| How to talk to Senior people at work 16:39 - Feb 23 with 2993 views | davblue |
Does anyone have any recommendations for courses or good podcast on how to talk to senior management at work?
It’s not a strong point for me and im keen to work on it, any recommendations on what people have done to help with this is appreciated!! |  | | |  |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 16:41 - Feb 23 with 2765 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
Until I read the first line below your headline, I was going to say slowly and clearly. Be aware they might not remember what you tell them even if they do take it in too.
Reminds me of the King visiting an old people's home and asking a resident if they knew who he is. The resident replied "if you ask one of the nurses they will help you!"
Sorry, I can't help you with your actual question. Hope someone else can. |  |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 17:00 - Feb 23 with 2689 views | NewcyBlue |
I was always criticised for my inability to “manage upwards”.
It has always been my opinion that I shouldn’t need to manage my managers, but when you do it does make life a lot easier.
It’s even harder when you are part of a small team of 6-7 different nationalities.
Essential reading:
Surrounded by idiots - Thomas Erickson
Extreme ownership - Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Leadership is language - David Marquet
The first minute - Chris Fenning |  |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 17:33 - Feb 23 with 2602 views | bsw72 |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 17:00 - Feb 23 by NewcyBlue |
I was always criticised for my inability to “manage upwards”.
It has always been my opinion that I shouldn’t need to manage my managers, but when you do it does make life a lot easier.
It’s even harder when you are part of a small team of 6-7 different nationalities.
Essential reading:
Surrounded by idiots - Thomas Erickson
Extreme ownership - Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Leadership is language - David Marquet
The first minute - Chris Fenning |
Managing upwards is not about managing your manager, it is about understanding what your manager wants to achieve and developing a positive and productive relationship with them. |  | | |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 17:39 - Feb 23 with 2569 views | NewcyBlue |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 17:33 - Feb 23 by bsw72 |
Managing upwards is not about managing your manager, it is about understanding what your manager wants to achieve and developing a positive and productive relationship with them. |
Yeah that’s managing my manager to me.
I would say that different industries will have different ideas on how different levels interact, and certainly in mine you find that the standards of training and watchkeeping differs massively depending on where they attained their licence.
I’m not much for office bullsh!t which can sometimes make life a bit more difficult when I have to interact with the office personnel, but at the same time there are some that appreciate my forthrightness.
The ability to adjust communication style based on the receiver hasn’t been easy to adopt, but it’s something I work on. | |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 18:13 - Feb 23 with 2482 views | BlueBadger |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 16:41 - Feb 23 by Nthsuffolkblue |
Until I read the first line below your headline, I was going to say slowly and clearly. Be aware they might not remember what you tell them even if they do take it in too.
Reminds me of the King visiting an old people's home and asking a resident if they knew who he is. The resident replied "if you ask one of the nurses they will help you!"
Sorry, I can't help you with your actual question. Hope someone else can. |
During 2022, my dementia care specialist colleague was basically accepting any one of three answers as 'correct' to the question 'who's the prime minister' when carrying out assessments. |  |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 18:19 - Feb 23 with 2452 views | Swansea_Blue |
Just shout. The seniors are all deaf. |  |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 18:21 - Feb 23 with 2433 views | _clive_baker_ |
Guess it depends on what you’re aiming to get out of the conversation, but in my line of work I partner the most senior people in the business and the big thing I try to remember is the ‘so what?’. Senior management don’t need all the detail and intricacies of the workings, they just need to know the headlines. What should be making their front pages? and what can they do about it. I see a lot of people sharing data at work, but I try to encourage my team not to share data but to share insight. Actionable insight, recommendations, tell the story succinctly and cut to the ‘so what?’.
Remember these people are only human, and don’t assume they know more than you. Often they don’t, especially about your area. |  | | |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 18:29 - Feb 23 with 2384 views | Swansea_Blue |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 17:00 - Feb 23 by NewcyBlue |
I was always criticised for my inability to “manage upwards”.
It has always been my opinion that I shouldn’t need to manage my managers, but when you do it does make life a lot easier.
It’s even harder when you are part of a small team of 6-7 different nationalities.
Essential reading:
Surrounded by idiots - Thomas Erickson
Extreme ownership - Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Leadership is language - David Marquet
The first minute - Chris Fenning |
“It has always been my opinion that I shouldn’t need to manage my managers, but when you do it does make life a lot easier”.
