Managing Your Manager: The Most Important Job You Were Never Hired to Do. 😂

Corporate America spends billions teaching managers how to manage employees.

But who's teaching employees how to manage their managers?

Because after years in sales, I've come to a fascinating realization:

Sometimes the person who needs the most managing is the person doing the managing. 😂

Think about it.

We learn how to manage customers, objections, expectations, difficult conversations, and competing priorities.

Then we get promoted, hired, or assigned to a manager whose leadership style requires its own instruction manual.

And somehow, we're expected to figure it out.

So, for anyone navigating the wonderful world of corporate management, here's my unofficial survival guide.

1. Learn Your Manager's Communication Style.

Some want detailed explanations.

Others want three bullet points and a number.

And some just want you to tell them their idea was brilliant before suggesting the idea they should've had.

2. Understand What Makes Them Nervous.

Every manager has pressure coming from somewhere.

Deadlines, performance metrics, upper management, or the terrifying possibility of having to explain something without a PowerPoint.

Understand their pressures, and you'll communicate more effectively.

3. Manage Up Without Kissing Up.

There's a difference between supporting your manager and becoming their personal applause department.

You can be respectful, productive, and loyal without agreeing with every decision.

In fact, sometimes the most valuable thing you can say is:

"I understand the goal. Can I suggest a better way to get there?"

4. Make Their Job Easier Without Doing Their Job for Them.

Bring solutions, not just problems.

Anticipate questions.

Communicate progress.

But remember, there's a fine line between showing initiative and accidentally becoming an unpaid assistant manager.

5. Know When to Stop Explaining.

Not every disagreement needs a 45-minute presentation.

Sometimes a well-timed question accomplishes more than an argument.

And sometimes, after carefully explaining your perspective, you simply need to let the results do the talking.

Here's the bigger point.

Managing up isn't manipulation. It's emotional intelligence applied to leadership relationships.

The best employees understand that managers are human beings with different personalities, insecurities, strengths, blind spots, and pressures.

And the best managers understand that being managed upward isn't a threat to their authority.

It's an opportunity to become better leaders.

Because leadership shouldn't be a one-way street.

A great manager develops their employees. A great employee can help develop their manager.

And when both understand that?

You don't just have a reporting structure.

You have a team.

Of course, if your manager needs more coaching than your customers, you might want to negotiate a commission split. 😂

#Leadership

#ManagingUp

#SalesLeadership

#WorkplaceHumor