Managing Upwards
We have all been exhorted as part of our management training to “manage upwards”. This concept usually has a restricted meaning – telling our ‘boss’ what we believe needs to be done and leaving it at that. Sometimesthere are negative connotations – that it means telling our ‘boss’ where to “get off”; however, this is not what it really means! The true concept of managing upwardshas a far wider meaning. But firstly, let us just recognise that even the limited meaning given to the concept does not result in a very productive outcome. The reasons for this should be fairly obvious. They have to do with fear, poor self-esteem, vulnerability – fear of the staff member losing their job, for example, and a general reluctance to tell the truth, as we have examined in the COMET model in an earlier post.
A broader definition
For genuine leadership success, a far wider meaning needs to be given to managing upwards. A person should feel free to tell someone in higher authority, what his or her options are in doing whatever he or she is thinking of doing, or not doing, or in making some decision – to be “up front” about what the options are and what their consequences are. This definition also extends to:
- assisting, guiding or even giving direction to your ‘boss’ on being the boss, and to supporting the role of the CEO, or
whoever the ‘boss’ is;
and
- giving the ‘boss’ bad news, news which you might think they may not want to hear, and yet you believe deep down that the good of the organisation would be best served by them knowing the bad news – so that he or she has the opportunity to do something about the underlying issue if they think that action is warranted.
On the flip side, if the ‘boss’ isn’t told the bad news and is only given the good news, then there develops an organisation known as just a “good news organisation”. A “good news organisation” always wants to be seen as being positive, having a good image and being squeaky clean. It does not believe that there is anything bad or sinister “in the woodwork”. This attitude then affects staff; they learn to speak in “positive” ways always. They know if they speak negatively to a ‘boss’ they will be mistreated in some way. Sometimes, such organisations and their executives say “I want solutions not problems”.
The “all news organisation”, by contrast, would have a motto like “I want to know the problems, and all your ideas about how we are going to solve them”.
We can all think of situations where it was desirable for managing upwards to be practised to a considerably greater extent. And yet, once again, we also realise that there are real blockers to this happening. Indeed, if you reflect again on your own behaviour as a CEO / leader, I am sure you will think of many examples where you have not managed upwards to the extent, or in the way, that you would have liked. The reasons are essentially the same as the reasons I have given for other kinds of inadequate performance. They are to do with fear, low self esteem, vulnerability, fragility, personal concern over losing one’s job, and past behaviours. You may also have been influenced by situations where divulging the truth has resulted in people being sacked, or in the ‘boss’ adopting a negative or hostile attitude towards the person conveying the news or in overlooking the person for promotions or other organisational rewards.
Self-esteem – the key to changing behaviour
I acknowledge that these sorts of reactions certainly can and do happen. You are left therefore with two choices. You can continue with your old habit of being disappointed with yourself for not being more assertive in your relationships with people in authority over you and continue to complain about their perceived incompetence and about the organisation’s failures, or you can change your behaviour and do something about these issues. The secret to these changed behaviours lies in developing your own self esteem and making a choice as to whether you want to, or don’t want to, manage upwards. (Guidance on developing your self-esteem will be given in a later posting). You need, however, to be very conscious of the clear responsibility you have in this area. You cannot have it both ways. If you elect not to carry out your responsibilities to your ‘boss’ and to the organisation, you do not have the right to criticise and be negative and perhaps destructive in your attitudes, behaviours and the thoughts, if not words, you convey to fellow workers. However, I am aware that these sorts of behaviours do frequently occur in organisations where managing upwards is not encouraged, especially not by the CEO and senior managers.
Other techniques for “managing upwards” more broadly
The CEO’s willingness to listen and change course
Apart from developing one’s own self esteem, what other techniques could be considered for promoting the wider practice of managing upwards in your organisation? In particular, what can you, as the CEO or one of the senior management team, do to encourage a culture that welcomes greater managing upwards? Here are a few. One of the things that the CEO could do is allow him or herself to be confronted in an assertive way over some particular idea or change to the organisation by a staff member while the CEO exhibits a behaviour of actually listening. Even better, they might possibly even change their mind about what they originally thought they would do. That sounds simple enough, but how would that happen in an organisational setting?
- It could happen at an executive meeting, where there are executives plus staff members present.
- It could happen at a staff meeting or at a forum where staff and senior management are present.
- It could happen through one of the organisation’s internal publications or itse-mail system, where the CEO acknowledges in writing to the organisation his or her feelings about a particular issue or idea.
There are many avenues where the CEO can show not only vulnerability, but honestly admit that they may have got some issue wrong to start with and are willing to change their mind and make the correct decision.
The CEO’s ability to show personal feelings
But surely a CEO or a senior leader admitting mistakes flies in the face of the normal perceptions of “tough leadership”? Admitting mistakes is generally seen as a sign of weakness or incompetence rather than a sign of honesty and strength. How can this tendency be overcome? The answer has to do with the way we handle negative emotions – working at the inner level mentioned earlier in the discussion on “E” and “T”. It can be overcome by the CEO talking about, but not necessarily focussing on, a particular mistake – simply admitting the mistake and then focussing on what will happen next in moving the organisation forward. The CEO actually shows the human side of his or her nature and again acts as a powerful role model for the organisation. What usually happens next is that staff perceive and feel that they have permission to be “human beings” in the organisation, rather than perfect “business machines” who make no mistakes.
