Managing up is an essential part of being an Executive Assistant, as it allows you to do your job well and enables your Executive to work optimally. This guide intends to teach you what it entails, and ways to do it efficiently.
What is managing up?
A delicate balance, managing up is not controlling your Executive or sucking up to them. Instead, it's using your influence to guide your Executive and ensure they stay on track . It's organising them in ways that counter their weaknesses, and learning how they work the best so you can adjust their environment to match this. Here are some tips that can help you learn how to manage up.
Understand your Executive
You need to know every aspect of your Executive's personality. Get to know the small signs that give away their emotions, and find out what they like and dislike. These details allow you to anticipate needs, motivate them, and guide them through a day without any roadblocks.
Know their goals
It's easy to get caught up in day-to-day details, but as an EA you need to see the big picture. An Executive's aims need to take priority. Build their schedule around them. Ensure you're monitoring progress, and track and celebrate achievements as a way to keep motivation high. Remember, these goals can be long or short term.
Communication style
There's no point in creating calendar reminders if your Executive is in the habit of ignoring them. Maybe they need someone to actively remind them, or visual cues such as documents waiting on their desk to be dealt with. Knowing their communication style allows you to to manage your Executive more efficiently.
Weaknesses
As an EA, you need to know your Executive's weaknesses intimately. It's your job to minimise them, and it also allows you to regulate the impact they have on your Executive's productivity. You need to know if they can get caught up in details, or aren't good at delegating. Whatever the faults may be, being aware means you can actively manage them, and keep your Executive on track.
Routine
Figure out a routine that suits your Executive. Block out time for them to focus when they are the most productive during a day, schedule meetings at similar times, and allow for lunch when you know they begin to get distracted by hunger. Knowing what to expect each day will let them focus on more important tasks, rather than figuring out what they are doing.
Managing up should be a subtle background influence, that draws the best out of your Executive. With practice, and advice from other EAs, you can learn to master this skill.