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Ever known a manager who held great respect of his or her team but was not respected by his or her management? Or maybe you’ve had a manager that just couldn’t get things done effectively because he or she just didn’t know how to “work the system”? Or even still, are you are a manager who is continually frustrated because you can’t get your manager to do what you need him or her to do? If any of these sound familiar to you, welcome to the world of ineffective upward management.

Upward management is one of those skills that some do very well, many never seem to master, and virtually all learn only through on-the-job lessons-learned. When done well, both the manager and employee work as a team to ensure each other is informed, address problems before they spin out of control, and be more effective at managing. When done poorly, both manager and employee are not only ineffective at getting the job done but are chronically frustrated due to mis-steps and surprises.

Through the years I’ve come to categorize most poor upward managers into four personality types:

The Brown-Noser - This is the employee who treats his boss as some kind of rock star and constantly searches for what his boss wants to hear. Rather than upwardly managing, the brown-noser upwardly affirms whatever it is the boss is thinking.

The Rebellious Teenager - This is the employee who consciously conceals information from her boss because she wants to demonstrate that she can get things done without help from her boss. Rather than upwardly managing, the rebellious teenager keeps her manager in the dark by withholding information.

The Cowardly Lion - This is the employee who simply is afraid to share information with his boss because he fears his boss’ reactions. Rather than upwardly managing, the cowardly lion avoids sharing information unless completely painted into a corner.

The Erupting Volcano - This is the employee who subscribes to the “more is better” school of information management and will tell her manager every gory detail of every single event every single day. Rather than upwardly managing, the erupting volcano spews data like hot lava and forces her manager to pick out the important facts.

So how do you avoid mis-steps in managing upward? Give this baker’s dozen a look and see if one or two of these nuggets can help you be a better upward manager:

#1 - Understand your boss - Think about how your boss likes to communicate; does she prefer written emails or verbal discussion? Does she like structured one-on-one meetings or informal chats? Get a clear understanding of how your boss likes to engage and adapt your style to her style.

#2 - Stick to objective facts - When presenting information avoid emotionally-biased assessments. Sure, you may have put your heart and soul into a project but if the project no longer makes business sense to do then it’s your responsibility to put personal feelings aside and do the right business thing.

#3 - Don’t dump problems on his or her doorstep that you should be solving yourself - Yes, your manager has greater responsibility than you, probably gets paid more than you, and most likely has more organizational influence than you. That doesn’t mean you get to delegate things you should be solving yourself. Handle the problems that you’re paid to handle and enlist your boss for the stuff that requires his influence in the organization.

#4 - Be specific about what you need - Whether it be money, resources, or some other form of assistance, be very specific about what you need, why you need it, and what will happen if you don’t get what you need. Credible objectivity is crucial here: if it looks as if you are “stacking the deck” by exaggerating consequences or embellishing benefits you’re likely to not get what you need. Also, subsequent asks are going to be viewed with greater skepticism.

#5 - Don’t ever give reason for your boss to question your credibility - Simply put, if you get caught stretching the truth on even the smallest of facts, you’ve now given your boss reason to question not only the little things but also the big things. You’ve got to stay pure with your boss and protect your integrity by never allowing your credibility to be put to question.

#6 - Don’t manage upward at the expense of managing downward - I’ve known one too many managers who did a great job of keeping his boss happy but had a team that wanted to string him up by his thumbs. Look, at some point in time those that manage up at the expense of managing down will get found out and will have to pay the piper. Don’t play Russian roulette with your career by keeping your boss comfy while ticking off your team.

#7 - Respect your boss’ time - Got a meeting with your boss? Show up on time, come prepared to discuss whatever topics need discussing, and end the meeting on time. Your boss is busy and her time should be utilized as effectively as possible. Don’t let your boss see your meetings with her as a waste of time.

#8 - Diligently follow through on commitments - So your boss asks you to complete an assignment by tomorrow. You agree to meet the commitment. The deadline passes and you haven’t met the commitment and all you can offer up is some lame excuse. Sheesh. Even if you think an assignment given to you is the dumbest assignment on earth, if you’ve made a commitment to do it then meet the commitment. Not following through shows a lack of respect for your boss and breeds distrust.

