“How do you know you are ready to be a manager of people?” … consider the answer to that question before becoming one

Check out my prior "Life Lesson" articles here

I hope this finds you enjoying a happy and renewing holiday season. I'm a day late posting this week's article because I took Christmas Day off. I may do the same next week for New Year’s Day. :-)

In 2014 and again in 2016, I was invited to speak with earlier career employees that aspired to be future Boeing leaders. I could remember when I was sitting in their seat, aspiring to be the same. But darned if I knew how to get there, let alone what I specifically needed to work on to be successful as a leader. This was my chance to help make things clearer for them and hopefully make their journeys rewarding.

…. what do I say … what do I say … what do I say …?

Of course! The standard topics are talking about the difference between being a manager and leader. Everyone wants to be a leader; and manager, well, that kind of comes with the territory. I said to myself, “Nope, I’m not going to talk about that. There were way too many views on that anyway.” This morning, a quick google of “types of leaders” returned: ?… the 5 most common leadership styles; 8 different leadership styles; 4 types of leaders; 7 types of leadership; 10 types of leadership; 3 types of leaders.?The debate about the difference between management and leadership and which is more important continues on with as much passion as whether the movie ‘Die Hard’ is a Christmas movie. That said, the next paragraph captures my thoughts on management and leadership for you to consider. (See the PS. for my view of Die Hard!)

Through my experience, the role of management is to leverage the responsibility, accountability, and authority given to a person to determine and direct, 1) the optimal use of financial and other resources, and 2) the assignments of people, including evaluating their performance and compensating them, all in pursuit of agreed-upon objectives. The act of management occurs at every level within an organization except individual contributors. In turn, leadership is the art of engaging the hearts and minds of people that report directly or indirectly to you to execute a mission or achieve the group’s shared objectives or vision. Leadership can and should be applied by every manager and even individual contributors in many situations.

So, why did I want to be a manager of people? Back when I was an earlier career employee, it was for the same reason these employees probably did, to make a bigger impact. I'm sure many wanted to make more money too; that was never my motivator. But, management was the primary career path to both. That’s how you ‘moved up’. Boeing absolutely valued technical professionals, but it was obvious that the way to have a greater impact was to be a manager of people. But was ‘moving up’ the right reason to become a manager?

And how do you know if you’re really ready to be a manager of people? That took a bit of reflection and thinking, mostly about the better managers and leaders I’d worked with.

Al and Jerry were two of my first managers. Both took me under their wings and taught me things as well as helping me learn how to work in different types of situations. Around that time, I also worked around some senior department managers like Kurt, Jerry, and Gery. They took time to share their technical knowledge with their employees and me because they knew it would help us become more capable. And Bill turned me completely loose to run a small Independent R&D project knowing that while we’d gain from the work, I’d gain from the opportunity to both fail and succeed. Later, another Bill was instrumental in giving me the opportunity to lead a major program activity. He was confident that we would succeed, and at the same time that I would grow through successes and failures.

It became obvious to me what they all had in common … they all wanted to help me, and others, grow and develop.?And they wanted to help the program or project succeed, not necessarily to help their own careers, but to help Boeing be the aerospace leader.

So, I boiled this part of my discussions with these earlier career groups down to one question, “How do you know you are ready to be a manager of people?” The answer from my reflection and introspection was this concise statement, “You are ready to be a manager when you care about helping others grow, develop, and succeed, as much or more than you do yourself.” That was what all seven of those people demonstrated to me. It didn’t mean that they were not trying to excel in their careers. It just meant that they cared about helping me and many others grow and develop, as much or more than themselves. They had to take time away from activities that could have helped them grow and develop in their careers.

I’ll share one final thought about being a manager of people that goes along with that question and answer. Every day, people send their family member or friend into the care of that person’s manager. They expect that manager to grow and develop that person in their career. The impact of being a manager reaches far beyond the people that you manage. Also consider this when considering becoming a manager.

MY LIFE LESSON: Capable managers understand that most people seek to grow and develop in their careers. This is especially true for earlier career employees. The growth of an organization towards achieving its vision can be sustained and even accelerated through the growth and development of its people. So, how do you know you are ready to be a manager of people? You care about helping others grow, develop, and succeed, as much or more than you do yourself. ?Consider the answer to that question before becoming one.

PS: Die Hard IS a Christmas movie