Executive Coaching

Managing across: The key to advancing your career

Having co-workers who don’t get along is a major nuisance to most managers. A key to advancing in your career is the ability to manage yourself and others. There is nothing that makes a manager cringe more than having to serve as “playground monitor” to people who can’t manage their own differences. Employees who tell tales on others rather than dealing with conflict appropriately are derailing their own careers. Here’s why.

There are three areas that those seeking advancement need to learn: “managing up,” “managing across” and “managing down.”

Many people have attained some skills in “managing up” because they have had practice in how to work for someone else. People understand how to work with those who have more power and status on the organizational chart than they have. There are clear consequences for doing this well; you get to keep your job. Those with good skills in managing up understand how to appropriately influence “higher-ups” in the organization. They know what to work through and what to work around. They understand the importance of timing.

The ability to “manage across” is what keeps many people from moving ahead in their careers. This skill does not rely on positional power, as identified in organizational charts. It doesn’t come from the hierarchy at work. It comes from a personal ability to work through differences, negotiate compromises and work toward mutually satisfying relationships. It is personal power, not positional power. Annual surveys asking businesses what skills they are looking for in their employees consistently list “teamwork” or the ability to “work well with others” as highest on an employer’s wish list. People with this skill persuade and influence others without manipulation or force. Doing well at this is often what leads to a promotion to a management position.

“Managing down” is what most people think of when they think of management. Management implies positional power on the organizational chart. If you are the manager, it means others report to you. Management, however, is not about “bossing others around.” Good managers do not rely on force to get things done. Their key ability is in motivating and encouraging others; they know how to generate buy-in. This is the key to being a good manager. How well you manage others is a key factor in identifying yourself as someone with leadership potential. It’s what helps to get you promoted.

To assess your leadership potential, ask yourself how well you “manage across.” Even more importantly, ask your co-workers. They might have a better idea. How well do you work inter-departmentally? How well do you work with groups with competing goals or with your competition?

In coaching individuals who seem to be stuck at a certain level in their careers, I have noticed they sometimes lack a key skill; they don’t manage positional or personal power well, and they can be threatened by a perceived lack of power in any situation. Even though they want to get ahead, they lack the elusive quality that would help them advance. Some of us have more of it than others, but it can be taught to those who want to learn. Remember that the higher one advances in an organization, the more important “managing across” becomes. There are no playground monitors at work. v

Pamela Franta is the owner of Pamela Franta Consulting. She is a licensed psychologist, specializing in executive coaching/consulting with individuals and groups at work. She can be reached at [email protected].