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Managing Up At Your Library: Working Towards Building Effective Relationships
by Zahra M. Baird
In any library hierarchy, whether you work as support staff, a clerk, an assistant, a librarian, or senior librarian, there is always someone above you to whom you report. Someone manages you.
If you are a full-time library employee, chances are that you have spent half of your adult life at work at your library - AKA, your "home away from home." It is essential to cultivate your work relationships, since you spend a large portion of your life at your library.
Managing Up
Do you love your library, but dislike working for your current supervisor? Do you wish you could break out of the relationship pattern you have established with your boss? Do you find yourself being managed by inexperienced, incompetent, or self-absorbed department heads, supervising librarians, assistant branch librarians, assistant directors, or library directors? Are you interested in getting more out of your employer/employee relationship?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, do not despair - there is hope! You can turn the tables, shift your perspective, and start managing those above you. How? By applying the tools, concepts and strategies that support the concept of "Managing Up." Join the masses of people who are creating a productive and effective partnership with supervisors and strengthening relationships with their bosses and colleagues.
Selective Strategies
A plethora of self-help literature provides ideas on how to manage your supervisors. Advice in these books ranges from the common sense principles of communicating clearly, setting high personal standards, and seeking to be assigned more challenging tasks, to extreme suggestions about doing anything to make the boss look good, regardless of what you have to endure. Some even suggest rummaging through your bosses' wastebaskets to keep on top of things!
It is important to note that not every strategy or suggestion will work for you, as each person's library situation is different. In order to create an effective managing up strategy, though, you must become familiar with the essential components.
Managing up does not involve playing head games, manipulating, morphing into your boss's shadow in order to become an extended version of him or her, changing yourself to become untrue to your morals, values and beliefs, or just going with flow for the sake of getting along with your boss.
Balance Your Boss
Since we are not all blessed with a savvy boss who adapts a leadership style to each individual, as employees, it is to our advantage to learn how to be flexible and adaptable. The first step in managing up is to look inward and undertake a thorough self assessment, so that you can clearly evaluate and identify your own strengths and weaknesses. Always be willing to work on fixing your own flaws. The second step is to accept your boss's personal characteristics. Look for ways in which your strengths compliment your boss's weaknesses - and vice versa.
In order to identify your boss's management approach, it is important to understand what motivates him or her so that you can work to help achieve what he or she wants. This should always be framed within the context of your library's goals, expectations and priorities, while also incorporating your own goals.
Examine your preferred work style and that of your boss. Decide if your boss is a heads-on or hands-on manager. How does your boss function best? Does he or she prefer memos? Like to talk a lot? Love to listen? Based on your observations, you need to approach them through their preferences.
What type of personality does your boss have? Exceptionally formal or informal? Extroverted or introverted? How much control does he or she need to exert in order to feel in charge of the show?
What is your boss's decision-making style? Does he or she prefer cold hard facts and like things very clear-cut, or is he or she more creative, relying upon intuition? Is there an openness to seeing things from a different perspective?
Communication styles are very important. Are you and your boss effective communicators? Are you very aggressive and need to tone down your approach? Are you too timid and need to become more assertive? How is your message being perceived and received?
Dream or Nightmare?
There are many types of bosses. Few of us are managed by the dream boss, who is secure, humble, and humane. Dream bosses elicit the best from their employees by motivating them, encouraging the free exchange of ideas, being honest, welcoming suggestions, and being willing to both teach and learn.
If you work for a narcissistic boss, be sure to show how you enhance his or her career and success by excelling in a supporting role. Working for a boss who is extremely critical and a perfectionist? You need to be obsessive about details. Is your boss depressed? Motivate up - and motivate the rest of your team with your own enthusiasm. If your boss is jealous and envious, threatened by your ability, be sure to keep a low profile, give credit and make him or her feel like an important part of your work life. Is your boss an emotional, disorganized, dramatic and inconsistent supervisor? Then carefully pick your moments, don't be disturbed by outbursts, and, most importantly, don't take things personally. Be the calm in middle of the storm!
Regardless of what type of boss you have, in order to build a successful relationship, you must get to know your superiors and always be supportive of the person to whom you report. It is imperative to be a strong team player, by being positive, giving others credit and supporting and advancing your colleagues and subordinates. Keep abreast of library issues and current events. Whatever you do, never, ever, surprise your boss or keep him or her out of the information loop. Make sure that you align your personal goals with the library's organizational goals. When your supervisor bothers you at work, it is important to pick your battles, prioritize what bothers you, and then tolerate the lesser evils for the greater good. If you have tried everything humanly possible to improve your relationship, and you still really can't stand your boss, you can always change jobs. When doing so, it is important to recognize the value of making a lateral move as well as going for a promotion.
The concept of managing up has been around for a while in the business world, so why not try it at your library? If carried out effectively, managing up strategies can modify the behavior directed towards you and enable you to feel more in control of your work life and career path. I believe in the saying that "every wall is a door." In that spirit, open the doors to career growth and satisfaction. No one else will manage your career. You must seek your own challenges and satisfaction. Remember, you have choices in how you relate to people at work. I encourage you not only to survive but to thrive at your library, by using managing up strategies!
Zahra M. Baird is currently a Children's Librarian at the Chappaqua Library in Chappaqua, NY where she values being part of an active, supportive and innovative library environment. She has worked under several library supervisors, with diverse management styles, some truly horrible and some pretty great, which spurred her to research the concept of managing up. She'd love to dialogue with you, so contact her at zbaird@westchesterlibraries.org.