Master the art of managing up
Master the professional skill of managing up — building credibility, gaining alignment, and moving ideas forward with managers, senior leaders, and stakeholders. Practical, polished, and immediately applicable in hybrid, remote, and in-person workplaces.
"The professionals who get ahead don't just do great work — they know how to make that work visible, credible, and easy for leaders to act on."— Shani Roberts
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Identify manager and stakeholder priorities, communication preferences, and decision-making needs to work more strategically.
- Communicate progress, risks, and support needs clearly and proactively — before problems escalate.
- Bring issues forward with relevant context, considered options, and a clear recommendation rather than just the problem.
- Advocate professionally for ideas, resources, timelines, and support using structured, respectful influence techniques.
- Build lasting credibility through consistent preparation, sound judgment, reliable follow-through, and appropriate visibility.
- Navigate competing priorities, misalignment, and unclear direction by asking the right questions and recovering quickly.
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
5 modules · 16 lessons
Understand Priorities and Decision Styles
Before you can manage up effectively, you need a clear picture of what your manager and key stakeholders are working toward, how they make decisions, and what success looks like from their vantage point. This foundational module establishes the mindset shift at the heart of managing up: moving from reactive execution to strategic awareness. Learners build a Stakeholder Priorities Map and develop the habit of reading the landscape before they communicate or advocate.
- 1.1Map What Your Manager and Stakeholders Actually Care AboutIncluded
- 1.2Decode Decision-Making Styles and Communication PreferencesIncluded
- 1.3Clarify Success, Ownership, and Decision RightsIncluded
Build Credibility Through Proactive Communication
Credibility is not just about doing good work — it is about making that work visible in the right way, to the right people, at the right time. This module focuses on the communication habits that build trust with managers and stakeholders: concise, relevant updates; early and honest risk communication; and reliable follow-through. Learners examine what proactive communication looks like in practice, contrast effective and ineffective examples, and build a Manager Update Template they can apply immediately. This module directly addresses the remote-employee visibility challenge without encouraging performative over-communication.
- 2.1Send Updates That Actually Inform — Without OverwhelmingIncluded
- 2.2Communicate Risks and Delays Before They EscalateIncluded
- 2.3Follow Through — and Make It VisibleIncluded
Bring Problems With Possible Solutions
One of the most valued professional habits — and one of the clearest signals of sound judgment — is the ability to bring a problem forward with relevant context, considered options, and a clear recommendation. This module teaches learners to distinguish facts from assumptions, frame issues clearly and concisely, develop realistic options rather than just surfacing concerns, and make a specific ask rather than leaving decisions entirely to others. The Problem-to-Recommendation Planner is introduced and built across all three lessons.
- 3.1Separate Facts From Assumptions Before You Raise an IssueIncluded
- 3.2Frame the Problem Clearly and Lead With the RecommendationIncluded
- 3.3Ask for the Right Decision or Support — Not Just InputIncluded
Influence Without Formal Authority
Influence is not positional power — it is the ability to move people toward a decision, an idea, or an action through preparation, relevance, and trust. This module teaches professionals to build genuine buy-in by connecting ideas to what already matters, tailoring messages for different audiences and contexts, and navigating competing interests with clarity and respect. The Influence Conversation Planner is introduced and used throughout. This module is carefully positioned as a professional skill grounded in honesty and mutual benefit — not persuasion tactics, office politics, or manipulation.
- 4.1Connect Your Ideas to What Already MattersIncluded
- 4.2Tailor Your Message for Every AudienceIncluded
- 4.3Navigate Competing Interests and Advocate RespectfullyIncluded
Strengthen Relationships With Leaders and Stakeholders
The habits and skills from the previous four modules compound over time only when they are embedded in real, ongoing relationships. This final module focuses on the interpersonal and relational dimensions of managing up: preparing for one-on-ones with intention, asking questions that build mutual understanding, responding gracefully to direction you didn't choose, recovering from misalignment without losing trust, and building a long-term professional presence that expands your influence over time. The One-on-One Preparation Worksheet anchors this module and draws on tools from across the course. The module closes with a capstone personal action plan.
- 5.1Prepare for One-on-Ones That Actually Move Things ForwardIncluded
- 5.2Ask Thoughtful Questions and Respond Well to DirectionIncluded
- 5.3Recover From Misalignment and Rebuild TrustIncluded
- 5.4Build Long-Term Trust and Expand Your Influence Over TimeIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
Ambitious Individual Contributors
You deliver strong work but want to ensure it's seen and valued by the people who make decisions about your growth.
Emerging Leaders
You're stepping into greater responsibility and need to build credibility with senior stakeholders before you have the title to back it up.
Project & Program Leads
You're accountable for outcomes but rely on buy-in from leaders and stakeholders you don't have authority over to get things done.
Remote & Hybrid Professionals
You need to stay visible, aligned, and trusted by managers and leaders you rarely see in person.
Career Changers & New Hires
You're building relationships from scratch in a new environment and want to establish credibility quickly and professionally.
Experienced Professionals Seeking More Influence
You have deep expertise and want to translate it into greater strategic visibility and impact with senior leadership.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Shani Roberts
If you've ever walked out of a meeting wondering why a perfectly good idea didn't land — or spent weeks on a project only to have it deprioritized with no explanation — you already know the frustration that comes from doing strong work that somehow doesn't connect with the people who need to see it. That gap between the quality of your work and the recognition it gets isn't a talent problem. It's a skills gap, and it has a name: managing up.
I built Work Better Institute around a simple belief — that the professional skills that actually shape careers are learnable, teachable, and too rarely taught. Influencing a senior stakeholder, framing a risk before it becomes a crisis, recovering gracefully from misalignment, advocating for your idea without sounding like you're lobbying for yourself — these aren't personality traits. They're skills. And when you have them, everything about your work experience changes.
What you'll find in this course isn't motivation or mindset content. It's structured, practical, workplace-ready frameworks that you can use on Monday morning. You'll learn how to map what your manager actually cares about — not what they say in broad strokes, but what drives their decisions. You'll learn how to communicate progress and risk proactively, before your manager has to ask. You'll learn how to bring a problem to your leader already paired with context, options, and a clear recommendation — so you're a thought partner, not just someone raising flags. And you'll learn how to build the kind of long-term credibility that expands your influence well beyond your immediate team.
I designed every module around real scenarios, real workplace language, and frameworks that hold up across industries, team structures, and working environments. Whether you're a project lead navigating a demanding stakeholder, an individual contributor trying to get your ideas taken seriously, or an emerging leader building relationships with senior executives for the first time — this course meets you where you are and gives you exactly what you need to move forward.
The professionals who get ahead aren't always the most technically skilled — they're the ones who know how to work with the people above them effectively, earn their trust consistently, and make it easy for leaders to say yes. That's what this course gives you. I'm glad you're here, and I can't wait to see what you do with it.
— Shani Roberts
Start your journey today
Join get instant access — learn at your own pace with an AI coach in your corner.
- 5 modules, 16 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed