How to Better Manage Up: 4 Steps to Take

How to Better Manage Up: A Critical Leadership Skill
Most management training programs quite rightly focus on helping new managers lead their teams effectively. Yet one reality is often overlooked: your effectiveness as a leader is also shaped by how well you work with your boss. That is where know how to better manage up becomes a critical — and often underdeveloped — leadership capability.

Managing up is not about politics or flattery. It is about building a productive, trust-based relationship with your manager so expectations are clear, communication flows both ways, and obstacles are addressed before they become performance issues. When done well, it creates alignment, accelerates decision-making, and reduces unnecessary friction.

Strong managers understand that leadership is not one-directional. They invest just as much energy in managing their relationship upward as they do in leading downward. That means proactively:

• Clarifying priorities
• Anticipating what your boss needs to know
• Translating strategy into execution
• Surfacing risks early rather than after results suffer

People manager evaluations tell us that this skill is essential. You cannot fully support your team if you lack clarity, credibility, or support from above. By intentionally positioning yourself to earn trust and positive attention, you gain the latitude and backing required to learn faster, grow as a leader, and consistently deliver results — even in complex, fast-moving environments.

Understanding Your Manager’s Point of View
Every strong working relationship starts with perspective-taking. Managing up begins with understanding your manager’s reality — not idealizing it, and not resenting it, but seeing it clearly.

Your manager is only one level removed from you, facing many of the same pressures: delivering results, managing trade-offs, responding to shifting priorities, and meeting expectations from above. Like you, your boss depends on others for resources, air cover, and career progression. Their success is not independent of yours — it is tightly linked to it.

A manager’s reputation is built on three things:

• How well their team performs
• How effectively they work with their own boss
• How seamlessly they collaborate across functions to get work done

When the team misses commitments, surprises senior leaders, or creates friction with peers, it reflects directly on them.

Seeing the world from your manager’s point of view changes how you show up. You become more thoughtful about what information they need, when they need it, and how it should be framed. You anticipate risks, align on priorities, and help them look prepared and credible in rooms you are not in.

Empathy, in this context, is strategic. The more you understand the pressures your manager faces, the better positioned you are to support them — and, in turn, to earn the trust, support, and latitude you need to do your best work.

Remember, they, too, are only human.

How to Better Manage Up

Now with a healthy, empathetic attitude toward your boss, you can become a better direct report by:

1. Doing Your Best Work
   Just as you hold your team to high standards, your manager expects the same from you. That starts with strategic clarity. Know how your boss is evaluated and what outcomes matter most to them. When you understand their scorecard, you can align your priorities, decisions, and trade-offs so your work directly supports their success — and avoids well-intended effort in the wrong direction.
2. Making Your Value Visible
   Managing up does not mean self-promotion. It means ensuring your contributions are not invisible. Many strong performers undermine themselves by assuming results speak for themselves. They rarely do.
   
   Keep your manager informed about key wins, progress, and lessons learned, especially how your team’s work advances broader organizational goals. Done well, this builds confidence in your leadership and reinforces your credibility without theatrics.
3. Taking the Initiative
   Weak managers hoard control. Effective ones seek input. If you want to be seen as a leader, act like one. Offer ideas, raise concerns, and propose solutions in a way that is thoughtful, timely, and grounded in the business. Silence is rarely interpreted as agreement or insight.
   
   You often have a perspective your manager does not. Being closer to customers, systems, or day-to-day execution gives you visibility into issues and opportunities that may never surface upward unless you surface them. That insight is valuable — if you use it.
4. Believing in Yourself
   Timidity is not a career strategy. Progress requires judgment, confidence, and a willingness to take calculated risks. You will not always get it right, but staying invisible guarantees limited impact.
   
   If you want your manager to advocate for you, you must first advocate for yourself — calmly, credibly, and consistently. Demonstrate that you belong, that you can learn quickly, and that you are capable of contributing at a higher level than your current role. Confidence, backed by performance, is what earns trust and opportunity.

The Bottom Line
As a new manager, it is natural to focus most of your energy on managing your team. But doing so at the expense of managing up limits both your effectiveness and your growth. Peak performance requires strength in all directions — down, sideways, and up. When you intentionally manage your relationship with your boss, you create alignment, earn trust, and increase your capacity to lead at a higher level.

To learn more about how to better manage up, download 5 Management Misperceptions that Slip Up Too Many New Managers

by Tristam Brown: CEO

Tristam Brown is an executive business consultant and organizational development expert with more than three decades of experience helping organizations accelerate performance, build high-impact teams, and turn strategy into execution. As CEO of LSA Global, he works with leaders to get and stay aligned™ through research-backed strategy, culture, and talent solutions that produce measurable, business-critical results. See full bio.