Engagement

Interlude 2Managing the Boss

PETER REMINDS VICKY OF A TASK AS important as anything else she must do: manage her boss. Prescriptions for workplace success often emphasize managing people who report to you. Savvy professionals understand that if they can't lead up, they won't be able to lead down either. Coping with a bully is one aspect of Vicky's challenge with Michael. She also has the job that subordinates always face of how to develop a productive working partnership with a boss.

A boss's position power creates imbalances and barriers, even when the boss is warm and supportive. The trick to managing up is building a relationship of mutual influence despite the reality of unequal power. This is harder, but even more important, with bosses like Michael who see no need for a two-way street.

There are wonderful bosses and terrible ones in any line of work. Vicky does not have the boss of her dreams, but she needs to do the best she can with the one she has (at least until one of them moves on). Unless she finds a way to work productively with Michael, she is in a no-win situation. Michael has information and experience she needs, and Vicky would be foolish to underestimate his influence over resources or important others in Dallas and elsewhere. If she can't meet his expectations, she looks weak and ineffective. If she lets him walk over her, she doesn't help her career, her health, or the business.

Despite what cynics might think, managing up does not amount to self-serving ...