Navigating the Role of a Manager

Continual Awareness

A manager’s role is to ensure a team is productive.  That’s the job.  A director’s role is to align this productive team with the rest of the business to provide maximum value.  That requires insight into those other aspects of the business.  Building relationships with other leaders, participating in other team discussions, staying aware of organizational strategy, success and failures are all things I have found wildly valuable in ensuring my team is hitting the mark. 

These don’t just happen.  These relationships and insights to the business will not just pass my window when I need them; I have to make the time to chase them.  I try to grease wheels with coffee and give myself the leave to spend some time with my favorite part of the job:  People.  This is a muscle that needs flexing, and it gets better the more you do it.

Control Less, Think More

If you have managers on your team, direct their accountabilities, not activities.  I have (and continue to) wrestle with this one.  Giving trusted managers the leeway to direct the traffic and own the results is important not just for your own time management, but for those folks to feel encouraged to explore all the nooks and crannies of their role and team and make their own decisions (without me).  Nothing brings strength to our team like great managers, especially if they are better at it than I am.

I was given advice once on the importance of having time in your calendar to just think, dream and plan.  This doesn’t come naturally to me (I love fighting fires!), so finding avenues to flex this muscle is important.  Develop some expertise with budget planning, meet a peer at another organization and see what they are doing, whiteboard some wild ideas and share with your managers (and listen to them).

Swallow Hard Pills

One of the hardest parts of any development is recognition of reality.  Participating in a 360 or other feedback mechanism is admirable and fun when it highlights all the wins.  Actually considering any constructive feedback, and most especially if it is something you disagree with, is tough.  I have gone down this road a few times, and have had to make some adjustments that were not easy, but if it’s honest, life gets better and things get easier.  Sometimes I have to grumble my way through to the truth, but it’s worth it.

One of these for me is that I hate to say no.  For over 25 years my job has been closing gaps and enhancing the capabilities in others.  Bring it on, it’s what I do!  In this role however, it’s very easy for these agreements to leave a wake for others on the team.  By spending a little more time being aware of our current capabilities, and being more measured in my eagerness, I save the team from being spread too thin.  They are happier, the work looks great and we hit the mark closer.  Simple but not always easy.

In my experience keeping aware of an organization’s pulse, freeing yourself for other activity by leveraging the strength of your managers and being willing to change ‘how’ you do things (even/especially when it’s hard) can all give confidence to your steps.  When I make this effort, I’ve found the opportunity for positive impact has always been much bigger than the space a team takes up on an org chart.