You Shouldn’t Be a Manager
September 11, 2009 by Phil Gerbyshak
Filed under Business
An anonymous commenter named “two” posted an interesting comment on the article Motivating the Unmotivated:
“Oh, and contrary to popular belief, not everyone wants to be a manager. Many of the top technical people I know never, ever want to have to handle time sheets, biannual reviews, approve expense reports, or hire and fire the staff. The smart ones realize that that is not their core competency and having that burden will reduce their effectiveness. Good managers will realize that too and have a strategy to retain them for a long time.”
I’m not sure who’s “popular belief” two is referring to, but I certainly don’t think EVERYONE should be a manager. In fact, I’d bet over half the people who ARE managers shouldn’t be managers.
Let’s play a little game I’m calling…
You shouldn’t be a manager!
I’m going to share 9 ways I know you shouldn’t be a manager, and see if any of these sound familiar to you.
- If you don’t get joy from the smallest of improvements of others, you shouldn’t be a manager.
- If you don’t want to hire and fire people, you shouldn’t be a manager.
- If you get frustrated when other people make mistakes, you shouldn’t be a manager.
- If you take mistakes and escalated issues personally, you shouldn’t be a manager.
- If you want to get noticed for everything you do, you shouldn’t be manager.
- If you don’t want to come in early to cover for your team’s unexpected illnesses, you shouldn’t be a manager.
- If you don’t like disciplining people, you shouldn’t be a manager.
- If you don’t like rewarding and recognizing people, you shouldn’t be a manager.
- If you want to have all the power and all the control, you shouldn’t be a manager.
While these sound tough, there are a lot of rewarding things about being a manager.
Do you want to be a manager?
Photo credit: Pulling My Hair Out
Corollaries
1. If you can’t influence others to accomplish the mission, you shouldn’t be a leader.
2. If you have no mission, vision, strategy, goal, or deadline, you shouldn’t be a leader.
3. If you can’t communicate effectively, you shouldn’t be a leader.
4. If you can’t set the example, you shouldn’t be a leader.
5. If you can’t get out of the way when appropriate, you shouldn’t be a leader.
6. If you are not visible or prefer to hide in your office all day, you shouldn’t be a leader.
7. If you can’t build trust and respect, you shouldn’t be a leader.
8. If you can’t see the big picture, you shouldn’t be a leader.
9. If you must be led, you shouldn’t be a leader.
10. If you can’t envision a better tomorrow, you shouldn’t be a leader.
I have some issues regarding number 2 & 7 – rather it is more in regards to the wording than anything else.
2) If you don’t want to hire and fire people, you shouldn’t be a manager.
7) If you don’t like disciplining people, you shouldn’t be a manager.
I don’t think ANY manager likes or wants to fire or disipline their people. But rather have the self-disipline, honesty, and courage to do what is necessary for the job and business.
It reminds me of a story where on ‘bring your kid to work’ day where a little boy asks his dad (a boss) to call someone into his office and fire ‘em! The dad realized what type of attitude his young son was picking up from him at home. He decided to make a change in his work attitide that moment. If his son was picking those signals from him what are the employees picking up? Probably the same thing!
Another thing to keep in mind. If you have friends at work they should realise that work is over friendship in the business environment – if they don’t agree then they are not really your friend.
What a great list. We’ve all had managers who only reached that level purely from being at a company for a long time.
And to add onto Clint’s list: if no one’s following you, you AREN’T a leader.
Hi Phil, Sadly, Two’s ‘popular belief’ is alive and kicking. People are indoctrinated that success is climbing the corporate ladder and that means management. Often it’s the only way to increase earnings, recognition and responsibility. I ran into this over and over back in my headhunting days.
The smartest companies and/or department heads institute some form of dual career ladder. They are easy to recognize because they have the best retention rates—think IBM, 3M, etc.—but the concept can be tweaked for any size company.
through i like it very much, i contadict with point number 9 of why you should not be a manager.All the power and control may convert you in to a maniac, may be like Adolf Hitler…. ha..,
Great stuff. Just because you are the most senior does not entitle you to be a manager.
If it’s never your fault when something goes wrong, you shouldn’t be a manager.
If you believe being organizationally superior to people makes you intellectually superior as well, you shouldn’t be a manager.
If you can’t delegate authority, you shouldn’t be a manager.
If confrontation scares you, you shouldn’t be a manager.
If you dislike it when a subordinate’s achievements eclipse your own, you shouldn’t be a manager.