Managing Up: What It Means and How to Do It Well

What It Means

Managing up is working with your boss on purpose so the relationship produces good results for you, for them and for the organization. The idea comes from Harvard Business School professors John Gabarro and John Kotter, who describe the boss relationship as one of mutual dependence. It starts with understanding both your boss and yourself: strengths, weak spots, how each of you likes to work, and what each of you needs.

Try It: Turn a Friction Point Into a Fix

Open each card for one way to adjust. These are Buhata's example fixes, built on knowing how your boss works and what you need from them.

Your boss skims long emails and misses the question.

Put the question or decision in the first line, with the background underneath.

You keep learning about priority changes after the work is done.

At your next one-on-one, ask for the top three priorities this month, and check them again when something new lands.

Your boss likes to talk things through, and you prefer to write.

Send a short note first, then bring it to a ten-minute conversation.

You need sign-off from a department you never see.

Ask your boss to make the introduction. Connections across the company are part of what you need from them.

How People Say It at Work

"I've learned to give her the bottom line first."
"Part of my job is making my manager's job easier."
"I flag problems early so he's never surprised."

The Breakdown

What each side needs, per Gabarro and Kotter

Your boss needs from you	You need from your boss
Cooperation	Connections to the rest of the company
Reliability	Clear priorities
Honesty	The resources to do the job

How to manage up (Buhata's suggestion)

Learn your boss's goals and pressures: what they're judged on and what they worry about.
Notice how they take in information, in writing or in conversation, in detail or in summary.
Be honest with yourself about your own habits, and where they clash with theirs.
Agree on what they want to hear about, how often, and how quickly.
Bring problems early, with a suggested fix.
Keep your promises. Reliability is on the list of what a boss depends on.

Try it today. Write down how your boss prefers to get updates. If you don't know, ask at your next one-on-one.

Good to Know

Gabarro and Kotter say plainly that managing up has nothing to do with flattery; they describe practical work on a relationship both people depend on. If the trouble with a boss is harassment, discrimination or threats, managing up doesn't apply; take it to HR, or to the EEOC if it's based on a protected characteristic such as race, sex, age (40 or older) or disability.

FAQ

What does managing up mean?

Working deliberately with your boss to get the best results for both of you and the organization. The phrase comes from "Managing Your Boss," Gabarro and Kotter's Harvard Business Review article.

Is managing up the same as sucking up?

No. Gabarro and Kotter describe it as understanding your boss and yourself and building a relationship of mutual dependence, rather than flattery.

When was "Managing Your Boss" published?

It first appeared in Harvard Business Review in 1980, and HBR republished it as one of its Classics in January 2005.

Do It in Buhata

Team Space and Calendar

Agree with your boss on what goes in your weekly update, then post it as a thread in your Team Space before your one-on-one on the Calendar.

Open Buhata

Related Terms and Categories

One-on-one meeting
A regular private meeting between a manager and one person who reports to them, used for check-ins, feedback, problems and career growth.
Boundaries at work
Limits a person sets and tells others about at work, covering their time, workload, availability and how they're treated.
Delegation
Handing a task, and the authority needed to finish it, to someone else, while you stay responsible for the result.
Constructive feedback
Specific, fact-based feedback that describes what someone did and its effect, so they can keep doing it or change it.
Performance review
A formal look back, usually once a year, where a manager rates how an employee's work measured up to the standards set for that period.

Work, career and remote life

Sources

John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter, "Managing Your Boss," Harvard Business Review (HBR Classic, January 2005; first published 1980); Harvard Business School, "Managing Your Boss" (faculty article page); U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, "Harassment"

Last updated October 1, 2026.