The Successful Manager: Measured by Inches or Miles?

You might have heard the old saying, “Those who can’t do, teach.” Well, how about the cynical rank and file of Corporate America with their Dilbert-esque mantra of those who can’t [insert verb of choice], manage”?

How much truth is in these phrases for them to become so commonplace? Oddly enough, I tend to find the exact opposite all too often. I offer a classic case,

Young, hard-working professional displays an eagerness to learn, an aptitude for anticipating the market, and succeeds in winning friends across various levels of the company. Soon, the boss notices and offers this superior professional a promotion (maybe even with an expense account). Soon, the young, hard-working professional finds the new responsibilities take on a life of their own and managing a team of individual performers might not be as easy as once thought – and where is that management training the boss promised, anyway?

Success Must Be Measured:

How many of you have a calendar where you mark off the days until the big vacation? Or how man parents out there track their son’s or daughter’s growth for the first few years of their lives? Those are just some simple examples of our desires for a measurement system.

But progress over time does not itself denote success.

For those thinking of moving into management or those already enjoying an entry- or mid-level management position generally wrestle with being an individual producer or a manager.

Some might know this issue better by it’s often cited misnomer, “The Working Manager,” as if to suggest managers don’t work… Well don’t they?

Sure, there are those that gave the title manager a bad name. Let’s face it, there are probably more bad managers out there than good, and just because I’m writing this doesn’t excuse me from that lot either.

But how does an individual producer measure success leading a team of individual producers?

Quit Struggling:

Quite frankly, the hardest struggle I had is understanding how and when to let go of being an individual producer (motivate, delegate, an train) and when to pull back and power through. Being a modest perfectionist, if there is such thing, I always think I can do it better, faster, cleaner – but I can’t. Even if that was true, it comes back to a basic time/value equation.

I can’t be everywhere and do everything, so the results my superiors require, require me to leverage my time against the value my given expertise can bring to the table. In other words, its a time management issue, folks. Managers don’t generally fail because they are poor individual producers, but they do fail the company when they forget to focus upon what their team’s contribution is to the organization – and likewise match their efforts to that end.

Do your goals require that you be tactical for the week or strategic for the day? Do you need to foster team-building or launch a new program this month?

Make the decisions of today looking through the lens of tomorrow’s goals.

Image courtesy of erix!

Ken Stewart’s website, ChangeForge, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world. Ken is also the founder of Seeking the Son. He is always interested in connecting; To discover the many ways you may connect with him, visit him at DandyID.