

“Writing regular email updates has by far been one of the most effective ways of managing up. These could be project updates, team wins, or personal progress. The emails don’t need to be overly formal — in fact, many recipients typically appreciate a more familiar tone as long as it doesn’t get in the way of the content,” he says.

But where he sees a lot of folks go wrong is treating these general updates as a dumping ground — and as a result, the recipient could be missing some vital points. “Don’t mix requests in — those should be sent separately and in a much different format, i.e. shorter and extremely clear on what exactly you need from the person ,” he says.

15. Always do your homework (and the extra credit).

“When asking my manager or a senior stakeholder for their feedback on an idea, I come up with two-to-three options and create a table that outlines the lift and resources needed, pros and cons, and other stakeholders that need to be brought in,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsanchezgallego/">Jimena Sanchez Gallego </a> , Associate, Strategic Operations at <a href="https://flatiron.com/">Flatiron Health </a> . “This makes for an efficient ask because you’ve already done the pre-work for this person and they can focus on next steps, or asking the questions you might not have thought of,” she says.

Her final tip? Tailor the information you share based on the person’s priorities and preferred style. If they care most about revenue, highlight that impact at the top. If they prefer a couple slides over a long document, create a few visuals. “This extra customization step goes a long way,” she says.

16. Keep the lines of communication open.

If you’ve got the yes and it’s full-steam-ahead on your project, it’s only the beginning. “Sometimes we get stuck in our own worlds and heads, and forget that our managers and leaders are there to support us and help us achieve shared company goals. Ask for what you need,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bgwynn/">Brittney Gwynn </a> , Product Management Leader at <a href="https://www.artsy.net/">Artsy </a> . “If you need more time for strategic thinking, help getting unblocked, or just a thought partner on a thorny problem — ask for it. Your manager is busy and not a mindreader, so they likely don’t know what you need unless you are explicit about it,” she says.

GET COMFORTABLE WITH FEEDBACK (ON BOTH SIDES OF THE TABLE).

We’re big believers that <a href="https://firstround.com/review/23-Tools-to-Make-Feedback-Meaningful/">feedback is an ongoing process </a>— not something left to just a formal discussion once or twice a year during performance reviews. Establishing a firm cadence, with space for both manager and direct report to deliver feedback, is a critical piece to the managing up puzzle.

17. Let positive feedback come through louder than your own doubts.

“Listen to your manager when they give you feedback. When the feedback is good, believe them and allow their voices to be louder than <a href="https://firstround.com/review/make-friends-with-the-monster-chewing-on-your-leg-and-other-tips-for-surviving-startups/">whatever imposter syndrome </a>is creeping up in the background,” says <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonpmcnair/">Shannon McNair </a> , Business Operations Manager at <a href="https://withpersona.com/">Persona </a> .

Your manager gains nothing by giving you false praise, so hear their words, feel them, digest them and continue doing whatever it is you’re doing well.

But when it comes to constructive criticism, try to stomach it — especially if at first it rings false. “Sometimes it can feel like a personal attack, because our identities can be so closely intertwined with the work we deliver. Do your best to decouple yourself from the work, and try to understand what your manager is struggling with. Hear what they want to be different, and make intentional steps towards correcting that behavior. Listening well the first time can help ensure that the constructive feedback turns into praise the next time around,” says McNair.

<a href="https://firstround.com/review/what-your-startup-can-learn-from-astronauts-the-daily-show-and-the-coach-of-the-boston-celtics/">Adam Grant popularized this concept </a>of responding to feedback by thinking about the Second Score. The feedback someone gives you is out of your control. But you can control how you respond to what they’re telling you — and it’s another opportunity to be judged well.

18. Don’t just try to please your boss.

Ralph Loura sees plenty of well-meaning folks go astray when they believe that a good direct report never disagrees with their manager. “You’ve already got the job — stop interviewing. If you’re trying to impress your boss or the rest of the exec leadership team you are wasting all of your time,” he says.

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosa-hamalainen/">Rosa Hamalainen </a> , Co-Founder and Head of Product of <a href="https://www.rupahealth.com/">Rupa Health </a> , strongly agrees, and borrows this mandate from Reed Hastings’s book, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/No-Rules-Netflix-Culture-Reinvention/dp/1984877860">No Rules Rules </a>.” “Netflix <a href="https://firstround.com/review/humans-hate-being-spun-how-to-practice-radical-honesty-from-the-woman-who-defined-netflixs-culture/">has a really simple rule </a>: Don’t seek to please your boss. This is so vital to managing up — you have to be able to push back against your manager if you believe something is in the best interest of the company,” she says. “If you ever find yourself wanting to ‘talk shit’ to someone else about your manager, it’s something you should bring up to your manager in a productive way ,” she says.

We’re all working together to move the company forward, not to make our bosses happy.

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

A Tactical Guide to Managing Up: 30 Tips from the Smartest People We Know

Managing up - How to manage your boss

Leave your assumptions at the door

Hone your delivery for communication

Boost your chances of hearing 'yes' to your ask

Get comfortable with feedback

Set the tone in your 1:1s

Share your impact the right way

Build lasting rapport and trust

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

Take Your One on One Meeting to the Next Level With These 6 Tips for Managers

Managing Up: The Do's And Don'ts And Why It's Important For Success

"Take Control of Your Desk" — Career Tips for ICs, Managers & Founders

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

A Tactical Guide to Managing Up: 30 Tips from the Smartest People We Know

Managing up - How to manage your boss

Leave your assumptions at the door

Hone your delivery for communication

Boost your chances of hearing 'yes' to your ask

Get comfortable with feedback

Set the tone in your 1:1s

Share your impact the right way

Build lasting rapport and trust

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

Take Your One on One Meeting to the Next Level With These 6 Tips for Managers

Managing Up: The Do's And Don'ts And Why It's Important For Success

"Take Control of Your Desk" — Career Tips for ICs, Managers & Founders

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career