This is one of the top trends I am helping school leaders navigate right now. With a good amount of school year still ahead of us, now can be the time to reflect on your relationship with your principal and determine if you need to use this strategy to improve a strained relationship.
Managing up is the practice of strategically managing your relationship with your supervisor to create better outcomes for everyone involved, including you, your boss, your organization, and the people you serve. It's about understanding your principal's priorities, communication style, and needs, then adapting your approach to work more effectively within that reality. It’s not desirable, but it is sometimes necessary to maintain your leadership motivation... and mental health. I provide some insights below to tease out what it is and know whether you should try it.
What Managing Up Is NOT
It's not manipulation. You're not trying to trick or deceive your principal. You're being intentional about communication and collaboration.
It's not sucking up. Managing up isn't about flattery or being a yes-person. It's about professional effectiveness.
It's not doing your boss's job for them. While you might help your principal be more successful, you're not covering for incompetence or doing their work.
It's not being inauthentic. You can manage up while staying true to your values and maintaining your integrity.
It's not accepting mistreatment. Managing up is a professional strategy, not a tolerance for abuse or unethical behavior.
What Managing Up Actually Looks Like
This takes some knowing about your principal as a person and as a leader, which can be difficult if the relationship is already strained. It’s likely you will have to be proactive to try and know your principal as a person.
Understanding your principal's perspective. What keeps them up at night? What does success look like from their seat? When you understand their context, you can frame your ideas and concerns in ways that resonate.
Adapting to their communication style. Some principals want detailed emails. Others prefer quick face-to-face updates. Some want you to come with problems and solutions. Others want to be involved in the problem-solving. Managing up means learning these preferences and working within them, even if they're different from your natural style.
Proactively communicating. Rather than waiting for your principal to ask for updates or discover problems, you anticipate what they need to know and when. You keep them informed about potential issues before they escalate. You make sure there are no surprises that could embarrass them in front of the superintendent or the school board.
Making your principal successful. You look for opportunities to make their job easier—taking projects off their plate, giving them credit for successes, and providing information they need for district meetings. When your principal succeeds, you typically benefit too. This point could be difficult to tease out if you perceive your principal as incompetent, which is the subject of a different article at another time.
Solving problems, not just presenting them. Instead of just bringing issues to your principal, you come with analysis and proposed solutions. "We have a problem with hallway behavior between 3rd and 4th period" becomes "We have a problem with hallway behavior between 3rd and 4th period. I've observed this transition, and I think it's because too many students are passing through the same corridor at once. I'd like to propose staggering dismissal times by one minute for rooms on the west wing. What do you think?"
Building trust over time. You demonstrate reliability by following through on commitments, handling your responsibilities well, and being honest even when it's uncomfortable.
Picking your battles. You distinguish between issues worth pushing back on and issues where you can defer to your principal's judgment. This means when you do advocate strongly for something, your principal knows it genuinely matters.
Reading the room. You develop the ability to gauge when your principal is receptive to new ideas versus when they're stressed and need space. You understand when to press an issue and when to let it breathe.
So how do you know?
Not every principal-AP relationship requires intensive "managing up." In healthy partnerships, you collaborate naturally, communicate openly, and share leadership without constantly calculating your next move. Difficult topics aren't difficult conversations. But how do you know when you've crossed from normal workplace dynamics into territory that requires more strategic navigation?
First, let's establish what healthy looks like so you can recognize when you don't have it:
Your principal seeks your input and genuinely considers it
You can disagree respectfully and it doesn't create lasting tension
You receive both positive feedback and constructive criticism
Your principal trusts you with significant responsibilities
Communication flows easily in both directions
Mistakes are treated as learning opportunities, not character flaws
If this describes your relationship, count your blessings. You still need to communicate well and be professional, but you don't need the strategic, careful approach that "managing up" implies.
Yellow Flags (Caution: Start Paying Attention): These signs suggest the relationship needs some attention, though it may not be in crisis (click dropdown arrow to the left)
Communication becomes one-sided. You're always initiating conversations, sending updates, and seeking feedback, but you rarely hear from your principal unless there's a problem.
You're surprised by their reactions. You think a decision will be well-received and they're upset, or vice versa. You're having trouble predicting what matters to them.
You're excluded from decisions in your domain. They make calls about discipline, scheduling, or other areas you typically handle without consulting you.
Feedback is vague or contradictory. You're told to "take more initiative" but then criticized when you do. Or you receive feedback that seems to shift based on their mood.
They seem threatened by you. When you accomplish something significant, they take credit, minimize it, or find fault with some aspect of it.
Your ideas are consistently dismissed or ignored. Not every suggestion will be implemented, but if your input is routinely disregarded without discussion, that's a problem.
Red Flags (Active Managing Up Required): These signs indicate a relationship that needs serious attention and strategic navigation (click dropdown arrow to the left)
Critical Red Flags (Consider Your Options Immediately): These situations require not just managing up, but serious consideration of whether the relationship is salvageable (click dropdown arrow to the left)
Managing up is not easy, but it is sometimes the smartest move you can make. Navigating the relationship with intention and professionalism helps you maintain influence and keep progress moving. In turn, you may have to be "managed up" one day if you outgrow your role and aspire for higher-level leadership. (Hopefully not!)
