About this gathering

This month’s focus is Managing Up.

How do we manage up effectively?

Many quiet leaders feel invisible when it comes to being seen by their senior leaders. Our direct reports may understand how effective we are as leaders, yet it can sometimes feel like there is a brick wall between us and senior leadership.

At the same time, when senior leaders truly see our work and impact, it can open the door to new opportunities and support.

Together, we’ll gently explore questions such as:

• How can we show up with senior leaders in ways that help them understand our values and impact?
• How do we receive the sponsorship needed to move forward in our careers?
• What might be blocking us from being fully seen?
• How can we share our impact with senior leaders in ways that feel authentic and sustainable?

​Rather than trying to “fix” ourselves, we’ll slow down and notice what’s actually happening — and what kind of leadership presence feels most authentic and sustainable for us.

​We’ll spend time:

• ​Checking in
• ​Exploring the question through gentle, facilitated quiet reflection
• ​Identifying a small, personal experiment to carry into the coming month

​This is not a workshop or training. There’s no fixing, no pressure to speak, and no expectation to arrive with answers.

​It’s a shared space to notice, reflect, and experiment gently — alongside other quiet leaders.

Event Recap

The April 2026 Quiet Leaders Lab focused on Managing Up—it is one of the hardest areas for us quiet leaders. We often feel that we are not fully seen by our senior leaders. So how can we manage up effectively?

We long for senior leaders to truly see our ability, values, and the leadership we bring to the table. We hope they will keep us in mind for the next promotion and sponsor us toward our next step. But that doesn’t always happen.

In this session, we slowed down together to more fully examine how we can manage up effectively.

We know the thoughts and care we put into our work as leaders. Our direct reports often see this, and we wonder why senior leaders don’t see it as much. We may ask ourselves: am I sharing enough? Are there pieces that feel visible to me, but they actually have no visibility into? We need to look at this from other perspectives to see if there may be blind spots we’ve missed.

We started our session with a longer grounding exercise this time. As a newly Certified Trauma-Informed Coach, this is one of the most calming tools I’ve learned to help ground us. I guided the group through a longer pause to regulate our bodies and set aside stress and heaviness—so we could be more fully present for ourselves.

I then invited the group into our guiding question:

How do we manage up effectively?

We started by examining the question of “why is it important to manage up”. Together, we surfaced reasons included:

• Finding advocates who can support your growth
• Building strong sponsorship
• Gaining support and influence in your career
• Better supporting your direct reports
• Being recognized and respected for your work
• Helping your work and impact be more visible

Some that really stood out were career advocacy in general, and how providing clear and concise information to our managers can really enable decision-making and action-taking. The need to make career aspiration visible. The needs also span helping others understand our work and our process of working, so they stay informed about where things are, and creating trust that we are progressing in the right direction and pace.

By understanding why we need to manage up, it got us thinking about what we really should inform our management so this can help us move forward in our career and better communicate the value we bring.

I then invited the group to understand from the perspective of a senior leader, by looking at folks we managed or mentored:

As a leader, have you ever been surprised by someone on your team—their impact, capability, or perspective?

Participants explored questions through a quiet reflection such as:

• What did you initially see or assume about this person?
• What did you not see or fully understand at the time?
• What changed?
• What helped you see them more clearly?
• Was it something they shared, showed, or someone else surfaced?
• Did they actively communicate their impact—or did it emerge in another way?
• What do you wish they had done to make it easier for you to support them?
• What do you wish you had known earlier?

This allowed participants to step into a senior leader’s perspective and sparked observations they hadn’t been aware of before.

One participant mentioned how their manager was better able to support them when they shared unpolished work. The manager was able to give feedback that improved the work. Sometimes we underestimate the value of sharing work-in-progress because we want it to be perfect first. There can be a belief that our managers will think less of us if we share something unfinished, but in reality, it can help others guide us in the right direction and adjust more quickly.

This applies not only to work products, but also to leadership. Sharing questions and thoughts around strategy can help others understand your thinking and offer meaningful feedback.

We then brought our awareness back to ourselves by examining:

How am I currently making my work, impact, and perspective visible to those above me?

Participants explored both strengths and gaps in terms of visibility, noticing where there is tension, where things feel hard, and what is within their control versus what is not.

What am I already doing?

• How do I communicate with my manager or senior leaders?
• When do I share updates, progress, or challenges?
• What already helps them understand my work or impact?
• Where do I feel natural or at ease?

What might not be visible?

• What parts of my work or impact may not be visible?
• What feels obvious to me—but may not be obvious to them?
• Where might there be a gap between what I’m doing and what they’re seeing?

Where does it feel harder?

• When does managing up feel uncomfortable or difficult?
• What situations do I tend to avoid?
• What thoughts or concerns come up in those moments?

What is within my control and what is not?

During optional sharing, there was vulnerable reflection on what feels hard.

One quiet leader shared tension with their leader, where incorrect perceptions shaped how they were seen. This created an unsafe space to thrive, making it difficult to share openly or trust that their leader would advocate for them. This becomes a significant barrier to building trust.

Another quiet leader shared how sometimes we need to communicate more progress than we think, because senior leaders may not understand that progress can look like the bamboo metaphor. Bamboo takes years to grow roots underground, and we don’t see visible growth at first. But after that foundation is built, it grows rapidly. Much of our work can be similar—important but not immediately visible.

If we don’t communicate this, leaders may feel uncertain or lose trust in the direction. Work is not always linear, and sometimes we need to bring others along so they can understand what’s happening beneath the surface.

In these moments, I supported participants in recognizing that when psychological safety is not present, managing up becomes more challenging. It can be important to seek out additional supporters—people who can act as allies and help advocate for your work.

We then moved forward to designing small, personal experiments for the coming month.

What is one small experiment you can try this month when it comes to managing up?

Some suggested experiments I shared with our participants included:

• Share a small update about your work or progress
• Make one piece of your impact more visible
• Voice a perspective or idea—even briefly
• Ask for clarity, support, or feedback
• Follow up instead of waiting
• Notice when you hold back—and try a different response
• Communicate in a way that feels more aligned (not forced)
• Share context behind your thinking or decisions
• Name a challenge earlier instead of carrying it alone

• Identify someone who can better support you

• Why you want to lead
• How you want to show up
• What feels authentic and sustainable

We closed the session with this understanding:

Managing up is not about performing or proving.

It’s about creating clarity, building trust, and allowing your work to be seen — in a way that feels true to you.

Sometimes when we’ve experienced years of being misjudged or misunderstood, it can make it harder to take even a small step forward.

If you still feel stuck after reflecting on this, I’ve got you.

I created the Quiet Leader Deep Dive—a focused 50-minute 1:1 session where we work together to design a clear, realistic next step aligned with how you want to lead. As a Certified Trauma-Informed Coach, I’ll support you in moving toward your next step in a grounded and sustainable way.

If you’ve been feeling stuck for some time and would like dedicated support to turn reflection into action, you’re welcome to schedule a session here.