Managing Up

Assessing the Situation

– Strengths in working with the boss
– Identify areas for improvement

Managing Your Boss

– Build a strong partnership
– Clarifying priorities and needs –Theirs and Yours

Establishing Rules and Routines

– The importance of establishing routines and systems
– Last minute assignments
– Redoing work unnecessarily
– Tactics for removing nonessential surprises

Handling the Unexpected – When things go wrong

– Techniques for effectively packaging bad news
– Offering solutions

Presenting Problems or Opportunities

– Gain the support
– Get needed resources

Listening for Better Understanding

– How to adopt “listening body language,”
– How and when to ask questions to find out what the boss really wants
– How to confirm understanding

Influencing the Boss

– Flexing your style
– Tailor your idea to your audience
– Four steps to winning people over

Make Your Boss Look Good—Without Becoming a Sycophant

– Delivering Messages to the Boss and for the Boss
– Adapting messages to different styles
– Choosing words that convey messages in the most appropriate way

Coping with Difficult Bosses

– Turn your boss’s weaknesses into opportunities for you
– Coping with a Conflict-Averse – Making bad news bearable
– Avoid Being Micromanaged
– Keeping Your Cool with Tough Bosses
– Coping with difficult situations
– How to Give Your Boss Feedback … without putting your career in jeopardy

Managing Multiple Bosses

– Juggle competing demands
– Avoid getting caught in the middle

Getting Things Done

– Setting Goals
– Best practices for staying on top of the work
– When and how to discuss an unmanageable workload with the boss

Building a Strong support system

– A Smarter Way to Network
– Build a strong support system for your next crisis or opportunity

– Apply techniques to make a good impression – even if it’s not a new boss
– Assess their current relationships and take concrete actions to make improvements
– Recognize what managers REALLY want from their staff
– Effectively surface issues with a boss related to their relationship, status, problems and opportunities
– Take steps that enhance the image of the boss’ and themselves
– Manage personality differences that impact manager/staff relationships
and effectively cope with “difficult” bosses
– Manage their own professional success