Managing Up And Building Influence

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Our CEO and Founder, Jessica Chen, recently hosted a Soulcast Media Event on LinkedIn, where she interviewed Melody Wilding, author of "Managing Up" and "Trust Yourself." They shared tips and personal stories about managing up and building influence.

Here are the takeaways for VIP Comm Pass members:

• You teach people how to treat you in the workplace.
• People will respond if you are approaching them with confidence and conviction in your tone.
• Managing up is not about just saying yes to your manager. Managing up is navigating your relationship with the people who have authority over you. However, this is something you do for yourself.
• You need to be assertive about what you need at work. In essence, you are telling someone how to get the best out of you.
• Sharing how what you're asking for benefits your manager is a great way to get what you need. For example, you can ask your manager to get the questions for your meeting in advance so you can prepare which will make your meeting with your manager more efficient and valuable.
• When it comes to setting boundaries, you first have to establish trust between you and your manager.
• There are two different mindsets you can adopt when dealing with your manager. The first is acting like a subordinate, where you always react and put yourself in a one-down position. The second is acting like a trusted advisor, where it is your obligation to let my manager know when there are conflicts of interest.
• When setting a boundary, you can ask a question to give yourself more time and more information. You can ask, "What is driving the urgency on this?" "Who else will be roped in on this?" "Do you see this as a one-time project, or do you see this as an ongoing task?"
• If you have trouble saying no to your manager, try telling them what you can do. For example, if your manager asks you to get something done in an unreasonable timeframe, tell them what you can get done. You can say, "I know you want me to get the year-end sales reports done by Friday. I can get the quarterly reports done by Friday and get the year-end sales reports done by the following Friday."
• You will want to think about advancement in the workplace as an ongoing idea rather than just something you bring up during a performance review. For example, if you worked on a successful project, you can tell your manager, "I'd love to work on something like this again in the near future." Plant those seeds early and often.

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*As a VIP Communications Pass holder, you get access to these show notes we’ve organized for you, so you’ll always remember what was shared. No worries if you didn’t take down notes. This is for you to keep!*