Are you managing the one relationship that has a direct effect on your success? Managing upward is often the key to a successful career. Learn how to build bridges rather than moats in your workplace.

When I ask an attorney what kind of manager he or she is, they typically respond by talking about how they supervise or work with attorneys, support staff or team up with paralegals. But rarely, if ever, do they talk about managing their supervisors. When I mention the term "managing up" they often look at me with complete confusion. It is a term that they are likely to have never heard. But managing upward in an organization is a key, if not the key aspect of the work process that can lead someone to success, or derail an otherwise successful career.

Learn by observing

We often look at supervisor behavior as a series of random events, when in fact they are typically part of clear and directed patterns of behavior. Once you have become more knowledgeable about how your boss behaves, and what are his or her hot buttons you can work to implement strategies that will set you in good stead. First and foremost, once you have learned to recognize your supervisor's hot buttons, you can be sure never to press them again. If your boss is a stickler for promptness, you will be sure to never be late to a meeting. If your boss is a grammar and spelling perfectionist, you will not only want to carefully spell check drafts before you turn them in, you will also want to read them to guarantee they contain no errors. Ignoring clear signals about things that are important to your supervisor, whether or not they matter to you, is simply foolhardy.

If you are uncertain about what might be pet peeves of a new supervisor, don't hesitate to ask someone who is more senior or has had more experience with a supervisor. While you are at it, it's wise to seek counsel from someone who probably knows a great deal – the attorney's secretary. Support staff often work closely with an attorney over a number of years, and many have seen young attorneys come and go. They often hold any number of keys to understanding what a partner's preferences are for work product, and the areas that may trouble them the most when it comes to job performance of a junior member of their team.

Don't expect your boss to change

Once, many years ago, when I was experiencing great frustration with a supervisor, a trusted advisor asked me if my boss was behaving consistently. Well, yes, of course, I responded, he's been driving me crazy about this particular issue for years. Well great – said my friend. You have a consistent supervisor and you can predict his behavior in certain situations. Now you can figure out exactly what you need to do. I was so bent on trying to alter the behavior of a person who demonstrated a clear pattern of action that I hadn't considered that I was the one who might have to change my behavior or my strategy for dealing with my boss. It wasn't until I accepted that he was unlikely to change that I could start thinking about what I might want to do to have a greater and more positive impact on my own work situation. I became both more strategic in my behavior and more observant of his behavior. The results were an improved working relationship and less frustration on my part.

Remain professional

One of the biggest mistakes that junior employees can make in the work place is to forget that they must behave as professionals at all times. Sometimes when people become comfortable with supervisors they inadvertently cross the line and think of their supervisor as a friend rather than a boss. An example was relayed to me a number of years ago about a partner driving to a deposition with a young associate several hours away from the city where they practiced. The junior attorney, feeling comfortable with this friendly, more senior attorney, proceeded to talk about the serious financial problems she was facing. Although the more senior attorney listened attentively and offered some suggestions for getting through her problems, the entire story should never have been conveyed. How could this partner, or the law firm, trust this young lawyer to handle the financial concerns of a client, if she was incapable of handling her own finances? Perhaps more importantly – would this junior attorney talk about inappropriate personal matters at times when she was in the presence of clients?

Clearly this associate had not thought about the ways in which personal issues may not be appropriate to share in the work setting. The same thing goes for how you behave at the office party. Even though it appeared that everyone was overindulging at the office summer picnic, the person thrown into the swimming pool (or throwing someone in the pool) may find that he or she is labeled as irresponsible for years following the event. Sadly once an incident like this has taken place, it cannot be taken back. The best recommendation however, is not to ignore it and assume that everyone will forget. Go to the senior parties involved, apologize profusely, and reassure them that such lack of judgment will never be exercised again.

Paying attention to work style

One of the best ways that you can learn how to better manage your boss is through the process of learning their work style. Do they work on assignments in a deliberate manner, or do they work in fits and starts? Are they comfortable with working toward deadlines at a deliberate pace or do they leave important matters until the last minute? What time of day are they most productive? What kind of hours do they keep? Do they sometimes work from home, or do they do everything at the office? By learning more about your supervisor's work style, you are more likely to determine what matters most to them, and how and when you should approach them with them with questions about work you are doing on their behalf, or ideas that you might have about how to approach a project or a problem. Although we would all like to believe that our supervisors will be receptive to our thoughts and inquiries whenever they come to mind, the reality is that all of us are more likely to respond positively to interruptions at certain times of day, or when we are most likely to be able to focus on inquiry.

Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes that junior employees make is not making inquiry at all. At times our reluctance to receive feedback, or admit error results in hiding from a supervisor or waiting until the last minute to reveal issues or problems. Although it makes sense to wait to provide information until an appropriate time, not going to a supervisor with a problem at all is probably the worst decision you can make. The issues will come forth, and your supervisor may find himself or herself in a position that they must make up for a mistake that could have been resolved at a considerably lower level than the crisis it has now become.

Soliciting feedback

One of the most important parts of learning from a supervisor is receiving feedback about your work product. Lack of feedback is one of the mostly widely heard complaints from junior attorneys, and getting good feedback can be difficult. But in order to get good feedback you must ask for it – and be prepared to hear the feedback that you are given.

The best time to receive feedback is as close to the time of project completion as possible, and yet this is often the time that you may be most sensitive to criticism. Understand that asking for feedback may require a thick skin and the knowledge that getting good constructive feedback is the best possible way to insure that your work product will improve. Often feedback sessions are informal and ad hoc. If you are really interested in learning about the quality of your work, it is most useful to set up a time specifically to go over work that you have generated and to prepare for the meeting. This means not only asking questions about the quality of written documents, but the processes through which the work was generated. Did you get clarification for the project as you went along? Did you complete drafts in a timely manner? Did you address the legal issues with competence? If appropriate, did you keep the client and the managing attorney aware of your progress with the work? If you solicit feedback in a more formal way, you will not only receive more useful information, you will also impress your supervisor with the seriousness with which you take the work that you are doing.

Managing your career

Managing your boss is a significant part of managing your career. No single individual can have a more significant impact on the kind of work you receive and the opportunities that are presented to you than the one person or several people for whom you work. In addition, even if you leave a position to work elsewhere, your past supervisor may play a role in future opportunities that present themselves. It simply makes sense to make the most of that relationship and learn as much as you can so someday, hopefully, someone will be trying to manage up to you.