15 Principles for Managing Up

Embrace managing up.

You don't have to manage up, but your career will go further if you do. I had no idea how busy my managers were over the years until I became a manager myself. It was like seeing in black and white, then all of a sudden seeing color. I had to replay old memories of my managers with this new realization in mind. Oh, so THIS is what y'all were doing when I thought you weren't doing much. Your area of responsibility is 100% of your time, but it might be 10% of your manager's time—they have other direct reports, they're responsible for producing quality output themselves if they're a player-coach, they're starting to draft next quarter's priorities, they're preparing talking points for this week's all-hands meeting, they're shielding your team from lame requests, and more.

• 🚫 "It's my manager's job to manage me. I'll manage up when I'm promoted."
• ✅ "I shouldn't have to manage up. But if I do, I'll take control and further my career."
• 🚫 "I'll wait until my manager tells me to manage up more."
• ✅ "My manager is busy with their job, plus a bunch of worries I don't know about. They might feel awkward asking me to manage up more, so I'll take the reins and manage up proactively."

Focus on the punchline.

Give enough context to avoid back-and-forth follow ups. Don't be coy when you can be direct. Don't speak in stream of consciousness. Assume your manager is task switching or checking your Slack message between meetings—make it super easy for them to catch up on context and dive into what you want to discuss.

• 🚫 "This happened, then this other thing, this important thing that's completely buried, and then this other thing."
• ✅ "Here's the minimum viable backstory, so we can spend time on the juicy stuff."

Show your thought process.

Showing your thought process helps others understand your rationale, logic, and assumptions. The best part is even if they disagree, it gives something to push back on, which propels the process forward. You don't have to have all the answers before speaking up, but you should try to address basic questions you might get. And you can preface with your level of conviction too—some ideas might be further along, while others are half-baked and still taking shape. This gives your manager an opportunity to point out if you're missing context, if you're operating under different assumptions, or if you're making a logical leap you didn't realize you were making. All of which leads to productive conversations that get you closer to the right decision.

• 🚫 "I recommend this."
• ✅ "I recommend X. Here's the rationale, data, and examples of why this should work. The potential risks are Y, but we can address by doing Z. If you agree, I can start by doing [first step]."

Flag potential issues.

When you wait to be told what to do, you put 100% of the responsibility on your manager to be the eyes and ears on the ground, assess areas of risk, define what success looks like, then tell you what to do. If you stay alert to help surface potential issues, you alleviate that burden. Senior leaders can flag issues and solve them, then tell their manager afterwards. For junior folks, managers may want you to speak up the minute you realize something is bubbling so they can gut check and solve it with you. This is an excellent opportunity to calibrate and learn how your manager thinks. You may think a problem is important/urgent, but through this process, learn from your manager why that problem is actually low frequency and low magnitude, and therefore is a lower priority than you thought. Or, it could be the other way around: You convince your manager that this issue is a bigger deal than they thought. This is win-win. You reduce your manager's decision fatigue and mental load, and you sharpen your judgment and show you're vigilant about what's best for the team.

• 🚫 "This is a problem."
• ✅ "This is a problem. Here's why it matters. I suggest doing X."
• ✅ "An important customer said X. I don't think it's a big deal, but I wanted to bring it up and run it by you."
• ✅ "I'm not sure how to solve X but wanted to surface it. My hunch is to monitor for now, but let me know if we should brainstorm what to do."

Bring solutions, not complaints.

You don't need to know the exact solution to every problem. As we saw in the previous principle, flagging an issue can be just as helpful. But complaining itself is rarely valuable.

• 🚫 Before: "This sucks."
• ✅ After: "This sucks, so here's what I'm thinking we can do..."
• 🚫 "This process is messy and time-consuming. It's so dumb. I hate doing this."
• ✅ "This process isn't working because X. I'd like to update to Y process instead, which should be cheaper/faster/easier. Let me know what I might be missing or if you agree to proceed."

Here's what Rose Jia, Head of Growth Marketing (Grocery) at Amazon, has to say about her direct reports managing up, and managing up to her own manager. As a manager, #5 (bring solutions, not complaints) speaks to me because I want to help solve and unblock, but I will never have as much context as my team. When they come to me with issues, I want to know what their thoughts are and what they think are potential solutions, so I can help weigh in. #7 (keep your manager in the loop) is also super important, so I can make informed decisions across and outside of the team based on what I know is going on. As a person managing upwards, I'm all about #7 (keep your manager in the loop) and #9 (over-communicate), making sure my manager is well-informed. It's a great way to build a strong relationship with my manager and stay top-of-mind for future big projects.

