A Guide to Managing Up with Integrity
Why Managing Up Is Often Misunderstood
This article is part of The Art of Managing Up Series, a practical guide designed to help professionals create alignment, increase strategic contribution, and become the CEO of their career.
Mention the phrase managing up, and you will often notice two very different reactions.
Some people immediately recognize it as an important leadership skill.
Others become uncomfortable with the idea altogether.
They associate managing up with office politics, flattering senior leaders, self-promotion, or finding ways to gain favor with people in positions of authority.
For many, the term itself feels inauthentic.
If that is your first reaction, you are not alone.
It is also one of the biggest reasons talented professionals never develop one of the most valuable leadership practices available to them.
The problem is not managing up.
The problem is that many people misunderstand what managing up actually is.
Why the Misunderstanding Exists
Most workplace behaviors are neutral.
Communicating strategically.
Building relationships.
Making your contributions visible.
Helping leaders make better decisions.
Expanding your network.
None of these behaviors is inherently good or bad.
Yet many professionals hesitate to practice them because they have seen those same behaviors used unethically.
They have watched people manipulate information, seek personal advantage, take credit for the work of others, or prioritize their own success over the success of the team.
Over time, it becomes easy to assume that the behavior itself is the problem.
It is not.
The difference is not simply the behavior.
The difference is integrity. It is reflected in the intention behind your actions, the judgment you exercise, and the way those actions create value for others.
Organizational awareness and strategic action are not inherently manipulative. Whether they become manipulation depends on how they are used, the judgment behind them, and whose interests they ultimately serve.
The Wise Owl and the Fox
In The Art of Managing Up, I draw on the political skills model developed by Simon Baddeley and Kim James in their 1987 article, “Owl, Fox, Donkey or Sheep: Political Skills for Managers.”
The model examines two dimensions of organizational behavior: how effectively people read the political dynamics around them and whether they use that awareness with integrity or to play psychological games. It identifies four behaviors: the Wise Owl, Clever Fox, Innocent Sheep, and Inept Donkey.
These are not fixed personality types. They are behaviors any of us may adopt in different situations.
For this discussion, the contrast between the Wise Owl and the Fox is especially useful.
Both understand the organization.
Both recognize competing interests, informal influence, and how decisions are really made.
The difference is how they use that awareness.
The Fox is politically aware but uses that understanding primarily to create personal advantage.
The Wise Owl is equally aware but acts with integrity. The Owl uses organizational intelligence to create clarity, strengthen alignment, improve decisions, and generate value for the leader, the team, the organization, and themselves.
Both understand the system.
Only one uses that understanding to build trust.
That is the distinction at the heart of effective managing up.
Awareness is necessary.
Awareness without integrity, however, can become manipulation.
Managing Up Begins with Integrity
At N-BAC, we define managing up as:
Managing up is the practice of creating value for your leader, your team, your organization, and yourself by ensuring your contributions are understood, aligned with strategic priorities, and positioned for impact.
That definition matters because managing up is not about manipulating perceptions, gaining favor, or advancing at the expense of others.
It is about using organizational awareness and strategic action with integrity.
When practiced well, managing up helps leaders make better decisions, strengthens alignment, improves communication, and moves work forward. It also ensures that your contributions are understood, recognized, and connected to organizational priorities.
Managing up is not about creating advantage.
It is about creating value.
Sustainable Managing Up Requires Shared Value
Before asking, “How do I manage up?” ask:
What is my intention? Who benefits from the way I pursue it? And, more importantly, who might be harmed or disadvantaged in the process?
If your actions primarily create value for you while adding little value to your leader or organization, any success is likely to be short-lived. Trust erodes, credibility weakens, and opportunities narrow.
If your efforts consistently create value for your leader and organization but never create value for you, that relationship also becomes unsustainable. Over time, you may feel overlooked, undervalued, or disengaged.
If value for you, your leader, or your organization is created at the expense of someone else, your own values, or the integrity of the process, it is not sustainable managing up. It may produce a short-term result, but it ultimately weakens trust and undermines the value being created.
Sustainable managing up creates value for everyone involved. More importantly, it does so without compromising your values or integrity.
It strengthens the leader, supports the organization, and allows your own credibility, influence, and career to grow through meaningful contribution.
The goal is not to choose between organizational success and career success, or to achieve either at the expense of integrity.
It is to create both while remaining grounded in your values.
What Can Get in the Way of Managing Up?
Understanding the intention behind managing up is important. But even when professionals understand what managing up is and approach it with integrity, there can still be barriers that make it difficult to practice effectively.
Explore six common barriers to managing up across mindset, perspective, communication, and relationships.
Read: What Gets in the Way of Managing Up? 6 Common Barriers →
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This article is part of The Art of Managing Up Series, a practical guide designed to help professionals create alignment, increase strategic contribution, and become the CEO of their career. If you are just joining the series, start with What Is Managing Up? A Practical Guide.
Ready to Go Deeper?
Read The Art of Managing Up Book by Nejat Abdurahman
Organizations use The Art of Managing Up to help leaders strengthen alignment, communicate more strategically, increase organizational awareness, and contribute more effectively across levels.
N-BAC brings this work to organizations through Managing Up workshops and masterclasses, assessments, and leadership development programs.
If you are exploring Managing Up for your leaders, team, or organization, start a conversation with N-BAC.
