Your task manager may not be a people manager, and that’s both important and okay.

I’ve had the utmost privilege of working with some of the best people managers in my jobs.

These were managers who made it a priority to develop my skills professionally, who gave me the opportunities not only to learn, but to also make mistakes, and who saw that I was ready for things I never thought I would be.

Until today I strive to emulate the first manager who inspired me in my first job - the eloquent, level-headed, and confident Jin Yin Lim , who reviewed my emails - body AND punctuation - to an extent I also use to punish others I teach today. (??)

In my subsequent roles, I started to notice that there were managers who were mostly great at what they did, but could never really take the time to truly nurture. (Notwithstanding having to learn on your own initiative, but that’s a chat for another day.)

Now before you raise your pitchforks and ready your keyboards - I don’t mean this in an insult at all.

In truth, these people could be fantastic people managers. But business needs, project timelines, burning tasks … I know them all too well. Time may just not be on your side.

But just for this opinion piece, I’m taking time away as a factor, and focussing on Task Managers versus People Managers.

In my (un-Googled, layman’s) definition, a Task Manager is someone who is great at their day-to-day. Exemplary. The person you want to clone and hire. Give them Task A - done, they may also have worked on related Task B. Ask them to work on Never Before Done Task C - you can wash your hands off of it the moment you hand it over. Confused about Task D? You know who to call.

You know just the person - and I’m willing to bet most of you are great at managing your own tasks.

In fact, most in your team are Task Managers of their own departments or domains. These are people you need for your business to run.

A People Manager in my (un-ChatGPT, simplistic) definition, may also be great at what they do, but they’re more often seen as great leaders, bosses you’d want to work with, people with whom you won’t repost so many subtle, passive-aggressive “Traits of Great Leaders” articles about. These people usually aim to develop the next leader, and invest time, money, effort – you name it – in staff development and relationship-building.

Now a Task Manager and a People Manager aren’t MECE (I see you getting uncomfortable, consultants). And they certainly don’t only describe two people. They can, but they can also describe the same person.

But here’s why this is important – Task Managers need their own learning and development on how to be great at People Managing. Because the latter is a skill in itself. It’s almost criminal (hyperbole but you get me) to judge a Task Manager by how well they lead when they know nuts about how to lead.

This is a topic that resonates so deeply with me because I’ve heard so many friends and colleagues celebrate their new responsibilities, who were thrilled about someone to grow – but when the reality of what this consists of starts to sink it, they begin to hate their new role. A fresh graduate whose expectations and skills may not align. A new-industry hire who has different sets of norms. An experienced hire with different ideas of deliverables.

People are complicated, and managing one, much less a bunch of these with no knowledge of how to? No way. We haven’t even thrown in the very real need to manage every individual staff’s job satisfaction, career growth, their wellbeing … just read the staggering amount of human resources articles lambasting bad managers - but did we train these same people when they were just starting to be managers? How can we reasonably expect someone do know all of this overnight?

It's not enough to throw our best Task Managers to the sea and call it an upgrade. Saying ‘OJT’ just doesn’t cut it – the skill of People Management isn’t something always intuitive.

Worse, we seem to have a tendency to glorify what managers and bosses and leaders do. And it seems the only way to be ‘successful’ is People Managing, because it’s usually the next ‘promotion’. Great salesperson! Here, a team for you. Fantastic new innovation! Ta-da, a new junior engineer reporting to you.

How about Task Managers who want to remain Task Managers? Make that the norm. Why shouldn’t we be rewarding Task Managers for being great Task Managers – you shouldn’t have to People Manage to be recognised.

TLDR: People Managers aren’t a step up from Task Manager – it’s a skill-up, and something you want to do.

So before you ‘promote’ the next top Task performer, let them know what the position demands. Make sure they want this responsibility. Evaluate their ability to learn how to be great People Managers before you hand them the baton, and teach them the tools they need. You could be saving a ton of unnecessary stress in your top staff, as well as those reporting to them.

(It’s been some time since my last post, but this is one in a series of writing practices I’m giving myself in my mid-life crisis. These are thoughts and reflections, and completely my own opinions, but I'd be honored if you'd let me know how you think I can do better!)