#9 - Present options - In decision making managers like to see alternatives and the consequences associated with each alternative. Some of the best decision making meetings I’ve been in with my bosses have been where we had meaningful dialogue around two or three viable options to resolving a tough problem. My job in the process was to frame up the options, provide facts to support each option, and provide a recommendation. Sometimes the recommendation was taken, sometimes not; the most important thing was that a good decision was made because there was good informed discussion.

#10 - Make your boss look good - Let’s say that your boss is due to make a presentation to his boss and is relying upon you to provide some critical information. You give your boss the information he needs and he presents it to his boss. He then gets fricasseed because the information is wrong. Guess whose office he stops at first on his way back from getting barbecued? Simply put, don’t put your boss in a situation where he looks bad in front of his management; you’ve not only hurt your credibility, you’ve hurt his credibility.

#11 - Don’t suck up - Telling your boss what she wants to hear can label you as a spineless know-nothing who doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to manage effectively on your own. You’ll not only quickly lose the respect of your team, your boss will ultimately see through you and not respect your leadership abilities. Sure, you may get the occasional self-absorbed manager that craves shameless idolatry; but by and large bosses view sucking up as incompetence.

#12 - No surprises - Ever tell your boss that your project is on schedule and on budget then at the last minute spring a huge schedule or budget slip on her? Particularly early in my career I’ve had this happen more than once. For it to happen more than once is shameful to say the least. Bosses don’t like surprises where they are forced to accept a problem without having the option to try to fix it before it got out of control. When you see problems make sure you northwind your boss; just make sure you’re working diligently to resolve the problem and not just to cover your @#$.

#13 - Admit mistakes…quickly - Look, screw-ups happen. Heaven knows that I’ve got more screw-ups to my name than many managers will ever see. The important thing is to own up to your mistakes quickly and outline what you are going to do to rectify the mistake. Being the last one to recognize you’ve made a mistake just diminishes your credibility, so own up to those gaffes and get to work fixing them.

Upward management: sometimes a real pain, many times a diversion, but always a necessity. Take stock of your upward management skills and see where you might need to tie up some loose ends using some of these nuggets.

Lonnie Pacelli is an author with over 20 years experience with Accenture and Microsoft and is president of Leading on the Edge International. See more at http://www.leadingonedge.com

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Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

However, one of the most important aspects of the above process is dealing with failure. This is important as most innovation attempts result in failure and many, many more ideas require reengineering, remodelling or rethinking before they can tread the path to success.

There are a number of benefits of failure, including:

a) Valuable competencies are learned. Ridley Scott had a commercial failure with Blade Runner but went on to make some of the most successful films of all time.

b) Valuable customer needs are established. Often user needs are inadequately analysed but come into sharp focus when a product is in market and not selling.

c) Technical competencies are established. A firm may learn exactly what technical deficiencies it has when a product fails to materialise in the desired form.

d) Cultural or emotional obstacles may come into sharp focus. The metric system is not used in the USA but dominates throughout the rest of the world.

These topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com.

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop MBA is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com

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During my early days of employment in the late 80’s, the company I worked with engaged a consultant to get the company certified in ISO9002 QMS. I was one of the working committee then. Training was provided, followed by documentation of all our processes. A simple guideline was given to us to “document what we do” and “do what we documented”. During that time, this guideline was quite straight forward. So we did and the company obtained its ISO 9002 certification.

In late 90’s there was a rush into converting our ISO9002 QMS to meet the new ISO9001:2000 revision. I was told that this new revision is more align to business needs as well as less emphasis on documentation. On the business needs aspect, there is the “Eight Quality Management Principles” in the new revision. They are as follows:-

1) Customer Focus
2) Leadership
3) Involvement of People
4) Process Approach
5) System approach to management
6) Continual improvement
7) Factual approach to decision making
Mutually beneficial supplier relationship

Here is the interesting part of this article. The author like to share with readers how some of the companies he worked with interpret these principles and applied them. By no means these companies are wrongly applied the Eight Quality Management Principles. As a matter of fact, these companies has their valid reasons for doing so. This articulation of the principles is written in 3 parts, namely; principles supposed to meant; how it is applied as a case; and author’s view to expand its application

Principle 1) Customer Focus
“Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current and future customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations”.

Case 1) Many companies viewed customer needs are obtained from a survey. And as ISO auditor come around to conduct surveillance audit once or twice a year, they get the survey done right before the auditor come around.

