Managing Up, Down and Sideways

FountainBlue’s August 5 Front Line Managers Online program on the topic of ‘Managing Up, Down and Sideways’. Please join me in thanking our panelists. 

• as an HR Leader – Kerry Perryman, Samsung Research America
• as a Product Leader – Sondra Bollar, Oracle
• as an Engineering Leader – Stephen McGrath, Trimble

We were fortunate to have such experienced and diverse panelists for this week’s front line managers online program. It’s been a tumultuous week with challenges and changes for many organizations, so it was a great time to learn about how to better manage up, down and sideways.Our panelists agreed on many management principles:

• Build relationships with a wide network of people will help everyone better manage and lead. Healthy long-term relationships are built on respect and trust, developed from ongoing, proactive, authentic, transparent communication between all parties.
• Be clear on your plan, based on the information you have to date and the objectives and goals defined for you. 
• With that said, be nimble and agile should the direction change or if the data indicates other strategies and actions would better serve the goals.

Below is some advice for better managing up, down and sideways:
Be a Leader

• Err on the side of action, even if your information set is incomplete and the result is uncertain.
• Be curious about your blindspots and the blindspots of others with whom you work.
• Manage your emotions and stay calm, even if you feel that you’ve been wronged.
• Encourage everyone to learn from mistakes, and take advantage of teachable moments.

Be a Project Leader

• Make specific plans for minimum deliverables, based on input from a wide range of sources.
• Plan-fully allocate the right resources for the right talent, in alignment with overarching goals.

Empower and Engage Your Team

• Provide exciting opportunities which challenge your team members individually and collectively.
• Help your team manage and prioritize tasks and projects, and explain how everyone’s work fits in to the overall plan and why specific projects and tasks are more important than other ones. 

The bottom line is that management is an art and a science. 

Great managers help others feel secure and safe while also focusing on clarifying changes in goals and objectives and how they impact the organizations, teams, products, and individuals.When teams are managed well, there is deep trust and exceptional results made by productive and empowered team members. 

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