Reporting up
Whatever your management role, make sure you have the opportunity to report up to more senior managers on a regular basis. If the opportunity isn't there, create it. It's different to a one-to-one session with your direct line manager and should have three or more stakeholders. It might be in the form of a deck or a review of a dashboard but it should be presented in person - not as a fire-and-forget email. You want use the meeting to highlight achievements and raise risks and concerns. Longer term goals and KPIs should be tracked too and analysed for trends. It doesn't need to take an hour. It doesn't even need to take a full half hour but do schedule thirty minutes so any discussions can be had contemporaneously. You may face queries, feedback and even concerns (hopefully raised fairly and professionally) but the point of the meeting is to absorb and act upon that feedback. Don't deflect it. This is a safe space to promote discussion and for your local leadership team to help steer you in the right direction.