Author’s view 1) Conducting a survey is a form of documentation. In fact, customer needs can be obtained in many forms (most company knows that). Other than a formal survey, customer needs obtained in other forms such as during customer visits, customers complaints, customer feedback etc. These data should be taken officially as an input into the ISO system

Principle 2) Leadership
“Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. They should create and maintain the internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organization’s objectives”.

Case 2) Most leaders set direction in the Quality Policy and Quality Objectives. Management reviews were conducted to ensure its fulfillment. However, most leaders are not involved in creating an internal environment in achieving the organization’s objectives. Most often than not, they delicate to the Quality manager.

Author’s view 2) Delegating to the Quality manager seems to be the most logical role to a Quality Manager. However, in some smaller company, Quality manager does not have enough influencing power to his/her peers hence cannot command radical improvement to the Quality System.

Principle 3) Involvement of People :
“People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organization’s benefit”.

Case 3) While most company involve their employee in the ISO compliance effort, some involves them in other aspect of the business especially in production and process improvements as well.

Author’s view 3) This is the principle which is well implemented by most companies I came across. While it is perfect to involve employee in ISO compliance aspect. Some involve too much with the employee in selecting improvement projects. It is only logical that employee select projects that they are familiar and easy to do. But this selection often miss the key alignment to the company critical issues.

Principle 4) Process Approach
“A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process”.

Case 4) All if not most ISO certified companies are very good in production processes. Their ISO documentation for these process are well kept. However, their process approach seem to limit within the production and related supporting departments.

Author’s view 4) In the aspect of business process such as decision making, there is lack usage of a process approach in decision making. Often than not, quick decision are expected hence attention is not given to go through a logical steps.

Principle 5) System Approach to Management
“Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives”.

Case 5) This area seem to show a loose link between production and the rest of the departments especially the supporting group. In some case, Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are established for each department but they are not interdependent.

Principle 6) Continual Improvement
“Continual improvement of the organization’s overall performance should be a permanent objective of the organization”.

Case 6) In general, most companies work on continuous improvement as oppose to continual Improvement. some of the companies take “fire-fighting” as a way to continual improvement. VEry few realize the objective of this principle.

Author’s view 6) it is my opinion companies need to understand that source of information to trigger a continual improvement effort. And to establish it in order to clearly identify whether it is a “fire Fighting” or continual improvement.

Principle 7) Factual approach to decision making
“Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information”.

Case 7) This is probably the weakness principle in terms of its application. To a large extent, Management make decision based on past experience, statement past around and so on. Often minimum data are sough after when a decision is made. Perhaps it is due to time factor. However, this phenomenon is so in the Quality Department.

Author’s View 7) This is an important principle management staffs need to develop. Past right decision made may not be repeated due to changes in the business environment.

Principle Mutually beneficial supplier relationship
“An organization and its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value”

Case Most smaller company practice to some extent this principle quite well. perhaps it is due to smaller outfit that cannot command better service from the supplier, person in charge seems to have close relationship with supplier. On the other hand, bigger companies are bound by internal policies that requires 2-3 quotes from different supplier for the same items. Relation ship with supplier does not help to some extent.

Author’s View This principle is difficult to master due to the fact that integrity is involved. Unless the company has big volume of purchase and strong vendor development program, it is understandable company pay less attention to this principle.

In summary, while ISO certified companies tried to comply to ISO requirements, they should extent the objectives of these Eight Quality Management Principles to enhance their business such that it become part of their business system.

As a side note, these quality management principles has many similarity to the TQM principles. So, it is of the interest of leaders in ISO certified companies understand it and put an effort to extent the objective of ISO certification beyond certification purpose.

Disclaimer
The “Author’s View” section provided are merely the author’s personal point of view and has no binding to any implication thereof. The author take no responsibility to the use of this article by anyone in any way.

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All rights reserved. You are free to reprint or re-publish this article as long as you include my resource box at the end of this article. And ensure that the URL in the resource box remain intact and it is linked to the author’s website.

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Resource Box: About the Author, LM Foong

The author holds a MBA major in TQM. He is an expert in Malcolm Baldrige Business Framework and Baldrige Assessment and TQM Implementations in manufacturing and service sector. He facilitates workshops and Cost Reduction and Productivity Improvement projects. He publishes TQM articles, ebooks, case studies, trainer manual and presentation slides available at More to View or Please Visit my Web Site.

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