Managing up is one of the most underrated career superpowers. It’s not about flattery, manipulation, or overstepping your role. Managing up is about understanding how to work with your boss effectively so you both succeed. When you manage up well, you reduce friction, increase trust, grow your personal brand, and demonstrate your leadership skills. And in today’s workplace, that matters more than ever.
Managing Up Is A Stress Reducer And A Career Enhancer
Your boss is stressed. According to a 2023 report from Gallup, managers report spending just 28% of their time on high-value work. A Deloitte survey shows 70% of leaders say they’re overwhelmed with cross-functional demands. Today’s workplace is complex with hybrid/remote work, a multigenerational workforce and tech entering the workforce at warp speed. That puts extra demands on managers. HR Dive reports that the growing prevalence of manager burnout is one of the most pressing challenges employers will need to address in 2025.
These stats illustrate exactly why managing up isn’t just helpful — it’s absolutely essential. Whether you’re new to your role or aiming for a promotion, here are six high-impact ways to manage up, bolster your brand, demonstrate authentic leadership skills, and grow your career.
1. Get to Know Your Boss Really, Really Well
Managing up starts with empathy and awareness. If you want to be helpful, you need to understand the person you’re helping. Make it your mission to get to know your manager’s working style, stress triggers, and success drivers. What are their top priorities? What metrics matter to them? What makes their job harder — or easier?
Go beyond the work, too, to get to know them on a personal level. What do they value? What lights them up? What frustrates them? You don’t need to become best friends, but the more you know about what’s important to them, the better equipped you are to provide meaningful support. It’s especially important to understand their preferred communication style. Are they all about bullet points and brevity? Do they prefer Slack over email? Do they want context or just the decision? Match their style and cadence — not yours.
Try this: At your next one-on-one or check-in, ask “What’s one thing that makes your job easier when it comes to working with me?” This give you the insights you need while showing your boss that you care.
2. Anticipate, Don’t Just React
Good employees get the job done. Great employees with leadership potential see what’s coming and get ahead of it. When you understand your manager’s priorities and pain points, you can anticipate needs before they’re communicated. That might mean:
- Flagging issues before they escalate
- Preparing answers to likely questions
- Offering context they didn’t know they needed
When you can predict what your boss’s Monday morning looks like — and plan accordingly — you’re halfway to becoming indispensable.
3. Deliver Solutions, Not Just Problems
Your job isn’t just to report what’s wrong, it’s to help make it right. It’s totally okay to bring issues to your manager, in fact, it’s important. But if you stop there, it creates extra work and stress. Instead, bring ideas, options, or at least a point of view. Even if it’s not perfect, your effort shows initiative, ownership, and strategic thinking. Here’s what it sounds like: “Here’s the issue I’m seeing. I’ve thought through two possible solutions. Want to talk through them together?”
Over time, you’ll earn their trust as someone who doesn’t just raise the red flag — you offer a path forward.
4. Make Their Goals Your Goals
Managing up becomes easier when you align your work with what matters most to your boss. What are they being measured on this quarter? What projects are under a microscope from senior leadership? What is keeping them up at night? The more your contributions support their success and reduce their stress or sense of overload, the more valuable you become to them and to the business. Ask questions like:
- What’s most important to you this quarter?
- Are there any goals you’d like extra support on?
- Where do you need to shine most right now?
By connecting your day-to-day tasks to their big-picture goals, you position yourself as a strategically, not just another direct report who needs support and direction.
5. Own Your Own Growth
Let’s be honest. Your manager is busy. Really busy. One of the most impactful ways to manage up is to take full ownership of your development, progress, and performance. That means:
- Coming to 1:1 meetings with an agenda, updates, and clear asks
- Proactively seeking feedback and acting on it
- Asking for stretch assignments or mentorship
- Communicating your goals and checking in on your growth
- Creating your own professional development plan for their input
When you take charge of your own development, you lighten their load while at the same time showing initiative and leadership.
6. Be the Glue That Holds the Team Together
One of the most important (and invisible) responsibilities of any manager is keeping the team aligned, motivated, and working well together. You can make that easier and elevate your own brand by being a force for cohesion.
Offer support to your teammates. Celebrate wins. Help onboard new hires. Volunteer to coordinate a team lunch, lead a brainstorm, deliver lunch and learns, or help resolve low-level conflict. Your manager will notice. More importantly, so will your peers. That reputation builds trust and influence across the organization and shows that you have what it takes to be a leader.
Managing Up Is The Most Powerful Activity For Getting Noticed
Managing up isn’t about working for your boss, it’s about working with them. It’s about building a relationship grounded in trust, clarity, and mutual success.
When you make your manager’s job easier, you earn their confidence. When you make their goals your goals, you show strategic alignment. And when you take initiative — for your growth, your work, and your team — you demonstrate the kind of leadership that gets noticed, by them and others in the organization. In short, managing up is good for your boss, great for your company and excellent for your career.