In my May 20 blog I talked about the seven points of career inflection in one’s life. In this blog I am going to focus on one such point of inflection that is perhaps the most critical if not the most defining of one’s career. The reason I think that this is the most critical inflection point is that it will not only define the kind of manager you will make coming out of this change, but also how many lives of those you manage will be affected by how you do what you do from this point forward in your career. Being an effective manager is a rare commodity, so once you establish that reputation, your career success is guaranteed as a manager and as an executive, no matter where you move. On the other hand, the most defining point of inflection in a career occurs before you chose which career option you are going to pursue as you decide how you want to graduate and how you want to land in your first job. I plan to defer this topic to another blog.
When an individual contributor is promoted to become a first-level manager that change signifies a profound shift in how one needs to manage their work from then on!
Why?
An individual contributor is acknowledged for excellence in their work by promoting them to a first-level manager. The company’s management is granting this rare reward because it sees the individual contributor’s value and their management potential. The person getting this promotion is not entirely sure of what that entails other than knowing that suddenly they will be responsible for managing the work output of those reporting to them, a first experience that is not grounded in any preparation other than perhaps remotely watching their own manager and others around them as to what is expected of them as managers. Most newly promoted first-level managers are under the misapprehension that since they have been promoted for their great individual contributions they must do more of the same to be seen as doing well as a manager in their new role. Since no one has told them what the functions of a manager are they assume that other than directing their subordinates on how they should do their work there is nothing different about doing management work to do well in that role!
They are dead wrong!
For starters, there is no correlation between management work and the work of someone as an individual contributor. A manager is expected to perform four functions of management:
Lead,
Organize,
Plan, and
Set up Controls.
Each of these functions, in turn, has a number of activities that fall under them. For example, Lead subsumes under it: recruiting and developing new talent, communicating, initiating change, motivating people under you, making decisions, among others. Other three also have their own tasks that, together, make an articulate and inseparable system.
The only place where an individual contributor’s technical work is relevant in a manager’s role is in making the right work assignment (the “what” and the “who”) and evaluating the work done by their subordinates (using Controls and objectively measuring their output). This does not require that the manager re-do the work already done by their subordinates so that it looks like what the manager might have done as an individual contributor, but to check for its accuracy and quality, providing constructive feedback to improve the skill levels of those who report to them. Not knowing this, many first-level managers often roundly pan the work done by their subordinates and then spend wasteful time redoing it the way they might have done it; all of this without adding any value to the process! In fact by so doing, they suck the very oxygen from the process that grows the team and to create an environment of positive leadership. Since a first-level manager is responsible for several individual contributors the amount of time they need to spend to re-do everyone’s work (unnecessarily) is inestimably large. Also, in the process of doing this they have not only alienated their team, but have also created a morale problem.
What a manager should do, instead, is set parameters around the work their subordinates do (Lead, set up Controls) and create clear expectations about how that work will be evaluated (Plan, Organize), holding them accountable and giving them feedback to improve their skills (Set up Controls, Lead). Shifting one’s mindset to apply your energies in new direction (from an individual contributor to a manager expected to perform these four management functions) requires a disciplined mind and shifted perspective, which is not always easy to come for someone who has never done this before. Herein lies the rub for most first-level manager’s leadership growth: How does one quickly shift their outlook from doing hands-on work to setting up ways to get this work done by others without your having to redo it? How do you inspire others to do better than they would do on their own, without redoing what they do? This is at the heart of what a first-level (or any level) manager must do.
So, here is my prescription for new first-level managers and their bosses to become effective managers:
- Understand the difference between management work and technical work
- Understand the four functions of management and what their breakdown tasks are
- Find the balance between the technical and management work you must do at your level. The balance shifts in the direction of more management work as you move up the chain.
- Do the work that only you can do and delegate all other work
- Shift your focus from “right,” “wrong,” to understanding the context and from shepherding technical minutia to managing relationships.
- Understand how to manage upwards and maintain a good balance between managing upwards and downwards
- Hold people clearly accountable. Those who consistently fall short must be removed from your team (even terminated) to keep the team morale high.
- Seek feedback from those around you (360 degrees) and learn how to become an effective leader. Not all managers are effective leaders. Management is not merely barking orders and punishing people. If you understand the four functions of management you are half-way there!
- Get help from others who are seen as good managers and see if you can develop your own management style.
- Understand the difference between leadership and management and keep working at being an effective manger until you get it!
Good luck!