{"id":4120,"date":"2019-05-01T15:52:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T22:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/?p=4120"},"modified":"2024-07-12T10:57:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T17:57:24","slug":"managing-managers-hows-it-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2019\/05\/01\/managing-managers-hows-it-different\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing managers: How’s it different?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Six things to consider when managing managers instead of individual contributors.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cWhat\u2019s the biggest difference between managing managers versus managing individual contributors?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I recently was asked this question at a conference I spoke at in the United Kingdom. Then a few days later, funnily enough, this same question was the central topic at a panel I moderated in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, it\u2019s a question top of mind for many of us, all over the world, who find ourselves promoted or hired into a role where we\u2019re not just a manager\u200a\u2014\u200abut a manager of managers. Is this <\/em>brand of leadership any different? What should a new manager of managers consider in their role?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the research and insights we\u2019ve gathered through Canopy<\/a>, and the hundreds of leaders I\u2019ve interviewed over the years, here\u2019s what I noticed as the biggest differences\u200a\u2014\u200aand things to keep in mind\u200a\u2014\u200aas you\u2019re managing managers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider yourself a coach\u2019s coach.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Autonomy in the workplace is table stakes. Dan Pink has written<\/a> about it, Harvard Business Review has written<\/a> about it\u2026 We all intuitively know that as a manager you\u2019re supposed to give people the freedom and room to do their best work. However, with managing managers, the need for autonomy becomes even more<\/em> critical. Your success as a leader lies not in them delivering the work\u200a\u2014\u200abut helping them help their team deliver the work. So the amount of space you give someone to do that as a manager, versus as an individual contributor, is much greater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does this tangibly look like? As a manager of manager, you play the role of \u201ccoach\u201d- except this time, you\u2019re coaching<\/em> a coach. You\u2019re in a manager\u2019s back pocket, ready to listen when their stuck, frustrated, worried, or confused about something. You\u2019re not helping them make progress on specific tasks, but helping them think through sticky situations. What\u2019s keeping them up at night? Who\u2019s the person on their team that they\u2019re trying to figure out how to help perform better? A sign of a great coach is one who asks a disproportionate amount of questions<\/a> to their team. As a coach\u2019s coach, consider: Are you asking even more questions than you ever did before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make the answer to \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d resoundingly clear.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Vision<\/a> is undoubtedly important to share as a leader. After all, your team needs to understand where they are going and why it\u2019s important to get there. But when you\u2019re managing managers, this vision needs to be exceedingly clear. Why? Because the folks you\u2019re managing will need to answer the question, \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d for their<\/em> direct reports. Your managers will need to find ways to align the personal visions of their team members with the organization\u2019s shared vision. So if you haven\u2019t made the answer to the question \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d absurdly obvious, you can bet that the vision becomes watered-down or distorted in some way once your managers share it with their direct reports. As a manager of managers, you must clarify, repeat, reinforce, evaluate, and again clarify and repeat the answer to \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d over and over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get comfortable crisscrossing.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re managing managers, your focus is much more cross-functional\u200a\u2014\u200ayou\u2019re working with business units across the entire organization, instead of just one or two. There\u2019s a popular misconception that you get more freedom and control the \u201chigher up\u201d you go. But the reality is, when managing managers, your freedom and control is contingent on more moving pieces. You have more stakeholders to consider, more departments to coordinate with. Sure, you have the \u201cfinal word\u201d on more things and greater scope than when you were only managing individual contributors. But now, as a manager of managers, your view of the pie\u200a\u2014\u200aand your responsibility<\/em> of the pie\u200a\u2014\u200ais bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More of your time is spent recruiting, than ever.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to our online community in Canopy<\/a>, one of the most important ways a leader should spend their time<\/a> is on recruiting and hiring. When I spoke with Edward Kim, CTO of Gusto<\/a>, he affirmed this. With 100+ engineers, 600+ total employees, and continuing to rapidly hire, Edward said that most of his time goes toward recruiting folks\u200a\u2014\u200aand that arguably may even have increased over time. This makes sense, given how critical it is for who<\/em> is a part of your organization. As the management scholar, Jim Collins famously wrote<\/a>, you\u2019ve got to have the right people on the bus, first, before you drive it anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re not the domain expert anymore.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Domain expertise and domain leadership are not the same things. Knowledge, of course, is formative for decision-making and credibility, but it\u2019s not the driving force behind helping a group of people work together, get aligned around common objectives, and make progress. The latter depends on your ability to build trust, to communicate honestly, to figure out what motivates each person, and to lay out a clear path of where you\u2019re going, and why it\u2019s important to get there. Remember this as you transition to managing managers. You\u2019re likely further from being the domain expert you once were than before. It feels unnerving, to say the least\u200a\u2014\u200ayou\u2019re not up-to-date with the latest technologies or trends as you\u2019d like to be. But keep in mind that your priority is not in your fluency in the domain. Your priority is making sure the people on your team are<\/em> the domain experts, and that you\u2019re helping them<\/em> do their best work to contribute to the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re growing leaders, not just leading leaders.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, as a manager of managers, part of your role involves growing other leaders in the organization. This doesn\u2019t necessarily mean putting formal training or mentorship programs in place (though, it can help). Growing other leaders can be as straightforward as carving out more dedicated time during your one-on-one meetings to ask questions like, \u201cIs there anything outside your current role you\u2019d like to be contributing toward?\u201d or \u201cWhat project have you been most proud to work on and why?\u201d Essentially, you want to consider: Are you giving people a reason to want to continue to work in the organization? Are you making it a place worthy for them to further their careers? Why would they want to stay?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This also means personally exemplifying the kind of leadership you\u2019d like to see across the organization. Managers who are leading their teams are taking notes from you, watching you for cues on how to behave, make decisions, and handle situations. Your actions aren\u2019t just affecting your direct reports anymore\u200a\u2014\u200athey\u2019re affecting their<\/em> direct reports as well. Everyone is learning from your actions, implicitly. Keep this in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll notice that managing managers isn\u2019t wholly<\/em> different from managing individual contributors. The fundamentals are the same. Whether you\u2019re a manager of managers or of individual contributors, you\u2019re still helping a team achieve its desired outcomes. Rather, the points of emphasis differ: The amount of space you give your team, how exactly you spend your time, and who you\u2019re interacting with on a day-to-day basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing a manager is both different\u200a\u2014\u200aand not so different. Whichever way you<\/em> choose to view it, in focusing on these elements, I hope your transition to becoming a manager of managers is smoother than you originally anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83d\udc4b If you’re a manager of managers, we can help you out <\/em>\ud83d\ude0e Canopy<\/a> was built for you. \u00a0Our software\u00a0helps you train your new managers on the fundamentals of leadership:<\/strong>\u00a0they will learn how to\u00a0run\u00a0effective one-on-one meetings, get\u00a0honest feedback, share\u00a0team progress, and\u00a0build team rapport.<\/strong>\u00a0Try\u00a0Canopy<\/a> for free, yourself, today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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