The art of managing up.

Management involves accomplishing goals by leading and directing others. While many law enforcement supervisors have become adept at influencing and motivating subordinates, few have learned about or even considered the importance of managing up--focusing on relationships with superiors to achieve personal, professional, and organizational goals more effectively and efficiently. It entails cultivating understanding and cooperation between individuals who often have different roles, perspectives, and agendas.

Effectively managing up can help supervisors simplify their job, obtain needed resources, reduce stress, increase job satisfaction, and improve their reputation among all levels of the organization. Key to this endeavor is the understanding that the very nature of the manager-supervisor (1) relationship involves reciprocity and interdependence between fallible human beings. (2) Managers need supervisors' insight, hard work, help, and cooperation to properly perform their job. Conversely, supervisors need managerial support, direction, and feedback. Managing up the chain of command in the, perhaps, top-down, quasi-paramilitary atmosphere of a law enforcement organization may not appear feasible, especially considering that supervisors operate from a subordinate position. However, while formal power dynamics can present unique leadership challenges, supervisors must remain focused on changing their own awareness and perspective as the basis for influencing those at higher levels. The art of managing up is innate to some and acquired by others through knowledge, practice, and patience.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Supervisors will find an understanding of emotional intelligence (EI) foundational. Coined in the early 1990s, this term has become common in corporate America. (3) Its recent surge of popularity stems from research demonstrating that measuring a person's El quotient and IQ together may more accurately predict job performance and future success than either measure alone. (4) Also, EI may serve as a key determinant of leadership effectiveness. (5)

EI involves personal and social awareness and proficiency. It refers to the effective management of oneself and relationships with others and encompasses four fundamental capabilities: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social skill. (6)

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Social competence, network-building expertise, and the effective handling of relationships prove paramount for all leaders. A highly intelligent manager with no people skills will fail at some level. Fortunately, leaders can develop and increase EI by tuning and enhancing their internal social radar. (7) To this end, they must listen to and analyze their own emotions, as well as the verbal and nonverbal signals of others.

CLEAR EXPECTATIONS AND PRIORITIES

Often, law enforcement managers do not clearly articulate goals, expectations, or priorities, placing the burden of discovery on subordinates. When necessary, supervisors need to actively seek clarification about a manager's requirements and preferences. Further, they should not only gain this understanding but seek clarification regularly as concerns change over time. (8) Likewise, many supervisors wrongly expect their wants and needs to automatically be known by managers. Such assumptions lead to misunderstandings, resulting in a strained relationship potentially marked by strife, apathy, and inadequate decision making.

Both parties should candidly discuss mutual goals, priorities, strategies, and expectations. Each individual needs a clear picture of what the other wants. This dynamic process opens channels of communication, finds common ground, and diminishes the amount of time wasted on less important projects or tasks. Subsequently, job satisfaction increases with the establishment of clear boundaries, which allows both sides to find their work more fulfilling and their contributions more significant.

Supervisors should take a strategic approach when encountering a manager who is vague or noncommittal about expectations, even when directly asked. If savvy, the supervisor will remain alert for opportunities to engage the manager with informal discussions about how best to manage others and about common objectives. (9) The development of a mentorship can provide valuable insight into the manager's preferences and thought processes.

KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE BOSS

Leadership Orientation

In a managing-up effort, supervisors must know the manager well. As they study the boss' work style, supervisors will need to incorporate thorough observation and analytical skills. Fortunately, seasoned supervisors will have many experiences and lessons from "leading down" over the years that they can draw from.

Managers typically follow several possible leadership orientations. Supervisors should distinguish the boss' style to allow for a more tailored approach to interactions. Although the categories overlap somewhat, each carries its own distinguishing features. To this end, supervisors should determine the answers to several questions concerning the manager.

Is the boss a reader or a listener? Some managers prefer to receive information in writing so they can read and study it. Others prefer face-to-face interaction so they can ask questions and probe issues. (10) Attentive supervisors will comply with the manager's preferred method of communication (e.g., writing a memo) and then verify information by following up with the opposite approach (e.g., speaking in person).

