Over the course of my career, I’ve developed a few phrases that I repeat over and over again when discussing management challenges with friends and co-workers. Each of these lessons has set me up for success through the years. Since I find value in them, I’d like to share:
1) Make your job so it can be done at the push of a button, and then make the button push itself
The first lesson of success I learned coming our of school was not to be afraid of automation, but to embrace it. I realized the quicker that I could automate the boring parts of my job, the sooner I could move on to more interesting projects. An example from early in my career involved creating a standardized SQL for a report my client always asked me, then moving that into a Crystal report template, and finally setting that report up on a website where the client could get on their own anytime they needed it. Instead of automating my way out of a job, I was promoted to do far more interesting things than running reports and responding to client emails. I’ve used SQL and Python, but even doing something as creating stock “Signatures” in my emails to make it easier to respond to similar emails has made my life easier.
- Reports
- Stock emails
- Data Analysis
2) Carrying the weight of the world doesn’t make you a hero
As a young and ambitious employee, I thought being needed was a positive thing. I was the person who could get things done, and I thought my team would recognize it about me. Once I became a manager, I had a paradigm shift. Suddenly if I had an team member that I depended on entirely, they weren’t a hero, they were a liability. I quickly realized I needed to cross-train my team and have back-ups on everything, or else if this person left, there would be a giant vacuum of knowledge leaving with them. Once my viewpoint on my team changed, it also changed how I viewed my own role. Instead of being the person that everyone depended on, my new goal became to make my own role where other people could do it.
3) If it’s not documented, you’ll be responsible for it, even on your day off.
The most common mistake I used made in my career is creating processes to accomplish things for my clients, and then (for some reason) I didn’t tell anyone else how to do it. Then, when I decided to take some time off, my team would call me to run this process for them. That was the worst. My solution was processing guides. They started in Microsoft Word, and then mostly transitioned to documentation applications like Confluence. It’s so easy, and yet so few people write good guides. I even got to the point that I would tell people where to click the X button to close an application. Make it so that someone walking in off the street can do what needs to be done without any supervision. They also need to be living documents. When something changes, whoever is doing the process should feel comfortable updating the guides.
4) I was made a manager so that I can make five more of me.
The transition into management isn’t easy. It’s typically a completely different skillset than previous independent contributor position. It’s a major mental transition to go from focusing on doing my own work to ensuring that my team accomplishes their work at a high level. For some managers, this manifests in micromanagement, constantly asking for updates and inserting themselves into the work their employees should be doing. I finally was able to make the transition when I realized I was moved to management because I was good at what I did, and my management wanted me to make more of me. This paradigm shift changed my mindset from assigning tasks to coaching.
5) When something good happens, it’s a team effort. When something bad happens, it’s my fault.
I learned this skill from watching post-game press conferences of professional coaches. When their team wins, it’s a team effort. When something goes wrong, it’s a coaching problem. This viewpoint struck a chord with me, and I’ve applied it to my management career ever since. If my team is able to accomplishes something great, it’s a team effort. If we miss a target or have an issue, it’s my fault for not putting them in a place to succeed.
6) My job isn’t to tell people what it do, it’s to put my team in a place succeed.
Getting the correct mindset of a manager vs. a leader is one of the biggest challenges a new manager takes on. The reason it’s so hard is because it takes time to talk team members, identify their strengths, and understand their career goals. Many times we hire people with specific tasks in mind that need to be accomplished, but when working with a team of people, everyone has the own individual talents. Some people have great people skills, others are more technical. Some are ambitious and want to take on challenging projects. Others do solid work, but may only want to put the in the required hours to do their current role. Taking the time to understand what makes people tick, and then aligning those members to the tasks that need to be completed sets teams up for success.
7) My job is to make you look good. Your job is to make me look good.
I started saying this when I started getting my first reviews at work. My mindset has always been that it’s my job to make my boss look good. If I do my job exceedingly well, they look like an amazing manager, and that should reflect on my review. Once I started managing a team, I told them the exact same thing, except in reverse. Their job is to make me look good, but in return, it’s my job to make them look good as well. We’re on a team together, and I want to let them know that my success is entirely dependent on their success.
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