Ways and Means for Managing Up: 50 Strategies for Helping You and Your Boss Succeed

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Be a Gatekeeper, Not a Gate Blocker

The more powerful one gets, the more protective one can become. Of what? Of time, of territory, of the world one manages for the boss or for oneself. Such instincts may feel good for the moment, but over time they can be obstructive.

Stakeholders looking at what you do and how you do it may see you as a legitimate gatekeeper who provides access to people, places, and things or a gate blocker who uses barriers and excuses as obstacles to progress. Arrogance and self-serving resistance to providing assistance to both insiders and outsiders can create a toxic workplace environment where people fear to tread. ...