January 8, 2026
.jpg)
"You're too in the weeds. I need you to separate the signal from the noise."
One of my clients received this feedback from their boss. Unfortunately, they didn't receive much direction on what this means or how to do it, and this is an all too common story.
This feedback falls into the category of managing up effectively. What their boss was asking for was clearer, more concise information to do their job. It makes perfect sense. As you progress in leadership, the boss you report to will be at a higher level as well.
Their span of control, the demands on their time, pressure, and levels of risk will increase. They need their teams to be more autonomous, discerning, and strategic. Most importantly, they need their teams to manage up more effectively.
Managing up is one of those nebulous skills you know you need but have trouble figuring out how to develop. Let's break down what it entails.
When you hear "managing up," think "helping my boss succeed." Your boss has targets just like you, a larger span of control, and more risk associated with mistakes. When you make their job easier, you're viewed as more competent, senior, and effective. You'll be closer to the top of the list when additional opportunities open up.
The question is: how do you make their job easier?
View the relationship with your boss as a two-way partnership where you're both responsible for making it work. This is foundational to everything that follows. Like all relationships, there will likely be areas where you disagree, and you'll each have gaps and blind spots that can only be illuminated by partnership.
Your relationship with your boss needs to be rooted in shared values, interests, or purpose. Make the anchor business objectives. This doesn't prevent you from developing a personal relationship, but it ensures you can be successful together even if there's no personal connection.
More senior leaders have a larger span of control, more demands for their attention, and operate with higher stakes. The last thing they need is a completely avoidable surprise.
For example, if you hear from one of your team members that a big client is at risk of leaving, share it with your boss immediately. Don't wait until they make their final decision and then spring it on them. Give your boss time to help solve the problem or prepare for the outcome.
It's important to demonstrate autonomy, proactively share strategy and intent, and problem-solve on your own. But it's also important to demonstrate that you know when you need help and ask for it clearly.
This helps avoid surprises like project delays or lost clients and, in the best cases, creates shared accountability for a solution. Knowing when to escalate is a sign of mature leadership, not weakness.
Even when an initiative is progressing well, provide status updates and wins. You never know when your boss will be asked about something or have an opportunity to give you recognition to their boss and peers.
Silence creates uncertainty. Regular updates create confidence.
Your ability to understand what's important to your boss and how your projects relate to it. This requires knowing their goals, their boss's priorities, and the broader organizational strategy.
Without discernment, you'll spend time on work that doesn't matter and miss opportunities to contribute where it counts most.
Anticipating needs and providing solutions before they become urgent. This means understanding your boss's priorities well enough to know what they'll need next week, next month, or next quarter.
Proactive leaders surface problems early, propose solutions before being asked, and create options rather than presenting obstacles.
Sharing the right information at the right level of detail and clearly articulating any needs or blockers. This is where "separating signal from noise" becomes critical.
Your boss doesn't need every detail. They need the information that helps them make decisions, allocate resources, and communicate up their own chain. Learning what level of detail your boss needs takes observation and iteration.
None of this works if you don't understand what's important to your boss and how your responsibilities contribute to those things. If you don't already know this, schedule time to discuss it explicitly.
Ask: "What are your top three priorities this quarter, and how can my work best support them?"
Treat each planned interaction (group meetings, 1:1s, presentations) as an opportunity to demonstrate that you understand your business. Come with updates, questions, and recommendations rather than waiting to be asked.
You can't communicate confidence, foresee challenges and opportunities, or escalate appropriately if you don't actually have a handle on your team or department.
You need systems, people, and strategies in place to understand what's working and what's not working. This might mean you need to teach your direct reports how to manage up more effectively so information flows smoothly to you.
Whatever the case, your actual success and knowledge of your objectives is the most critical aspect of managing up. You can't manage up effectively if you're not managing well, period.
This connects directly to building accountability in your team. When your team takes ownership of outcomes and communicates proactively with you, it becomes much easier to do the same with your boss.
Managing up isn't about manipulation or politics. It's about making the partnership with your boss work effectively so both of you can succeed.
When you help your boss succeed, you position yourself for greater responsibility, visibility, and opportunity. More importantly, you make the entire organization more effective by ensuring information flows where it needs to go and decisions get made with the right context.
The leaders who master managing up don't just advance their own careers. They become the connective tissue that makes organizations work.
Want to develop your managing up skills and other critical leadership capabilities? Join The Leadership Practice newsletter for weekly insights on building accountability, creating psychological safety, and scaling your leadership impact.
Photo by Erika Fletcher on Unsplash
