Jennifer Brick: You want to know how to manage up
and make your boss a love, you will stay tuned,
because in this video, I'm going to tell you all
about how you can manage your manager. If that
sounds good, tap that like button. And let's just
jump straight into it, the first thing that you
need to do is identify what motivates them what's
really important to them. And there's two levels
to this. So let's start off with the surface
level, how is your managers success measured,
knowing what they're actually working towards, and
the metrics that matter to them is going to help
you understand what is going to motivate your
manager to take action to do something, or to
support you on an initiative. The next thing that
you also need to identify here, if at all
possible, is what actually motivates them as a
person. And there are a few universal motivators
that are going to probably help you manage your
manager, the easiest and then go to one and it
applies to pretty much everyone is prestige. Your
manager wants to look good. And if you're trying
to manage your manager, you're trying to manage
the job. One of the easiest ways to do that is to
ask yourself, how does my ask make them look good.
If you're clear on that, and you communicate to
them on that level that is going to help you have
influence on your boss. Social proof is another
really big one that motivates a ton of people. If
someone feels like everyone else is doing
something, they totally want to do it to just like
how everyone has been clicking that SUBSCRIBE
button lately, I can understand it, but maybe you
want to do it too. And another very powerful
motivator that might help you manage your manager
is through scarcity. Yep, give your manager a
serious case of FOMO. And they are going to be
motivated to do whatever you ask them to. Um, that
actually brings me directly to my second tip to
help you manage up. And that is to make sure that
you're bringing your boss solutions instead of
bringing them problems. Back in my corporate days,
when I was managing a big team, one of my biggest
headaches was someone who would always bring me
problems, I had zero time a billion things to do.
And I was running several areas of the company, I
need people bringing me problems, I needed people
fixing things. And here's the thing, if you were
the person experiencing the problem, you are also
probably the best equipped person in order to
determine the best solution to bring forward. So
when you are trying to manage your manager and you
have a problem that needs to be solved, bring
forward a few solutions, even if it's not stuff
that you're totally going to own. But if you know
how to fill that gap and solve the problem for
them, they're going to be eager to run with it.
And it's going to show that you are proactive and
taking a lot of initiative. In fact, this can even
be a high impact project as part of your career
glow up. If you don't know what that is, you need
to go check out my workshop. And this actually
brings me directly into the third tip that I have
for you to manage your manager. And this one is
one that is so obvious, but it's so few people do
if you are trying to manage up, you should be
trying to find ways to take things off your boss's
plate. So many of my clients are trying to get
additional responsibility, they want new
challenges. And there's always projects that they
have their eyes on. But the thing is and totally
start working with me, we too many of them are
just leaning back and hoping that their manager
gives them the work. If you're managing your
manager, effectively, you are going to identify
the work that's on their plate that you can easily
take on, well, maybe not easily, maybe it is going
to be something that allows you to grow and flex
new skills, which is great for your career
development. But if you just leave it up to your
manager, they're going to be too busy doing the
work to really think about delegating. And the
truth is a lot of managers suck at delegating
their work. So really, you're doing them a favor
when you identify the work that you can take off
their plate and either ask for it or just take the
initiative and do it if it's appropriate. Of
course, now I spoke to this earlier, but I want to
elaborate on it a little bit more. Because I think
especially when you are in a position when you
need to be managing your manager, it is generally
because there's a problem. My fourth tip to
managing up is to make her manager look good. It's
that whole prestige and making other people like
them that is totally coming into play here. When
you are creating an impact and doing work that
makes them look good. Trust me on this one, it is
going to trickle down to you. It might not happen
right away. And it can even be frustrating if
you're doing work, and they're getting the
acknowledgement for it. And you're like, hey, me
over here, I did that. Don't worry, because even
if no one else knows that that impact was yours,
your manager is still in a position to give you
pay increases and even promotions for the work
that you're doing. And you can even mitigate this
by making sure that there is visibility and
transparency to multiple stakeholders in the work
that you're doing. And one of the easiest ways to
do that actually brings me into my next tip to
manage up at work. And that is to flex your ua q
if you don't know what that is, that's your unique
awesomeness quotient. When you're flexing your ua
q people know it's you because they know you're
awesome at that thing, and you're the go to
person. So even if you're doing something to make
your boss look good, it's gonna have your name
written all over it. And also, when you are
managing your manager, this is probably because
there is some level of you know, insecurity coming
from them. And when they know that the work that
you're taking on is in your wheelhouse, they are
going to have a higher level of confidence and
higher trust in you in order to do that work. So
you are going to be more likely to get a yes for
whatever you are asking for than a big depressing,
no. Another thing that can be very helpful when
you're managing a manager, especially when you are
trying to manage up because your boss isn't a
great leader, is making sure that you are giving
your manager positive feedback. Yes, I want you to
manage up by training your boss, like a Pavlovian
dog, I don't care if you're two years old, or 200
years old, positive reinforcement work. If you
don't believe me try it out, it can be something
really ridiculously simple. It doesn't even have
to be at work, it doesn't have to be with your
boss gives someone positive reinforcement, it
makes them feel good to get that acknowledgement.
And they're going to do that thing again. So for
example, when it comes to managing your manager,
if your manager has just given you some
information, that's very helpful, give them a lot
of praise, tell them how helpful that is. And it's
making you more successful, and you're so excited,
because you're going to do a better job for them,
this is going to stick in their mind, and they're
going to be more likely to foster more
transparency with you in the future. And of
course, it doesn't have to be transparency, this
applies to everything. And that brings me now into
my most crucial point, when you are managing up.
If you are managing your manager, the most
important thing that you can do is don't complain.
And I know especially in that situation where you
have a bad boss that you're working with. And
that's a whole entire reason why you need to
manage your manager. This one can be really
challenging, because you want to complain about
them all the time they're driving you mad, resist
temptation, my friend, if you were complaining
about your manager to other people at work, or if
you were complaining about the job that your
manager is doing to your manager, how do you think
that's gonna work out for you, I can tell you,
it's not gonna go down good. I don't have to have
a crystal ball to tell you that shit is going to
go down. When you do that when you are managing up
and you have a difficult manager that you were
working with do your best to foster a positive and
productive working relationship with them and all
of the tips that I just laid out for you are
really going to help you do that said if you have
a toxic manager it is going to be a little bit of
a different story. Now if you want to figure out
if your manager is toxic, you need to go and watch
this video right now to find out if your boss is
showing any of the toxic boss science but before
you go there if this video was helpful, give it a
thumbs up. If you haven't already, consider
subscribing. I want to be your career bestie As
always, thank you so much for watching. I will see
you in the next video. Bye for now.