“Other Than Managing People, I Love Being a Manager”

Great managers are hard to find. Great managers have a true gift and a passion for getting the most out of people. Great managers possess a unique ability that is not in everyone.

This message is a mini–passionate plea. Having worked with so many managers, I now see clearly the ones that truly want to be great managers and the ones that are doing it for other reasons (e.g., ego, advancement, having nowhere else to go).

One of my clients a few years back—the owner of the business—took over the sales manager role for his company because he thought it would be fun. He was very upset with me when I challenged his motivation and long-term ability to be a great, consistent, and enduring manager of his salespeople. Many years later, as he sits in the visionary seat of his fast-growing company with a great manager in the Sales VP seat, he thanks me for the brutal honesty and admits his ulterior motive.

A person who says “other than having to discipline people, keep expectations clear, repeat myself often, run meetings, and hire, fire, review and hold people accountable, I like being a manager” is not a great manager, and something bad is going to happen. Not always maliciously or purposely, but it’s going to happen.

If you’re sitting in a management seat for the wrong reasons or have put a manager in a seat who doesn’t belong there, you owe it to those people being managed to make a change. Make sure that every seat in your accountability chart that requires a manager is filled with a person who gets it, wants it, and has the capacity to be a great manager. If not, you must make the change.

Find out how you’re doing; (click here) to download the Management Questionnaire which is part of the LMA download. It contains five simple self-assessment points that get to the root of what makes great managers.