Caffeine fueled perspective on management types.

So, I have had way too much coffee this morning, and over the past few weeks have been having discussions and reading a lot about leadership.

Those activities together, combined with another cup of coffee inspired me to take ten minutes and write the article below. It’s just one of those mornings where I have a lot of ideas running through my head and had to get them on paper, so why not share on linked in as well.

I will be the first to admit, this is not based on a lot of research, and is only really based on my 20 years or so experience in various aspects of HR.

Throughout my career I have listened to leaders and speakers talk about leadership. I have even spoke about it myself and maybe even taught a few classes on it. One thing that has always struck me as odd, is that we never talk about management types. We talk about leadership, traits you should strive for, what makes a good leader, how to become a good leader, etc, etc. To me, a management type is the perceptual aspect of leadership. It’s what others see over time. Your leadership style may dictate how you act, and a management type is essentially the output of your leadership style. It’s what others see.

So with that said, I hope you enjoy my own personal, somewhat humorous, and relatable take on management types. And, maybe even self reflect, are you the administrative manager, balanced, the busy bee, the innovator ,or the player coach?

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The Administrative Manager:

This manager lives for paperwork, emails, updates, and the ability to approve or deny requests. I say this a little tongue in cheek, but much of their worth is derived through completing emails, making decisions, and giving direction. This manager will “in most cases” read things in detail. They want to fully understand. They can often be a great listener, and a sponge for information.

This type of manager is great at coaching up, and they know a lot about their area of expertise.

This management type certainly has pros and cons. They are great at representing activities of large teams, but may take credit for the team without giving credit to the team. They are generally stressed managers as they are concerned they will be asked about a task or project and not have an answer. They tend to put people in a box based on very few examples and continue to see the person in that box without changing their impression of the person. This type of manager will always know where to go to get answers, and at times puts a lot of pressure on themselves to have knowledge.

Impacts to their team can be positive or negative depending on the career levels, maturity, and tenure of their team. They will ask for updates often, over delegate, but not fully empower. They will trust their employees to complete tasks or projects, but not empower them to highlight their own skills. In short, the manager will take the limelight.

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The innovative manager:

Now let’s talk about the manager who is full of ideas. Every morning, they wake up motivated, ready to take on the world, with a mind full of fresh ideas. Which sounds great, but they may not take in to account all of the great ideas they had yesterday.

This manager generally gets to know their employees very well. They understand what their employees do well, and where they struggle. This comes in handy for this manager as they know who can do what in order to bring all of their innovative ideas to life. The manager may struggle with prioritization, as the next shiny idea is now the priority. This can put a lot of pressure on their teams from a priority standpoint. This manager may at times leave out details or context making it hard for others to activate against their idea. It’s not all bad though. This manager generally empowers their team completely. They have the idea, but often do not know how to bring it to life. They rely on their team to fill in the details, and to build the journey from idea inception to incorporation. They inspire their team to be creative, and generally have a natural confidence and passion for their ideas.

When the idea or concept is implemented they generally give the team all of the credit. They respect the fact that it was their idea, but the team is who got it done.

The employees working for this type of manager may find them exhausting and will have to have management courage to say things like: I need you to focus and listen. I need you to prioritize. And even to remind the manager that all new ideas are not good ideas. This manager type is very open to feedback and will adjust quickly, in fact they are inspired by change overall.

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The busy bee manager:

This manager is truly an individual contributor at heart, who happens to have people reporting to them on paper. This manager likes to take on a lot of things themselves. They strive on getting credit for a job well done, a project or task being completed, and exposure to higher level leaders. They generally are quick to compartmentalize work and assign to their direct reports, while keeping the larger exposure project for themselves. They do empower their direct reports to run their own show and manage their own work, and prefer to stay out of the details when it comes to their employees, spending time on their own tasks an projects. In many ways, the busy bee is similar to the administrative manager, the exception being the busy bee focuses on the work they get done themselves. They are quick to give credit to their employees, but may not recognize when their employees are doing well, or struggling as they are focused on their own tasks. Essentially, the busy bee is a high performing individual contributor who administratively leads people. For all of the drawbacks to this management type, it is my experience that teams lead by this manager produce the most work, however, it is often arguable if that work is considered productive or just activity.

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The player coach:

To me, this is the most fascinating type. This management type is generally very well balanced in many ways, but still strives for a small amount of personal recognition. This management type will delegate tasks, make sure their team gets credit, they recognize and drive performance, listen to their employees, and take feedback well. They can be innovative at times, but strive to take the ideas from their team, and bring those ideas to life verses their own. They may say things like “I’m not great at creating ideas, but I am great at making ideas better.” They do take on a fair amount of work themselves, but differ from the Busy Bee in that the Player Coach will take on behind the scenes work, projects that empower their team, or projects that may be a distraction for their team. They are quite literally the utility player on the team. They may lead the team, but they can jump in to assist on any task. They do not seek the limelight, but when given the opportunity can command a stage, brag on their team, and actually know what there team is working on, why, and whether or not it is successful. They do not often dive in to the details, which can be a struggle, but they seek to understand the details that are most important.

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The balanced leader:

So, now this brings me to the last management type I have witnessed. The balanced leader is honestly a unicorn when it comes to management types. Those who focus on leadership styles, may refer to their style as situational. The balanced leader will draw from all other types to create an environment of continuous evolution for their team. They are innovative at times, they know when work needs to be done by others or when it is theirs to own, they understand the balance of representing the team, and giving credit. They listen to their team members and customers, listening for important details, feedback, and even opinions. Certainly there are times to approve or deny items, but they gather the facts through conversation verses just presentations, helping team members come to decisions on their own, or outlining the context behind a decision.

Many leaders who fall in to this management type do not maintain this for long as the demands on their time, and personal expectations of themselves may cause them to pivot from time to time. The good news is, that is the definition of being balanced, they work across all aspects of the various management types, and by doing this, they become truly authentic.

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Thanks for reading, and I hope you found this beneficial, although it certainly does not dive deep enough in to each category, I hope it gives you enough to reflect, and maybe conduct your own research on which type of management type you want to embrace. As you have likely concluded, the balanced manager is the most beneficial, but we need to respect how hard it is to be truly balanced. Demands on our time, expectations, internal conflicts, outside factors, and a number of other variables impact how we show up as leaders. Remember, it’s not about the management type you subscribe to today, it’s about the actions you take that dictate the management type you fall in to.

Regardless of which of these resonate with you, continue to focus on better, and growth. ???