Use information hierarchy.

Put your recommendation, action item, or question at the top, then context below. This allows folks to read as much or little of the context as they need. This is especially useful for remote teams, where a hefty amount of information is communicated asynchronously and in writing.

• 🚫 Action items, backstory, bottlenecks, and context all jumbled together
• ✅ Action items or question at the top, context separately below

Keep your manager in the loop.

Trust isn't binary. It's more multi-faceted than that. But one of the best ways to continually expand trust is to demonstrate consistent, reliable follow through and communication. Say what you're going to do. Do it. Tell your manager you're doing it. Tell your manager you did it. Repeat. The problem is when you skip one of these steps. You might be doing the work, but if you forget to tell your manager, they have no idea if it's being handled. If you have bad news, speak up at your first itch that something may be wrong. By the time it's a red flag, you might have fewer options on how to solve it. A big part of keeping your manager in the loop is making sure they know the good, the bad, and the ugly. You don't want them to be caught off guard when their manager (let's say, the CEO) catches an issue they should have heard about from their own team (that's you).

• 🚫 [Silence]
• ✅ "We have 2 weeks until the deadline. We're at 33/50 students, and with X leads in the pipeline, it's not enough to hit our goal. So this week, I'll reach out to 100 new leads. I'd love to get your input on Y. Could we review tomorrow?"

Are you being micromanaged, or do you need to communicate better?

Poor communication skills and lack of managing up can lead to feeling micromanaged. In my experience, at least some people who complain about being micromanaged are probably bad at communicating, and thus require more hands-on management. For example, if you aren't proactively sharing updates with your manager despite them begging to be kept in the loop, they have to follow up with you until they get what they need. In my 15 years of working full-time, I've had actual micromanagers who nitpicked without logic behind their feedback and threw me under the bus in front of their managers. But, I'll admit: I've also complained about "micromanagers" who, in hindsight, were doing the right amount of managing. I was just too immature to realize it at the time. Interestingly, I didn't realize my role in contributing to the dynamic until I became a manager myself. They weren't micro-managing me. They were simply holding me accountable. The two are not the same thing.

• 🚫 "Micromanagers are the worst. I wish they'd get off my back and just let me do my job."
• ✅ "I wonder what's making them feel the need to micromanage. I'll review how I'm keeping them informed and align on what success looks like, so I can show I'm handling it. When we build up trust, the micromanaging should go down."

Micromanaging is probably one of the most misused labels. When you empathize with your manager, you'll realize they are ultimately responsible for anything their team does, including your work. They want to make sure goals are on track and their team's output meets the bar for excellence. Help them help you. Also, side note: Your manager probably feels over-worked and wishes as much as you did (if not more) that they didn't have to follow up so much. Most people don't want to add more work to their plate. Your incentives are aligned in that they want to be able to trust you.

Over-communication might be the right amount.

Different folks have different thresholds of wanting to be kept in the loop. Some managers want to be looped in on everything; others prefer a "no news is good news" approach. It's your job to figure out which style your manager prefers and adapt accordingly. When in doubt, over-communicate. It's easier to dial back than to repair broken trust from leaving your manager in the dark.

Proactively assert what to do.

Don't wait for your manager to tell you what to do next. If you see something that needs to be done, take the initiative. Propose a plan, get buy-in, and execute. This shows you're not just a task-taker but a strategic partner who's thinking about what's best for the business.

Don't only ask questions. Share your point of view too.

It's easy to fall into the trap of only asking questions and never offering your own perspective. But your manager hired you for your expertise and judgment. When you have a question, try to also share your initial thoughts or a potential answer. This demonstrates critical thinking and moves the conversation forward more efficiently.

Anticipate questions.

Before you present an idea or update, put yourself in your manager's shoes. What questions would they have? What concerns might they raise? Address these proactively in your communication. This saves time and shows you've thought through the details.

Know when to get out.

Sometimes a project or initiative isn't working. It's important to recognize when to pivot, or even when to stop altogether. Don't cling to a failing plan out of ego or sunk cost fallacy. Be honest with yourself and your manager about what's working and what's not, and be prepared to recommend a course correction or an exit.

Be explicit about what you need.

Your manager can't read your mind. If you need resources, clarity, or support, ask for it explicitly. Don't expect them to infer your needs from vague hints. Clear, direct requests are more likely to be met.

Expect to manage up forever.

Managing up isn't a phase you go through until you reach a certain level. It's a career-long skill. Even as you become more senior, you'll always have stakeholders, board members, or other leaders to manage. Embrace it as a core competency, not a temporary chore.