You’re right on both counts.
A manger shouldn’t need it, but I could be grateful for being managed upwards when the person actually had something about them. My view was that why wouldn’t you give your staff the chance to show they knew what they needed and give them the freedom to ask/(manipulate!) you for it? As long as it’s aligned to the needs of the organisation/business, everyone wins. If staff can step up and show they can take responsibility and have the attributes to lead, it also helps them to fly through interviews and promotions.
It’s the clueless tw*ts who think they need to manage up who are the problem!  | |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 18:41 - Feb 23 with 2336 views | Oldsmoker |
I'm retired now but I have exhaustive experience of the guy above me.
btw it's always a guy.
In this ever changing world of IT developments some managers will be out of their depth which is understandable. Keeping up is hard.
Some need helping out and they will be grateful and support you when the going gets tough.
Others will dump on you saying that's down to you and will take the credit if you succeed and sack you if you crash and burn.
Find out which type they are 'cos everyone fears for their job even at the top and it might be you that's making them look good. |  |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 09:27 - Feb 24 with 1942 views | jaseitfc2015 |
Imagine you are McKenna and you are speaking to Ashton |  | | |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 09:30 - Feb 24 with 1918 views | blueasfook |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 09:27 - Feb 24 by jaseitfc2015 |
Imagine you are McKenna and you are speaking to Ashton |
So basically "Can I have some more money please or I'm leaving" |  |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 10:19 - Feb 24 with 1821 views | SaleAway |
Depends what you are trying to achieve. As a basic rule, don't go to seniors asking for solutions, ask for decisions. Describe the issue, succinctly, give them options for how to solve it, with your opinions on pros and cons, and ask them to make the decision.
And if it was done verbally follow up with an email confirming what you think they agreed.
And don't be offended if they don't come to the same conclusion as you. If it was a no-brainer, you wouldn't be asking them, so assume that perhaps they are privy to more information than you.
A good senior is not there to be an expert in everything, they are there to be an expert in distilling critical information and making decisions. Your role is to feed into that. | |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 15:10 - Feb 24 with 1599 views | OldFart71 |
I never talked to them any differently to my fellow workers. Unfortunately some people attain a certain position and develop a "God syndrome" They think they are the only one's that can do that job. I have news for them, they are not. Whatever job you do there's always someone who will eventually do that job instead of you. They may do it better, they may do it worse.But it will get done.There's also a very true saying for those that reach the top and that is " Always remember those you meet on the way up, because you never know who you might meet on the way down" | | | |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 15:12 - Feb 24 with 1596 views | WeirdFishes |
When I was younger and first starting in the world of work I definitely spoke to them like they were important, truth is they’re no more important than you, me or anyone else. Once I got that into my head it was never difficult, they’re just human. Plus i find if you talk to people normally they tend to respond better. |  |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 16:18 - Feb 24 with 1528 views | NthQldITFC |
Loudly and slowly. |  |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 20:08 - Feb 24 with 1425 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 18:13 - Feb 23 by BlueBadger |
During 2022, my dementia care specialist colleague was basically accepting any one of three answers as 'correct' to the question 'who's the prime minister' when carrying out assessments. |
Worryingly they were Churchill, Attlee and Thatcher! | |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 23:10 - Feb 24 with 1307 views | BlueBadger |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 20:08 - Feb 24 by Nthsuffolkblue |
Worryingly they were Churchill, Attlee and Thatcher! |
And how was Facters otherwise? | |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 00:18 - Feb 25 with 1253 views | IpswichTownBlue |
Weirdly, the best way can be to speak to them is like everyone else and forget the role they're in. The more you see yourself as 'under' them, the more intimidating you feel to approach. try to be direct, honest and natural. | | | |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 01:15 - Feb 25 with 1219 views | IPS_wich |
Some advice from someone who is one of those senior people you talk about (I'm part of a 9-person Exec team running a £1.5 billion government department).
1: Remember that that person has been in your shoes (or similar shoes) earlier in their career, so they will have some understanding of what it's like to be in your position. This less relevant if that senior person was involved in starting up the company, but if it's a medium to large established organisation then they will all have had to start somewhere.