Is the boss logical or emotional? Logical managers lead mentally, working in a more cognitive domain, and desire thoroughly researched, organized, and detailed information. Approaching this style of boss with a problem before determining a plan or suggestions for a solution will cause friction. Conversely, emotional managers lead from the heart and react instinctively. Supervisors should use more exuberance when approaching such individuals. Spontaneous, animated, and collaborative decision making proves effective. Supervisors will find that presenting a problem without an immediate solution would prove acceptable as the manager would prefer a brainstorming session. However, to ensure active participation in the process, the supervisor should envision potential solutions beforehand.

Is the boss task or relationship oriented? Well-balanced leaders will have equal concern for the job and the workers who will help get it done. Some, however, shift their focus, depending on their management strategy. Task-oriented leaders structure the work, define goals, allocate resources, and focus strictly on the job while having little interaction with subordinates. (11) Working with this style of manager would require the supervisor to focus only on goals, keep meetings short, and ask questions just to seek facts or clarification. Conversely, relationship-oriented leaders strive to maintain warm, close, and friendly ties with subordinates and believe that collaboration best helps to complete the mission. (12) Accordingly, supervisors working with these individuals should focus on regular communication, face-to-face interaction, sharing of ideas or issues, and attempts to look for personal connections with the manager.

Is the boss participative or directive? Leaders, if well-balanced, will use both styles as appropriate. However, a manager who regularly leans toward being participative will follow a more democratic style of leadership, handing down decisions to supervisors or making them with ample input from subordinates. In this type of relationship, the supervisor will have more discretion and independence, allowing for experimentation, risk taking, and creativity. On the other hand, directive managers consider participation by subordinates unnecessary and make decisions and communicate them to supervisors with little or no explanation. (13) If faced with such a distinct role, the supervisor should focus on fulfilling goals in the manner prescribed with little deviation from the norm.

Behavioral Clues

Behavioral clues also help identify managers' work styles and serve as indicators of when and how to approach superiors. To this end, supervisors should consider managers'--

* strengths and weaknesses (encouraging strengths and providing support for weaknesses help build a relationship of respect and trust);

* personal and professional goals;

* pressures (from work demands and higher-level administrators);

* preferred times at which to handle problems (at the start of the day, when they feel fresh, or later, near quitting time); and

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* idiosyncrasies or pet peeves (e.g., What are they particular about? What irritates them? What humors them? Do they have regular mood swings? Are there any identificable character flaws or insecurities?).

Last, empathy can help supervisors think outside of their own needs and provide a deeper understanding of what managers require. Consequently, this will further supervisors' attempts at improving interactions and adapting behavior to the boss' expectations and style. As behavioral clues change over time, they need regular evaluation.

AWARENESS OF PERSONAL STYLE

Supervisors also must remain aware of their needs, preferences, and style to ensure that their personal behavior does not impede their attempts at upward influence. To this end, they must explore their predisposition and emotional responses toward authority and supervision. At the extreme, follower behaviors can include counter dependence, resenting the boss' authority and rebelling against their decisions, (14) and over dependence, seeing the boss as infallible and all-knowing and remaining compliant and in agreement, even in the face of an easily altered poor decision. (15) Most supervisors fluctuate somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. Awareness of a personal predisposition allows for alteration and alignment where potential for conflict with a manager exists.

A supervisor who tends toward counter dependence probably will clash with a directive manager. Conversely, an overdependent supervisor may be lost and confused in a relationship with a participative manager. Fortunately, while supervisors cannot change the manager's style, they can tweak their own approach to deal harmoniously and productively with the boss.

Supervisors must consider their personal characteristic and behavior with the same scrutiny as those of the manager. They must know their leadership orientation, strengths and weaknesses, personal and professional goals, and idiosyncrasies. Reflecting on past experiences will help with this endeavor. Supervisors should adjust and align themselves as appropriate for maximum influence.

COMMUNICATION

When communicating, particularly "communicating up," supervisors will find assertive (not aggressive or passive) communication effective in speaking the truth clearly, directly, and respectfully in a positive and confident tone. This form of expression requires conscious effort as supervisors must remain aware of their every action and be considerate of the manager. Such positive efforts build taist and encourage a similar response from superiors.

Supervisors must communicate regularly with managers to keep them informed, ensuring that the boss is not caught off guard when a superior asks a question. Although police supervisors need the authority to make some decisions on their own, they must keep the manager abreast of issues, problems, progress, and the departmental undercurrent (not rumors or gossip, but the pulse of the line staff, something that managers may not perceive simply by virtue of their position).

