And more importantly, does she know you?
On the Harvard Business Review blog yesterday, Priscilla Claman raised a point that hit particularly close to home: when it comes to work relationships, one of the most important ones to foster is with your supervisor’s supervisor.
“Many people meet their boss's boss when they are hired, and then promptly forget about her,” she says. But it’s crucial to your career advancement that you never let her forget about you.
When I first interviewed at Forbes in 2006 I met with two bosses who would manage my day-to-day at 60 Fifth. They were both lovely and incredibly competent women, but it wasn’t until I met their supervisor on the director level that I was sold on the position. Now this is a woman I can look up to, I thought to myself, and accepted the job offer.
In the two years I worked under her team she was a close mentor—the type of leader who found time to interact with her team 360 degrees. Even more surprising, when I became acquainted with her boss, the relationship proved an unbelievable asset to my career. I have him to thank for the chair that I sit in now.
You often hear the phrase “manage up” when discussing young women and careers, and this relationship-building is one of the most concrete examples of that managing. You never know who’s going to be the one to stick his or her hand in the air to champion you—it could be your boss, it could be his boss or even her boss after that. But it’s never going to happen if you don’t take the first step.
Here, from Claman’s HBR column, three incredibly useful tips for getting to know your boss’s boss better:
Interact with her, directly or indirectly. Take advantage of every opportunity to touch base. When he gets a promotion or honor, send him a note of congratulations. If you find a relevant article or book, send your boss a copy and ask if she thinks her boss would also like it. Also, try to find opportunities to ask questions. Is there a contact that you need to do your work? Is there a course you want to know more about? Ask you manager first, and then ask if his boss might have more suggestions.
Increase your overall exposure. Improving your visibility will get your performance on multiple radar screens. A great way to do this is to volunteer for a cross functional team or a task force. Send periodic progress updates on your work with this team to your manager, and ask to send a copy her boss too. It might seem like extra work, but it's a chance to expand your internal network and reputation.
Produce results that will catch her eye. Become famous with your customers — internal and external — and send along any compliments you receive to your manager. She will undoubtedly send it up one rung in the hierarchy — since your success reflects positively on your boss, who wants to get noticed by her boss too. It's traditional to evaluate people using customer responses in customer service jobs, but people in finance, human resources, or information technology can use this approach.
Read Priscilla Claman's post in full here.
