“Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get work done.”
–Peter Drucker
At some point in our careers, many of us will be promoted to management. Getting promoted to management in most cases means that we are now in charge of managing people. Very seldom are people totally prepared for what it takes to manage a group of people with different personalities, goals, challenges, and attitudes.
As different as the people you will manage are the misconceptions that people have about what it means to be a manager. Here are 10 of these misconceptions:
Managing is easy – Nothing could be further from the truth, unless you don’t care about the people in your charge. If you don’t care whether they succeed or fail, then yes, managing is easy. But, if you care about them and want to see them succeed and move ahead, then you must take the time and make the effort to help them in any way you can.
Anyone can be a manager – Actually, there are people who have been promoted to managers who never should have been. People who are not willing to put in the time, have low empathy, care more about their own careers than those around them, or don’t have the right soft skill set should never be promoted to managing people. Managing people is a great responsibility, not a check mark on your resume.
Management classes and books are a waste of time – Not all management classes and books are good, but most offer some value. Picking up a few pearls of wisdom along the way can help you be a better manager. Having said that, taking a three-day management class is not going to make you a good manager. That comes with time. Take classes. Read books. But be selective.
Managing people is never having to say you’re sorry – A good manager apologizes when he/she is wrong. A good manager admits his/her mistakes and learns from them. Too many people think that managing people means you have to be a person who never makes a mistake, is always right, and looks for people to blame for their own shortcomings. Good managers are always learning to be better managers. Good managers learn from the people they manage.
Managing is mostly by gut instinct – While there are certainly parts of managing that rely on gut instinct, if you make decisions based on your gut, be ready to admit you made a mistake if it doesn’t work out. Much of management is utilizing tools and techniques that are readily available, such as creating SMART goals, understanding various ways to motivate your team, establishing reward and recognition programs, and utilizing yearly reviews to help coach and mentor your employees.
All employees should be managed the same way – This is a common management mistake. Part of your job is to get all your employees to the point where you can delegate work to them with the confidence that they will be able to complete the work with little assistance or involvement with you. Unfortunately, your employees are at different levels of expertise, experience, and skills so they must be managed based on where they are and where you would like them to be. Some will need more handholding than others will. Some will need more of your involvement than others will. If you treat them all the same way, you are setting them up for failure.
Seeking help shows management weakness – Some managers think that if they seek help from other managers or from an outside coach, their direct reports will think less of them and perhaps respect them less. Every manager needs to realize that they are not perfect, they don’t have all the answers, and it’s okay to say that they don’t know! Your direct reports will have more respect for you if you state that you don’t know but will find out and if you seek help from others because you want to be the best manager you can possibly be.
The number of people you manage identifies how good a manager you are – Whether you manage one person or 100 is no indication of what kind of manager you are. Perhaps a better measurement might be how many of the 100 you have retained over a period of time. The effective manager is measured by what he/she does with his/her people rather than how many they are managing at any one time.
Most of managing is keeping people in line – Many managers spend a lot of their time trying to catch their direct reports doing something wrong instead of rewarding them for the things that they are doing right. Management by intimidation and fear is not managing. Management without interaction, coaching, and mentoring is not managing. Management by constantly pointing out mistakes is not effective management.
Managing people should be secondary to other job duties – When you become a manager, you had better be ready to spend the majority of your time with your people, or turn down the opportunity. Your team will accomplish the goals for your group or organization. Whether you succeed or fail is in direct correlation with whether your team succeeds or fails. How you manage your team determines their success or failure. Your number one job duty is to effectively manage, coach, mentor, and direct your team.
Like anything else in life, the amount of time and effort you put in will yield either positive or negative results. Don’t fool yourself into believing that managing people is an easy part of work life. It is hard, but it is also so very rewarding. Everyone you coach and mentor may someday have the privilege of coaching and mentoring others and they will remember the managers who let them down and the managers who taught them and helped them to grow. We all remember our bad managers. We also remember our good managers and what made them good. How do you want to be remembered?
I had a list of 150 books; 150 books that all of today’s management is based on. Some of those books are hundreds of years old. I’m kicking myself because for the life of me I cannot find that list. The point is that the tried and true management practices are no longer applicable for the information, knowledge, or learning organization.
It’s really bugging me that I can’t find that list.
Managing, whether a department or company, would be really easy in the absence of people. All the mechanical aspects of managing are easily learned. Analysis of a financial statement, creating a budget, writing manuals, etc. As you note, Ron, it is all those people with differences that make a managers life tough.
There are two things in life that do not come with a workable owners manual. A baby and a management position. No two of either are the same.
Excellent points all Ken, thanks for posting.
Ron, excellent list.
If you find yourself described in the list, then stay out of management.
Bob, thanks for reading the article and your insightful comments. Couldn’t agree with you more.
Ron, thanks.
Our clients know that when a new manager fails it is their fault not the new manager’s fault.
≈ 80% of employees self-report that they are not engaged.
≈ 80% of managers are ill suited to effectively manage people.
* The two 80 percents are closely related.
Employers keep hiring the wrong people to be their managers and then they wonder why they have so few successful, engaged employees. Successful employees have all three of the following success predictors while unsuccessful employees lack one or two and usually it is Job Talent that they lack.
I. Competence
II. Cultural Fit
III. Job Talent
Employers do a…
A. GREAT job of hiring competent employees, about 95%
B. good job of hiring competent employees who fit the culture, about 70%
C. POOR job of hiring competent employees who fit the culture and who have a talent for the job, about 20%
Identifying the talent required for each job seems to be missing from talent and management discussions. If we ignore any of the three criteria, our workforce will be less successful with higher turnover than if we do not ignore any of the three criteria.
I. Competence
II. Cultural Fit
III. Job Talent
There are many factors to consider when hiring and managing talent but first we need to define talent unless “hiring talent” means “hiring employees.” Everyone wants to hire for and manage talent but if we can’t answer the five questions below with specificity, we can’t hire or manage talent effectively.
A. How do we define talent?
B. How do we measure talent?
C. How do we know a candidate’s talent?
D. How do we know what talent is required for each job?
E. How do we match a candidate’s talent to the talent demanded by the job?
Most managers cannot answer the five questions with specificity but the answers provide the framework for hiring successful employees and creating an engaged workforce.
Talent is not found in resumes or interviews or background checks or college transcripts.
Talent must be hired since it cannot be acquired or imparted after the hire.
Bob, excellent points. One of my services is job/candidate matching which is a process using assessments to help identify the key accountabilities of the position and what behavior style, motivational driving forces and competencies the position requires to handle the accountabilities. By creating a job benchmark and measuring a candidates assessment against the benchmark, we get a clearer picture of the candidate. It doesn’t measure talent, per say, but it does measure those intangibles that you can’t get from an interview or a resume.