It’s an important set of skills right now. With some organizations using artificial intelligence to eliminate middle layers of management, the ability to manage up has become even more vital to your career — and your organization’s success. Leaders above are often unaware of what they don’t know, and they might be misled by AI.

If you want to strengthen your ability to lead up, you need to know how to assess your skills — and bolster them.

We define effective managing up, or upward leadership as “listening to those higher in rank and influencing them to assist you and your team to better embody the organization’s values and fulfill its mission, strategy, and goals.”1 Successful upward leaders create sustainable wins for the boss, team, and organization.

Notice that this definition starts with listening. Just because someone wrote down the organization’s values, mission, strategy, and goals on ever-available, wallet-sized notecards or displayed them in a flashy PowerPoint graphic does not ensure that everyone will interpret the ideas in a similar and synergistic fashion. The written word is not enough. Understanding the nuances of interpretation requires active listening for unstated sentiments.

Leading up also, of course, involves influencing. Effective upward leaders establish connections, circumvent problems, and convince those in power to embrace opportunities, innovations, and novel insights. But assisting is equally important. Think of an NBA assist wizard like LeBron James who knows when and where to deliver the ball to other players so they can score. Assisting requires proper alignment between team members, knowledge of who is in position to score, and a willingness to let others shine.