Welcome to Work Tip Wednesday, where every Wednesday I get ready and share one lesson I've learned about career, leadership, and success from working at some of the world's biggest brands.
You can be doing great work and still be stuck, because doing your work well and doing the right work are two different things. One of the things that made me most successful was knowing what actually mattered to my manager and how they were being measured. Once you understand that, you can aim your effort at the work that moves their priorities, which is usually the work that gets you noticed. Here are two conversations that get you there.
The Real Challenge
Most people pour their energy into doing their tasks well and assume that is enough to be seen as ready for more. It often is not, because effort aimed at a priority your manager does not actually care about this quarter earns far less than the same effort aimed at one they are accountable for. You can work hard all year on the wrong things and be genuinely surprised when the recognition does not follow.
Your manager is measured on a short list of outcomes, whether or not they have ever spelled that list out for you. The people who rise are the ones who figure out that list and point their work at it. The two conversations below are how you find the list, and then claim a piece of it as your own.
1. Learn What Your Manager Is Accountable For
Knowing what my manager was responsible for, and how their own performance was being judged, was one of the biggest reasons I moved up. When you understand what your manager is on the hook for, you understand what will actually help them, which is the work that gets remembered when it counts.
You usually do not have to guess. Ask directly. A question like "What are the two or three outcomes you're most focused on this quarter?" gets you a clear answer, and it makes you look engaged rather than nosy. Once you have that answer, you are getting the answers to the test. You know which of your projects to prioritize, which to talk about in your updates, and how to frame your contribution in the language your manager is already using with their own boss.
Most people never ask this question, so they spend years inferring their manager's priorities from scraps and often guessing wrong. A single direct conversation replaces months of guesswork, and it signals that you think about the business the way a more senior person does.
2. Agree on What You Can Own
Once you know the priorities, claim a real piece of one. When every decision has to route back through your manager, the work slows down and your manager becomes the bottleneck on their own goals. Offering to take a piece off their plate solves a problem they actually feel. Try something like: "I'd like to support this priority by taking ownership of this part of it."
Then genuinely own it. Make the decisions that are yours to make, drive the work forward without waiting to be chased, and keep your manager updated the way they prefer to be updated. Ownership only builds trust if it actually reduces their load, so the goal is for them to think about this piece less because you have it, not more because they are now checking on you.
There is a second benefit that most people miss. When you own a piece of work that genuinely matters to the business, you have a natural reason to introduce yourself to the other leaders who care about that outcome. You are not networking for its own sake, you are showing up in those rooms because the important work you own put you there, which is the kind of visibility that compounds.
The Bottom Line
Managing your manager gets easier once you understand their priorities and make it clear where you can take work off their plate. Ask what two or three outcomes they are most focused on, then claim ownership of a piece of one and run it well enough that they stop worrying about it. You stop being someone who works hard in a general direction and become someone aimed squarely at what the business is measuring, which is where careers actually accelerate.
Want to talk through the scenarios no one teaches you? These are exactly the conversations we work through inside Work Lunch: monthly masterclasses, live hot-seat coaching, expert guest sessions on things like negotiation and media training, and a private community of ambitious women. Enrollment opens three times a year, and it's open now. Learn more and join.
Jeanelle Teves is the Chief Commercial Officer at Bugaboo and founder of Work Lunch. She teaches communication, presence, and strategic leadership for ambitious professionals.
