1. Stephanie Benson, MD Brandy Deffenbacher, MD Miranda Huffman, MD, MEd
Managing Up
Stephanie Benson, MD
Brandy Deffenbacher, MD
Miranda Huffman, MD, MEd
Stephanie

2. Objectives
Recognize how your individual preference can help and hurt your ability to interact with immediate supervisors
Identify the goals of your immediate supervisor and use this knowledge to develop an action plan that will meet your goals while also addressing the goals of the supervisor
Develop an individualized plan to institute meaningful change in a specific facet of your institution
Stephanie

3. Disclosures
None

4. Who We Are Stephanie Benson Brandy Deffenbacher Miranda Huffman
Southern New Mexico Family Medicine Residency
Brandy Deffenbacher
University of Colorado Department of Family Medicine
Miranda Huffman
University of Missouri – Kansas City Department of Community and Family Medicine
Stephanie

5. Why are you here? The Peter Principle
People are promoted to their level of incompetence, so everyone is bad at their job
Leaders in medical education may be excellent clinicians and educators, but may struggle with leadership and management
The Peter Principle –Stephanie

6. Hazards of Junior Faculty
Pulled in multiple directions
Lack of clear job description
Limited administrative support
Don’t know the politics
Don’t have long-term relationships
Boat rockers
Threats to others in authority positions
Brandy

7. Solution!
Principles initially laid out by John Gabarro and John Kotter in 1980 Harvard Business Review article, “Managing Your Boss”
Idea – the relationship between senior executives and middle managers is reciprocal and both individuals have a responsibility for making it a successful relationship. Those on the bottom end can improve the overall outcomes by exercising these principles.

8. Principles of Managing Up
Know your boss
Strengths
Weaknesses
Work styles
Communication style
Objectives
Pressures
If you know your boss, you can adjust your work style to complement and support your boss, working better not harder
Strengths
Weaknesses
Work styles – micromanager vs. undermanager
Communication style – written vs. verbal
Objectives – personal and professional
Pressures

9. Principles of Managing Up
Know yourself
Strengths
Weaknesses
Work styles
Current job description
Resources
Long-term goals
Triggers for bad behavior
Know where your weaknesses are so you can work around them, if your strength matches your bosses weakness (e.g., you’re touchy feely and your boss isn’t, so you offer to handle difficult conversations)

10. Principles of Managing Up
Work around your boss and yourself to make your boss look good
….and make your company/department/program successful!

11. What You Need To Know Your job description Your salary breakdown
If you don’t have one, draft one and ask for approval
Also your future job descriptions
Your salary breakdown
Regular tracking of how you’re doing on measured items
Your current resources
Financial, space, administrative support
What you need to do your job well
Miranda

12. General Advice Be loyal, discreet, and forgiving Pick your battles
Use your boss wisely
Time
Resources
Political capital
Own your mistakes

13. Learning Your Boss Ask colleagues for help figuring your boss out
Faculty development with introspective exercises, like Myers Briggs testing
Ask your boss!

14. Discussion
What have you seen junior faculty do well for the success of the department/program?
What have you seen junior faculty mess up? What happened because of this?

15. Self-Evaluation Exercise

16. Self-Evaluation Debriefing
What did you notice on doing this?
Where there questions you didn’t know the answer to?

17. Brain-Storming Exercise
What do you need to learn about your boss to help you be more successful?
What can you do differently yourself to improve your relationships with your boss?
What is one thing you would like to change in your department/program, and how you can leverage these principles to change them?

18. Brain-Storming Debriefing
Share your great ideas!

19. Please evaluate this session at: stfm.org/sessionevaluation