The phrase sounds like politics. In practice it describes a set of habits that make you easier to support, and it affects outcomes more than the quality of your work alone.
Understand their pressures
Your manager has objectives, constraints and a manager of their own. Work that helps them meet those gets supported. Work that does not, however good, competes for attention.
Knowing what they are measured on explains most of their behaviour.
Bring problems with options
Arriving with a problem transfers it to them. Arriving with a problem, two options and a recommendation keeps it with you and asks only for a decision.
This single habit changes how you are perceived more than anything else.
No surprises
The worst thing you can do to a manager is let them find out about a problem from someone else. Bad news early is a manageable situation; bad news late is a crisis and a trust problem.
Learn how they prefer information
Some want a written summary before a conversation. Some want the headline and then detail if they ask. Some want a weekly note and nothing in between.
Asking directly is faster than working it out over a year.
Make your work visible
Not boasting – a brief regular summary of what moved, what is blocked, and what you need. Managers are managing several people and cannot track what they are not told.
When the relationship is not working
Sometimes it is a mismatch rather than something to fix. Recognising that early, and deciding whether to adapt or move, is better than several years of friction.