Managing Up, Down & Around: A Tip From The Manager’s Answer Book

Someone asked us the following question recently: In The Manager’s Answer Book you talk about managing up, down and around. I understand managing down is managing your team. What do managing up and managing around mean and do you have any advice on how managers can do this?  

Manager’s Tip:  Managing up refers to understanding your boss’s position, goals and responsibilities and working to help your manager achieve those goals. Observe your manager and get to know her so you understand her priorities, her communication style, and what she values personally and professionally. Understand the role she sees you taking in the department and then set out to perform your job in the most efficient and effective manner so you can contribute to the department’s success. 

Managing around or across the organization means understanding the organization and how it works – how information flows, what other functions and departments do and how your team can support them  Managing across requires political savvy and this is where curiosity comes in. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and build collaborative relationships outside your own department. Managing across is the ability to influence others, especially the actions of others, when you don’t have any organizational authority over them. Finally, managing around means understanding and honoring the processes and policies that other departments have in place. They exist for a reason.

You can read more in The Manager’s Answer Book. Section Five is devoted to “Managing Up, Down and Around” the organization, and the discussion starts on page 135.  The Manager’s Answer Book, is available from Amazon -- https://tinyurl.com/y8umaqpz - Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookstore.

Setting the Stage for 2019

Auld Lang Syne. I’m not trying to rush the end of the year, but before we know it, we’ll be sipping champagne, toasting the arrival of 2019, and making New Year’s resolutions. Not so fast!  Before you announce or commit to changes in the new year, take some time to think and reflect on not just what, but why.

I was talking with a small business owner recently.  She told me she’s planning to increase her firm’s involvement in several social media platforms. When I asked her why, she explained that the firm is planning to introduce a new service line sometime during 2019.  It’s still in the development stage and the full implementation may not happen until the third quarter. However, she recognizes that while she has a solid client base that can take advantage of these new services, she wants to extend her reach and attract new organizations as well. Strengthening the firm’s social media presence will establish them as influencers in their industry. So they are going to launch targeted outreach campaigns to get in front of people and organizations with whom they want to engage. 

Listening to her explanation, I realized that she’d given a great deal of thought to her plan. She understood: 

• What was going to change (adding a new service)
• When the change was going to happen (third quarter 2019)
• What she wanted to accomplish (grow her client base)
• How she was going to accomplish it (targeted social media campaigns)

What does this have to do with New Year’s resolutions?  Everything!  Think about why you make them—other than wanting to shed some bad habits, which is a noble intention. As you think about 2019, ask yourself:

• What went well in 2018, and how can I build on that?
• How can it be better?
• What new beginnings or challenges will 2019 bring?
• What could or should change to meet those challenges?
• How will I go about making those changes?

As you prepare for the year ahead, also give some thought to shedding those things that are redundant – like the report that the department has always prepared (no one knows why anymore) but is never read! What about ways of doing things that are no longer effective?  How could you use the time that was spent preparing that report to accomplish something new that will have greater impact?

Put some deliberate thought into the resolutions and changes you want to make in 2019 in both your professional and personal lives. It’s a great time to break some old habits. Don’t be the person who lets life and change happen to you. Take charge, and make life and change happen for you!

We wish you a very happy holiday season and send you all good wishes for a wonderful 2019!

Cornelia & Barbara  

December Dilemma: Year-End Rewards

Back in the working days of yore during the industrial era, employers often gifted a ham or turkey to each of their employees at the end of the holiday season. It was considered a standard “Christmas” bonus – a way to thank the employees and their families.  In fact, I remember receiving a turkey when I worked in a restaurant during college.  My mother was thrilled.  Personally, I could have used cash to put gas in my car.   

If you want to do something for your staff this December, keep in mind the ideal bonus expresses gratitude, so make it meaningful and appropriate for your particular workforce. While you'll never be able to please everyone, know your workforce and what they value. Cash alone could be welcomed, but some practical suggestions in lieu of or in addition to cash could be:

• Gift cards – one employer gave employees gift cards to a local grocery chain. Other examples could be movie tickets, gas cards, or Amazon/American Express gift cards which can be used to purchase a large variety of items.
• Time off – one employer gave employees an afternoon off for holiday shopping, to take care of other holiday related errands, or to spend however they wish if they don’t celebrate any year-end holidays.

Don’t be afraid to get creative, but it you do, consider varying the nature of the bonus from year to year to keep an element of surprise for the employees. For example, one year give movie tickets, the next a grocery card. This helps you avoid setting a precedent or expectations, especially if cash is involved.

Don’t overlook some of the pitfalls of year-end rewards – this is where knowing your staff is priceless.  Give careful thought to what you do in order to avoid unintended consequences. For example:

• Don’t forget about employees in remote locations.  The employer mentioned above who gave the gift cards to a local grocery chain failed to do anything for employees working in other locations. It created a great deal of ill-will which could have been avoided. 
• Be careful with tangible gifts – people have different tastes and at the year-end holiday season, they could be overwhelmed with an abundance of stuff.
• Don’t give the bonus any holiday label – stress that it’s a year-end bonus. This works especially well if the end of the fiscal year coincides with the end of the calendar year. 

Year-end bonuses can be a powerful way to boost morale and strengthen employee engagement. Let employees know that you are providing this “2018 year-end bonus” because we want our employees to share in the organization’s success. And if you can, let them go home early!