How do you manage up and across the organization?

Question

Accepted Answer

Managing up and across means **building influence and alignment with people you don't control** — your boss, peer managers, and partner teams. It is not politics; it is making sure your team's work connects to the rest of the organization.

## Managing up

```text
• Understand your manager's goals and pressures; make their job easier
• No surprises — flag risks early, bring problems WITH options
• Communicate your team's impact in THEIR language (business outcomes)
• Ask for what your team needs; advocate for them upward
```

## Managing across

```text
• Build relationships BEFORE you need favors
• Find shared goals with peer teams; make trade-offs explicit
• Over-communicate dependencies and timelines
• Give credit generously; people remember it
```

## A useful habit

Send your manager a short, regular update: progress, risks, and where you need help. It builds trust and prevents the "why didn't I know about this?" conversation.

## Pitfalls

- **Only talking up the chain when things are on fire.**
- **Treating peer teams as competitors** for headcount or credit.
- **Shielding your team so completely** that leadership loses confidence you are flagging real risks.

## Why it matters

Your team's work only has impact if it is aligned and visible.

A great team that no one upstream understands gets under-resourced and overlooked.

Managing across is also how big things get done.

Most meaningful work crosses team boundaries, and the manager who can build coalitions delivers far more than one who cannot.