What does it mean to navigate your boss?  Perhaps you are familiar with the term: managing up?  The Harvard Business Review defines managing up as “being the most effective employee you can be, creating value for your boss and your company.”  If you do not have a good relationship with your manager, chances are life isn’t going to be easy, and your career could stall or even derail.  This soft skill, of managing up, can greatly enhance your career.  This isn’t about being a “suck up”!  If you don’t understand what makes your boss tick, you can’t possibly know how to navigate the waters with her/him.  Even if you don’t particularly like your manager, you can manage up.  The quote from the late Zig Zigler is appropriate here, “You can get everything in life you want, if you will just help enough people get what they want.”  Let’s say you don’t like your boss, and you buck him at every turn, maybe you have even been known to sabotage him.  You may feel a bit of internal satisfaction, but you are sabotaging your own career.  

Perhaps this sounds like a daunting task. It doesn’t have to be, if you take it step by step. Here are some keys to managing your manager. 

• Determine the goals and priorities of your boss.  Every boss is different, even in the same workplace.  Perhaps your boss is an extrovert, and the priority is having you out of the office, networking to expand the reputation of the company.  Your focus has instead been on making sure every report is perfect, with no errors.  It is essential that you are focused on the work the boss cares about the most.  In addition to where to focus, you must know what your boss is shooting for.  Where does she see herself in five years?  Perhaps you work in the marketing department, where she desires to be the VP of Marketing when the current VP retires. Every opportunity you have to amplify her work with senior management is smart. With a great relationship, your boss may take you along with her as she moves upward. 
• Determine the personality of your boss. Most workplaces do some find of personality assessment.  Perhaps your company uses DiSC Profile or other personality assessments.  Get your hands on that information!  That will tell you whether your boss tends to be dominant/action oriented, knowledge/logic oriented, nurturing/relationship oriented, or social/relationship oriented.  Action oriented bosses use words like: winning, excitement, opportunity; knowledge/logic-oriented use: research, competence, accuracy; nurturing/relationship-oriented use: authenticity, harmony, and ethics; social-oriented use: fun, image, significant.  Every personality assessment has different language.  Once you know the personality style of your manager, you can speak to them in their language.
• Determine the communication style of your boss.  Is your boss very sociable and loves and really wants warm workplace relationships?  You would be smart to start your exchanges by asking about his weekend.  Does his daughter play basketball?  Ask about how her game went against her school’s archrival. If you jump in first with business, without some social interaction, you may be damaging your relationship.  Maybe that’s not your style, do it anyway.  Perhaps your boss is just the opposite, she is all business, all the time.  If you expect ten minutes of conversation about the weekend, you are not being smart!  Jump in ASAP, to the business at hand.  Every email should get to the point quickly, use bullets. Give a quick overview of what you need to communicate.  This is not difficult to discern, just listen and observe your manager for a week.  What are your meetings like with her?  What does her communication look like?  Does she stay in her office all the time or is she out frequently?  These interactions will give you the clues you need in communicating with her.   
• Determine what could make life easier for your boss.  When you have a different personality than your manager, there are bound to be things you are great at doing that he absolutely hates.  Offer to take something off his plate that is not a fit for him.  He will thank you for that.  Perhaps he is a non-sense numbers kind of guy, but he does think a department newsletter is a smart idea.  Offer to write the newsletter with just a bullet list of items he says need to be covered.  Perhaps you can solve a problem for your boss.  I remember when I was the director of a department and spent frustrating hours on scheduling employees.  I not only hated doing it, but I was also not good at it.  Luckily, my employee Marty offered to do the scheduling!  She did it fast, without errors, and staff complained to her when they didn’t like how they were scheduled.  This was brilliant on her part, as I was eternally grateful and I showed my gratitude! 

Have you thought while reading this article that you need to navigate your boss? Are the specifics challenging in your situation?  Need more assistance in taking this journey?  I have tackled managing up with many clients. Let’s do a complimentary 45-minute consultation to determine if I might be the right person to direct you in navigating your boss.  Email Kay@highheeledsuccess.com or call 513-561-4288 to schedule.