{"id":3607,"date":"2019-03-20T22:09:09","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T05:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/?p=3607"},"modified":"2025-02-27T14:22:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T22:22:26","slug":"do-i-truly-want-to-become-a-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2019\/03\/20\/do-i-truly-want-to-become-a-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Do I truly want to become a manager?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We don\u2019t ask ourselves this enough. Here are 6 critical questions to reflect on when considering if you should become a manager or not.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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When we\u2019re asked, \u201cDo you want to become a manager?\u201d we often assume there is only one answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, of course, I want to be a manager.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right? Who doesn\u2019t? Especially when becoming a manager is seen as the primary path of upward progression in a person\u2019s career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But do you truly<\/em> want to become a manager? Management is not some sacred club reserved for the hallowed few. Rather, deciding to become a manager should be viewed as one might decide to become a garbage disposal collector or a parking meter attendant: If you\u2019re doing it, you\u2019re doing it for a reason. It\u2019s not for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this sense, management is like any other job: There are pros and cons, specific skills, proclivities, and a mindset<\/a> called for. And as a result, not everyone should feel compelled to aspire toward it. If you don\u2019t love food, you shouldn\u2019t be a chef. If you\u2019re not into buildings, you shouldn\u2019t be an architect. And if you\u2019re not excited about certain things managers do (which I\u2019ll share in a moment), you likely shouldn\u2019t want to become a manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us learn this the hard way. Just the other week, I talked to a Vice President of Engineering who had promoted someone who\u2019d expressed a strong desire to become a manager. A year into the role, this person he\u2019d promoted was miserable. He realized he didn\u2019t like his day-to-day tasks as a manager, and he wasn\u2019t very good at it. Now he\u2019s happily back to being a senior-level individual contributor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This VP of Engineering is not alone. In their research, Gallup<\/a> has found that companies choose the wrong manager 82% of the time. Often times, folks are promoted as managers because of their strengths as an individual contributor\u200a\u2014\u200abut those strengths don\u2019t necessarily translate to their role as a manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A manager in on our online community in Canopy<\/a> had experienced this firsthand. He frankly shared with the other 1,000+ members:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI had a tough time as a first time manager because I quickly and painfully realized that the skillset that got me noticed and moved me up to manager were not the same that would get the job done or help me keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, the question, \u201cDo I really want to become a manager?\u201d becomes paramount. We can\u2019t rely on others\u2019 suggestions or affirmations that \u201cYes\u201d to that question is the right answer. We have to dig deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you ponder \u201cDo I truly want to become a manager?\u201d for yourself, here are 6 critical questions to reflect on\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much do you enjoy being in \u201cflow\u201d at work?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Positive psychologist \u200eMihaly Csikszentmihalyi<\/a> famously described<\/a> \u201cflow\u201d as an optimal state of consciousness where you are \u201ccompletely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies.\u201d Pursuits like painting or rock climbing are often associated with flow\u200a\u2014\u200abut perhaps you\u2019ve felt it at work as a designer or a writer or programmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a manager, this state of flow is less common, if not non-existent. You aren\u2019t diving deep on a task during an uninterrupted block of time, as required in flow\u200a\u2014\u200ayou\u2019re the one helping others<\/em> dive deep on a task. You\u2019re also not receiving immediate feedback about your progress in the same way you would as an individual contributor, which is another critical element<\/a> of flow. As a manager, you might not find out until months later if a decision you made or a conversation you had positively or adversely affected your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you relish being in flow, weigh how important the frequency of that experience is for you. As a manager, you\u2019ll have to accept that you\u2019re not going to be in it as often as you were when you were an individual contributor. Or, understand that you may have to find ways to reprogram what your original requirements for flow were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does repeating yourself drive you crazy?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You may be thinking to yourself, \u201cWell, Claire, who doesn\u2019t get at least a little annoyed when they have to repeat themselves?!\u201d Surely, it\u2019s not the most fun thing to do. However, as a manager, you\u2019ll find yourself doing it all the time, no matter how adept you are at communicating. It\u2019s your primary job as a manager, in many ways: To share, explain, reinforce, ask questions, share more, explain more, and ask more questions, over and over again, all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Ryan Carson<\/a>, CEO of Treehouse has expressed this on our podcast<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYou have to over-communicate. [\u2026] And it feels really painful to be a leader like, \u2018Oh my God, I have to say this again? Why are we doing this thing?