2: They are juggling so many more things than you could imagine. That was the biggest shock to me when I moved from Director to Exec Director. As a Director, I was leading a team of 18-20 people running multiple projects. It was challenging keeping on top of it all. As an ED - I have five Directors report to me, so that is five times the number of 'things' I need to keep on top of - plus there's a significant amount of information, decisions and meetings that Execs are involved in that the rest of the organisation doesn't see. What that means for you is make sure you are succinct, you focus on what's important and you can provide further detail in an email or a follow up meeting if they ask for it. As someone who likes the detail, I've since realised I must have been a total pain when I was a Senior Manager and a Director - because I would always dive into process, detail and analysis when briefing up.
3: If it's not an organised meeting then always ask if they have time and if they say a couple of minutes then keep it to a couple of minutes - and don't be offended if they say no they don't have time. Equally, sometimes a senior leader needs to have a chat or to blow off steam. Take their cue and if they appear chatty then join in.
4: If you need to speak to them about a problem then there are three golden rules: (1) Don't sit on it, there's nothing worse than having no time to address a problem. (2) Be clear what the consequence/impact of the problem is. (3) Have an opinion on what the solution is. Remember that if you report up the chain to them then they are accountable for the cause of the problem and for the solution. It's actually a core part of their job to manage issues in their area.
5: But most importantly remember they are a normal person, just like you, so don't think you need to be someone you are not.
Caveat: If the person is a Grade A 'see you next tuesday' then none of the above is relevant - keep your head down and try to minimise contact with them. | | | |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 05:59 - Feb 25 with 1124 views | davblue |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 01:15 - Feb 25 by IPS_wich |
Some advice from someone who is one of those senior people you talk about (I'm part of a 9-person Exec team running a £1.5 billion government department).
1: Remember that that person has been in your shoes (or similar shoes) earlier in their career, so they will have some understanding of what it's like to be in your position. This less relevant if that senior person was involved in starting up the company, but if it's a medium to large established organisation then they will all have had to start somewhere.
2: They are juggling so many more things than you could imagine. That was the biggest shock to me when I moved from Director to Exec Director. As a Director, I was leading a team of 18-20 people running multiple projects. It was challenging keeping on top of it all. As an ED - I have five Directors report to me, so that is five times the number of 'things' I need to keep on top of - plus there's a significant amount of information, decisions and meetings that Execs are involved in that the rest of the organisation doesn't see. What that means for you is make sure you are succinct, you focus on what's important and you can provide further detail in an email or a follow up meeting if they ask for it. As someone who likes the detail, I've since realised I must have been a total pain when I was a Senior Manager and a Director - because I would always dive into process, detail and analysis when briefing up.
3: If it's not an organised meeting then always ask if they have time and if they say a couple of minutes then keep it to a couple of minutes - and don't be offended if they say no they don't have time. Equally, sometimes a senior leader needs to have a chat or to blow off steam. Take their cue and if they appear chatty then join in.
4: If you need to speak to them about a problem then there are three golden rules: (1) Don't sit on it, there's nothing worse than having no time to address a problem. (2) Be clear what the consequence/impact of the problem is. (3) Have an opinion on what the solution is. Remember that if you report up the chain to them then they are accountable for the cause of the problem and for the solution. It's actually a core part of their job to manage issues in their area.
5: But most importantly remember they are a normal person, just like you, so don't think you need to be someone you are not.
Caveat: If the person is a Grade A 'see you next tuesday' then none of the above is relevant - keep your head down and try to minimise contact with them. |
Thanks, some decent advice there. [Post edited 25 Feb 6:58]
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 07:42 - Feb 25 with 1016 views | jontysnut |
How would you like your staff to talk to you? You'd probably like them to be fair, open and honest. It's good for business. Lots of stories of where serious accidents happen because people could see things going wrong but felt unable to speak up. Do your senior people do 360 feedback - that's a way of influencing the organisational culture. |  | | |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 08:02 - Feb 25 with 981 views | Bluesince72 |
Search 'w**kernomics' on YouTube, it will tell you everything you need to know. | | | |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 08:30 - Feb 25 with 950 views | Keno |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 16:18 - Feb 24 by NthQldITFC |
Loudly and slowly. |
Half past three dear |  |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 08:40 - Feb 25 with 930 views | NthQldITFC |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 08:30 - Feb 25 by Keno |
Half past three dear |
Eh? | |
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| How to talk to Senior people at work on 08:45 - Feb 25 with 911 views | Keno |
| How to talk to Senior people at work on 08:40 - Feb 25 by NthQldITFC |
Eh? |
speak loudly and slower | |
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