managing-up_skill

Overview

This skill helps you work effectively with your manager and executives by teaching proven practices for communication, alignment, and influence. It focuses on diagnosing relationship gaps, choosing the right approach, and building sustainable habits that reduce friction and increase impact. Use it to get clearer expectations, gain support for initiatives, and build trust with leadership.

How this skill works

I first help you map your manager’s style, priorities, and the specific pain points in your relationship. Then I diagnose whether the root cause is communication, alignment, trust, or visibility and recommend targeted actions—proactive updates, reframing conversations, building credibility through wins, or direct feedback. Finally, I guide you to repeatable habits and templates that make managing up a consistent part of your workflow.

When to use it

• You’re unclear on your manager’s priorities or how your work fits the strategy
• You need to influence leadership or get buy-in for a proposal
• Your manager seems out of touch or surprised by updates
• You regularly bring problems but don’t get decisions or support
• You want to build trust or increase your visibility with execs

Best practices

• Map what your manager cares about and tailor updates to those metrics
• Use a repeatable update format (priorities, blockers, requests) and label it 'no response required' when appropriate
• Always bring a recommendation with a problem to reduce cognitive load
• Start executive conversations with strategy context before diving into details
• Proactively ask how they prefer to receive information and adapt

Example use cases

• Draft a weekly 'state of' email that highlights priorities, blockers, and requests
• Reframe a stalled project pitch into a strategic memo that ties to company goals
• Prepare a one-slide executive brief that starts with the metric you’ll impact
• Design an experiment to surface data that counters a firmly held opinion
• Plan a 1:1 agenda that builds trust and requests specific unblocking support