Why it’s Worth your Time to Communicate Up
You're doing the work. You're getting results. But are you taking time to share that work with those more senior to you in your organization?
Communicating up is a key part of managing up. However, it can feel like an extraneous task to write an email or put a deck together for work that is already done.
One leader I worked with recently was reluctant to spend the time on this. But they were receiving indirect feedback that proactively communicating up might be helpful to prevent some assumptions their higher-ups were making. In our coaching, I asked, “How useful is it to you, from 1 to 10, to do this type of proactive communication?” 4 out of 10 was the response. It just didn't seem fair to have to spend time selling their good work. Why couldn’t it speak for itself?
The problem was, not proactively communicating what was working well and what this leader's vision was left a void of information that was filled with skepticism and critical questioning, which of course didn’t feel good. That ultimately was why it was worth their time to be 'out in front' of the conversation.
We spent time coaching on the value that could be extracted from this proactive, unnecessary-or-at-least-unfair aspect of the job. We unpacked the fact that they were not interested in spending time on optics, or "selling" their image.
However, it did click for this leader when their proactive communication efforts were framed as an effort to build alignment with this group of stakeholders. These stakeholders were missing information, and the consequences of how they were filling the information void were costing more than the time it would take to communicate.
What value does it add YOU to take time to proactively communicate?
It clarifies and hones your big-picture, dot-connecting thinking
You lead the narrative and set the tone
You will find out sooner whether this key stakeholder group is aligned, resulting in less re-work later
You are seen as a leader by proactively providing information that is designed to help your boss and other executives
At this point, you might be thinking, "Isn’t my boss supposed to remove obstacles to make it easier for me to do my job?" Yes. And.
You are also there to support your boss in showcasing and integrating your work into the bigger-picture vision for which they’re responsible. Think about how helpful it is when your direct reports give you a summary of their work before you get to the point of asking. Flip that around in your mind to empathize with those at the higher-system-level points in the organization, bringing insight into what helpful information you can provide. They just might be wondering how you’re doing. Let it come straight from the horse’s mouth.
