Managing Up
Managing up is the deliberate practice of building an effective working relationship with your manager so that both of you, and the organization, get better results.
Managing up describes the work an employee does to make the relationship with their manager productive. The idea was popularized by John Gabarro and John Kotter in Managing Your Boss, an article first published in Harvard Business Review in 1980 and reprinted as an HBR classic in 2005. Their central point is that the relationship between a manager and a direct report is one of mutual dependence. The manager depends on the employee for reliable work and honest information, and the employee depends on the manager for priorities, resources and access to the wider organization.
Gabarro and Kotter explicitly separated managing up from flattery and from political maneuvering. They described it as consciously working with a superior to obtain the best possible results for the employee, the manager and the company. In practice this involves understanding the manager's goals, pressures, strengths and blind spots, understanding your own working style, and building a relationship that fits both. It includes agreeing on expectations, keeping the manager informed in the format they prefer and using their time selectively.
Managing up matters most when the stakes are high: during a reorganization, when a manager is new, when priorities conflict or when an employee is preparing for promotion. People who neglect it often find that strong performance goes unnoticed or that decisions affecting their work are made without them.
The skill draws on the same capabilities measured by political skill research. Reading what a manager actually values is a form of social astuteness. Adjusting how you present information is a form of interpersonal influence. Being seen as candid and reliable depends on apparent sincerity.
In the Pine model, managing up sits primarily in Relationship Navigation, with Landscape Reading supplying an accurate picture of the manager's own position and constraints.
Reference: Gabarro, J. J., & Kotter, J. P. (1980). Managing your boss. Harvard Business Review, 58(1), 92 to 100. Reprinted January 2005.