One management guru even suggested the concept of "word magic," knowing precisely which key words will resonate positively and negatively with the boss.(16) Important and powerful, words, at times, must be chosen carefully. Using the wrong word can trigger an adverse reaction, whereas making an appropriate choice can persuade, calm, or inspire.

Specific phrases also fit this concept. For example, many, managers instantly tune out when a conversation begins with the qualifier "with all due respect." Frequently, people perceive what follows as anything but respectful. Avoiding such annoyances can help improve communication. This represents another important step in adapting to the manager's personality and preferences.

Attendant with communicating up is the concept of "listening down." To create an organizational culture of managing up, supervisors also must tune their social radar to those at lower levels. They should encourage and guide subordinates they identify as embarking on a managing-up effort. Further, as supervisors practice the techniques themselves, they will model valuable behavior to those at lower levels.

ADAPTABILITY AND AUTHENTICITY

The overall formal adaptability required of a supervisor takes much thought and hard work. One management professional best characterized the process as channeling only those "bits" of the personality relevant for the situation or manager. (17) This self-knowledge permits supervisors to be responsive and flexible, employing parts of their personality that best meet the manager's immediate needs. This is comparable to the social flexibility people expend on a daily basis in every important relationship, both business and personal. (18) It allows the supervisor to develop a wide-ranging interpersonal skill set that provides for a more effective and efficient method of achieving personal, professional, and organizational goals. (19)

Of course, supervisors should remain genuine and accomplish this while keeping their values, identity, and character intact. They must painstakingly earn and carefully manage a reputation for authenticity.(20) As law enforcement leaders know, officers excel at reading others and will immediately recognize insincerity or fraudulent behavior. Such deceit will cause not only superiors but also officers below the supervisor to lose respect and feel slighted. Once such a mistake is made, it is hard to bounce back.

CONCLUSION

Most supervisors have the basic skills needed to direct, coach, and motivate those at lower levels. Some had to learn and nurture these skills; others found them instinctive. Managing up is no different. It is a continuous journey of learning and self-development requiring conscious effort, patience, and, perhaps, a bit of trial and error.

Of course, managing up does not preclude disagreements from time to time. No attempt at upward influence--and no relationship--ever will be perfect. However, those who take the time to learn the art of managing up will find that it reaps many rewards, not only for the individual supervisor but for the entire organization.

Endnotes

(1) The author uses the terms manager (superior) and supervisor (subordinate) to refer to different levels of management within an agency.

(2) John Gabarro and John Kotter. "Managing Your Boss." Harvard Business Review 83, no.1 (2005): 92-99.

(3) Daniel Goleman, Emotional Inteligence (New York, NY: Bantam, 1995). The term was conceptualized by Dr. Peter Salovey and Dr. John Mayer.

(4) Victor Dulewicz and Malcolm Higgs, "Emotional Intelligence: A Review and Evaluation Study," Journal of Managerial Psychology 15, no. 4 (2000): 341-372.

(5) Robert Kerr, John Garvin, Norma Heaton, and Emily Boyle. "Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness," Leadership and Organizational Development Journal 27. no. 4 (2006): 265-279.

(6) James Kouzes and Barry Posner. The Leadership Challenge (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002).

(7) Supra note 4.

(8) Liz Simpson, "Why Managing Up Matters," Harvard Management Update 7. no. 8 (2002): 3-5.

(9) Supra note 2.

(10) Supra note 2.

(11) Randall Ponder, "Determine Your. Leadership Style"; retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/mattagement/leadership/learningtolead/article80104.

(12) Ibid.

(13) Ibid.

(14) Supra note 2.

(15) Supra note 2

(16) Peter Drucker, "How to Manage Your Boss." Management Review 66. no. 5 (1977): 8- 12.

(17) Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones, "Managing Authenticity: The Paradox of Great Leadership," Harvard Business Review 83, no. 12 (2005): 86-94.

(18) Supra note 8.

(19) Jennifer Laabs, "Managing-Up Secrets: I Did It the Boss's Way," Workforce Management (August 2000):22.

(20) Supra note 17.

By TRACEY G. GOVE, M.P.A.