\u2019 And it turns out, yeah, you do, because people can\u2019t read your mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Yes, people can\u2019t read your mind\u200a\u2014\u200aand they shouldn\u2019t have to. The best managers bear the burden of making what\u2019s implicit explicit, so their team can function well. But if the idea of doing that\u200a\u2014\u200acommunicating constantly, all the time, over and over\u200a\u2014\u200asounds exhausting, you don\u2019t want to become a manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How big of a control freak are you?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the hardest things to reconcile as a leader is how much you have to let go. Most new managers tacitly know this going into the job\u200a\u2014\u200athey\u2019ll have to delegate, not work on too many project details, support people on projects, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in reality, how tight is your grip? Do you have a tendency to be a bit of a control freak (be honest ;-))? Do you see yourself often as \u201cthe only person who can do X?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember interviewing<\/a> Laura Roeder<\/a>, CEO of MeetEdgar, on this topic, and how she\u2019d gained a ton of clarity on the degree to which good leaders must relinquish control. She said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYou realize that what you\u2019re really saying is \u2018I\u2019m the only person in the world who can do this and I\u2019m the best. I am the greatest at reconciling PayPal downloads that this world has ever seen.\u2019 And that\u2019s really absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If you find joy in the meddling of details in projects, if you\u2019re aghast at the idea of giving control away, if being the \u201cthe only person who can do X\u201d gives you a sense of purpose in your work\u200a\u2014\u200athat\u2019s fantastic! However, it also means being a manager might not be for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you like to play detective?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The best managers understand that they\u2019re not managing people\u200a\u2014\u200athey\u2019re managing an environment<\/a> with interacting elements of dynamics, past experiences, relationships, cultural influences, and more. So as a manager, it\u2019s up to you to figure out: What is really going on here? What is motivating this team member? Why might she be frustrated with this team member? What is the true underlying cause of why this other team member is struggling?<\/em> You have to ask questions, be relentlessly curious, and uncover the truth of a situation. You have to play detective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some, trying to discover the nuances of people, personality, temperaments, and relationships, and then trying to piece them together is absurdly draining. For others, it\u2019s fascinating, stimulating work. Consider which of the two it is for you, before deciding to become a manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your default reaction to conflict?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You will never be able to make everyone happy as a manager. Nor should that be your goal. When you try to please others<\/a>, you do your team a disservice. You start making compromises and decisions that are in the best interest of you looking good, instead of what is best for your team as a whole. In The CEO Next Door<\/em><\/a>, the authors cite how the best leaders must keep their stakeholders \u201cconstructively dissatisfied\u201d in order to move the team productively forward. Getting people to like you is not your purpose as a leader. Should your natural disposition be to avoid conflict, to want everyone to always be happy and like you, you may want to reconsider becoming a manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How disciplined are you with your time (really)?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As Peter Drucker<\/a>, the seminal scholar on management of the 20th century has espoused, an effective executive<\/a> is one who knows how exactly to spend her time. If you can\u2019t manage your own time<\/a>, schedule, and priorities, you can\u2019t expect to help your team to manage theirs. This sentiment was reinforced by a member in Canopy<\/a> who shared with us in online community managers from all over the world, \u201cShocking news, being a manager is not about managing other people, it\u2019s about effectively and efficiently managing yourself as a resource (your time, productivity, logic aka brain power, etc.) which then transcends how you manage other people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You might find yourself discouraged reading this far\u200a\u2014\u200ayou thought you wanted to become a manager, but now maybe you\u2019re not so sure? That\u2019s a good thing! It means you\u2019re being rigorous about what might be a good fit for you personally, instead of assuming the pre-laid path. You\u2019re never going to be a good manager if you do it because you\u2019re \u201csupposed to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the other thing: You can develop a propensity for the skills, habits, and outlook that a good manager requires. For instance, while maybe you\u2019re not as disciplined with your time as you\u2019d like, you can focus on setting clearer priorities and following through on them. Or, perhaps if you know you tend to avoid conflict, you can practice how you respond and react to conflict in your current role at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, being honest with yourself is what matters. You can now ask yourself, \u201cDo I really want to become a manager?\u201d and know there is more than one answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2705 You\u2019ve decided! Yes, you want to be a manager. That\u2019s excellent news. To help support you along your journey, I recommend checking out Canopy<\/a>. Our software <\/em>helps you nail the fundamentals of leadership with our Leadership Training Product<\/a> for new mangers and Tools for teams<\/a><\/b><\/em>.<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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