💃 Salesforce Consulting and the Problem With "Managing Up"🕺

Good morning, Salesforce Nerds! Slack got a new CEO! Hope she sticks around 😉.

Anyway-

Welcome to a 2-part SalesforceChaCha series - Managing Up.

^{(don’t forget to check out our other series, like ❤️ Business Analysts, Knowing Your Audience, and more!)}

Part 1 | Use Weak Tools, Get Weak Results

Part 2 | Bigger, Better, Effective’er….. (still working on the title 👀)

Managing Up is a concept with good intentions 😄, but is flawed 😔.

See what we mean in Part 1 | Use Weak Tools, Get Weak Results ⬇️

Agenda for today includes

• The Problem With "Managing Up"

• Daily Principle

• All the Memes

The Problem With "Managing Up"

Today we will discuss-

💃 Use Weak Tools, Get Weak Results 🕺

💃 Is Managing Up…Effective? 🕺

💃 The Problem With Managing Up 🕺

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USE WEAK TOOLS, GET WEAK RESULTS

Connie the consultant has been cruising along on her client’s project. This client, by the way, is her company’s biggest and most important client, accounting for a significant chunk of their revenue 💰.

Connie - empathetic, smart, and ambitious - is an expert at Managing Up 💪. She updates Marge the manager, whom she directly reports to, just the right amount - not too much where it’s annoying, but not so rarely that Marge is out of the loop 🎯.

In fact, Connie has checked all the Managing Up boxes. Connie-

✅ Patiently spends time learning how Marge likes to communicate.

✅ Observes and learns how Marge manages and leads her team, and anticipates that.

✅ Built a strong working relationship with Marge, based on trust.

And to Marge’s credit, she’s a fine manager. Marge-

✅ Sets up her team for success. Then, she takes no credit and gives all the props to her team.

✅ Patiently teaches and coaches her team.

✅ Her and her team meet or exceed all the company goals under their control.

No doubt about it - Connie is amazing at managing up and Marge is appreciative and supporting Connie as much as she can 🤝.

IS MANAGING UP….EFFECTIVE?

3 years into this, why, despite this marvelous relationship, and Connie’s excellent Managing Up abilities, is Connie still in the same role, with the same responsibilities, and doing the same tasks? 🤨 

Others in the company have moved up over this time. 😦 

New hires have been brought in at higher levels than Connie. 😮 

Connie is focused on Managing Up, but not seeing any benefits. 🫣 

She is definitely in good graces with the executives at her company. She regularly gets shout outs and even some special treatment like NBA tickets in the boss’s suite 🏀.

“That’s a nice benefit!” Connie thinks to herself, “but I’m not sure if it’s related to Managing Up.”

With that thought, Connie sits down to make a list of direct benefits of Managing Up-

✅ She has a lovely relationship with her manager.

✅………

Hmmmm 🤔 

She can’t think of more 😕

THE PROBLEM WITH “MANAGING UP”

It’s a weak tool 💯. Weak tools get weak results 😬.

Having a good relationship and aligning with your manager is, simply, the right thing to do. It’s a baseline responsibility. It’s…..nothing special 🤷.

Consulting is a people-business. Relationships matter. Building and nurturing them is a Day 1 initiative.

Here is an argument against Managing Up-

👉️ Good Relationships and Alignment With…Everyone!

The above points just hammered 🔨 on this one.

If Connie’s relationship management capacity is too heavily allocated to her manager, then her other relationships suffer.

No, you can’t be besties with everyone, but you must (strategically) spread the love ❤️.

👉️ Is Your Manager a Decision-Maker?  

To what degree? And why does this matter?

Let’s say Marge is directly responsible for Connie’s promotion. Then Connie the consultant would be well-served to build an amazing professional relationship with Marge her manager.

But if the senior manager, director, and/or principal are the primary decision-makers, then Connie, focusing on Marge, would be applying her efforts to low-value places 😢. Marge may not even have the control or authority to get Connie elevated.

👉️ What Are You Missing Out On? 

This is the biggest issue with Managing Up (You’ll tackle this like an All-Pro NFL linebacker in Part 2).

It is too tunnel-vision to be effective for your professional growth. It’s, like, the 14th most important thing to focus on 😮!

Who came up with this concept? Must’ve been someone who wanted to keep uninformed workers from advancing their careers?

A LOOK AHEAD TO PART 2

If “Managing Up” isn’t the solution, then what is?

Next week, you’ll tackle this and so much more like an All-Pro NFL linebacker 🏈 

Daily Principle

and now....Your Daily Memes