Managing Upward: Strategies for Succeeding with Your Boss
Section I: Introduction
· What is a boss?
· Why are you reading this book?
· Defining the partnership and how it can work better
· Think about your situation
· Clarify your relationship
Section II: Focusing on the Big Picture
· Where do I start?
· Other ways to find out your boss’ priorities
· Blend goals
· Blocks to goal achievement
· Overcoming blocks
Section III: Communicate with Impact
· What is effective communication?
· Communication gaps
· How well do you comprehend or listen?
Section IV: Talk’s Not Cheap: Building Bridges Via Meetings
· Let’s talk!
· Before you jump in
· Getting started
· Getting action from bi-weekly meetings
· The high cost of meetings
· If your boss is the meeting leader
Section V: Confronting with Compassion
· How can you critique your manager?
· Five S’s of providing unsolicited feedback
· Select your timing
· Secure the boss’ permission
· Share specifics
· Show team benefits
· Summarize your agreement
Section VI: How to Read Your Boss
· Reading your boss
· The stop sign
Section VII: The Care and Feeding of a Boss
· Six ways to become a star
· Successful employee actions
· Praising upward
· Things bosses don’t want
Section VIII: Managing Time Management Monsters
· Productivity principles
· How to manage the monsters
· Interruptions
· Changing priorities
· Coping with multiple bosses
· Lack of information
· Unavailable boss
· Disorganized boss
· All bosses are not created equal
· Intolerable boss behavior
· What can you do?
· Risk to action steps diagram
· Good guy/bad guy
· The bottleneck boss
· Assess yourself
· Evaluating your scoresheet
· How to achieve good performance evaluations