Flex: The New Playbook for Managing Across Differences by Jane Hyun & Audrey S. Lee

Author:Jane Hyun & Audrey S. Lee [Hyun, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-03-24T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

Go the Distance with Your Superiors

If you happen to work in a start-up or small office, it might be hard to spot who’s in charge. Everyone’s wearing casual gear and works in the same open layout. They eat lunch together, might work out at the gym together, and drop by each other’s desks spontaneously to ask a question. And everyone appears to enjoy easy access to the boss. But though they may not show it through closed-off corner offices or executive boardrooms, even start-ups or small firms with flatter organizational structures have a hierarchy or command chain through which decisions get made.

In most other corporate settings, there is a corporate ladder with both explicit and hidden power structures. In order to work your way up the organization, you build relationships with people who have more power than you and are several levels above you in the organization. If you are the CEO, it could be your corporate board that you’re accountable to. We all have someone to whom we report, someone responsible for evaluating our performance, granting us promotions, advocating for our next position, or navigating the growth of the business. Not reaching up can severely limit your future career options. When you ignore closing the power gap with your boss (or don’t know how to do so), you may get passed over for promotion or have your opinions discounted.

OBSTACLES TO CLOSING THE GAP FROM THE BOTTOM UP

Fluent leaders with a good sense of awareness of their own style and preferences employ relationship-building skills to manage up and work to close the power gap from the other side. They do not wait to have their leadership reach down to them. At times, this can be difficult to do if your superiors exhibit very different styles from you or operate by values that you’re not familiar with. Some employees report feeling uncomfortable with this task—and don’t feel it is their responsibility to “manage” their boss. Individuals range from believing reaching out to higher-ups is inappropriate or disrespectful to thinking the act signifies extreme submission, a move detrimental to his or her long-term career. Others don’t want to reach up because their boss simply seems so different and distant from them and they don’t feel they have an “in” or a natural way to engage. When we discuss the importance of building rapport with senior leadership, they ask, “What do I talk about with him? We have very little in common.” Still others might be fighting the perception that they are trying to kiss up to the boss.

No matter your reasons for not wanting to bridge the gap before, let us tell you now that it remains a critical skill in the workplace. Reaching up is not only acceptable, it’s critical, especially in situations where the superior isn’t making an effort to reach down. Contrary to popular thought, reaching up is not only about trying to win favor or brownnosing to get what you want. Your goal is to build a

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