Managing Up: An Overlooked Driver of Organizational Effectiveness

Part 1 of a 3-part series on managing up.

Managing up is an underrated superpower, and a concept that has been a recurring theme in my work over the past few weeks. From conversations with my own team to principles of stakeholder management we teach in our programs, I return to the same observation: managing up is a critical yet often overlooked capability.

Most leadership development focuses on how leaders manage their teams or align work across functions. Far less attention is given to how leaders manage upwards, despite the fact that most leaders operate in the middle. They spend their careers translating strategy downward while communicating risks, insights, and progress upward. Even the C-suite manages up - we simply call it board engagement or investor relations.

As organizations become more complex, this capability becomes increasingly important. Gallup's research suggests managers account for approximately 70% of the variance in employee engagement, while McKinsey highlights the growing coordination burden placed on leaders operating across multiple teams, stakeholders, and priorities. In this environment, the quality of information flowing to decision-makers becomes a significant determinant of organizational performance.

This article explores why managing up matters, why it remains difficult in many organizational cultures, and how it serves as an early indicator of leadership readiness.

Managing Up Reduces Organizational Friction

We have all felt the effects of managing up poorly. A decision is delayed because critical information was not shared in time with a leader who is on the move. A CEO is surprised by a risk that should have been flagged. A stakeholder raises objections at the final hour because they were never consulted.

These situations are frustratingly common. While they often appear to be communication failures, leadership challenges, or structural issues, they frequently stem from a breakdown in how information, context, and support move through the organization. Employees who manage up effectively help reduce this friction by ensuring leaders have the information, context, and support required to make timely decisions, anticipate risks, and align stakeholders before issues escalate.

Why Managing Up Feels Unnatural

Managing up does not come naturally to many of us. In cultures such as ours across the Arab world, hierarchy plays an important role in how we work and interact. Erin Meyer's research highlights how attitudes toward authority differ across societies, with higher power-distance cultures placing greater emphasis on seniority, respect for authority, and clear distinctions between leaders and employees.

These norms bring many strengths, but they can also make upward influence feel uncomfortable. Employees may hesitate to challenge assumptions, clarify priorities, communicate proactively, or offer recommendations before being asked. Behaviours viewed as initiative in one environment may be interpreted as overstepping in another.

Organizational culture can reinforce these dynamics. In environments with low psychological safety, concerns, alternative perspectives, and emerging risks are often raised later than they should be. The result is slower information flow, reduced visibility, and delayed decision-making.

Developing this capability requires an understanding of the broader context in which leaders operate and the demands placed upon them.

The Mindset Behind Managing Up

At its core, managing up requires us to look beyond our own priorities and understand the reality in which others are operating. This is where empathy comes in. Employees who manage up effectively take the time to understand what their leaders are accountable for, the competing demands on their attention, and the information they need to make decisions. They recognize that leadership is often accompanied by information overload, significant accountability, and constant trade-offs.

I like to believe that managing up is rooted in compassion. Empathy helps us understand another person's reality. Compassion motivates us to do something about it. Leaders who are managed up well are rarely surprised by critical information, left chasing context, or forced into avoidable firefighting. They have the visibility, clarity, and confidence needed to focus their attention where it is most valuable.

Together, they sit at the heart of effective upward management and shape the behaviours that enable leaders and teams to perform at their best.

What Does Managing Up Look Like in Practice?

Managing up is not about grand gestures or heroics. It really is observed in the micro moments: how we prepare for conversations, communicate progress, surface risks, frame recommendations, and anticipate needs.

These moments may seem insignificant in isolation, but collectively they create the conditions for leaders to spend less time navigating ambiguity and more time focused on priorities, decisions, and stakeholders. In doing so, we move beyond executing work and begin contributing as thinking partners in the process.

The specific behaviours vary by role and context, but they typically fall into four dimensions.

Managing Up in Practice

Managing Up as a Leadership Capability

Managing up may begin as a way to improve execution and support decision-making, but its long-term value lies in the mindset it develops. It encourages individuals to look beyond the boundaries of their role, understand the broader context in which leaders operate, and contribute more effectively to organizational success.

In many ways, managing up is one of the earliest opportunities we have to practice leadership. It requires empathy, judgment, communication, stakeholder awareness, and systems thinking long before a leadership title arrives.

In the next article, we'll move from mindset to capability, exploring the practical habits and skills that help professionals manage up more effectively.