3 myths about management

“You continue to use the word. I think it doesn’t mean what you think it means. ”
- Inigo Montoya

Working full-time in managerial positions over the past few years, I am increasingly convinced that misconceptions about the role of the manager and management as a profession are widespread, and these misconceptions spoil the lives and nerves of many people. The topic of management is full of rumors and myths, here I will talk only about the most striking examples.

Myth number 1. Management is what managers do

I noticed a trend in a certain category of companies. Their employees tell everyone who is willing to listen that they don’t have “management,” they don’t plan to ever introduce it, and you shouldn’t do that either. In my opinion, such statements consist of distortions, naive ideas and bad advice. Usually such companies are quite young and relatively small, most of the employees have been working there for less than a year, and the narrator tries to convince us that he works for a unique and innovative company, because there are no "managers" there. None of them have read the Tyranny of Structurality .

Management is an activity to ensure effective interaction between people, and a manager is someone who does it. Yes, that's just that simple. This usually involves sharing information, agreeing on areas of work, assigning tasks, and figuring out what to do when a problem arises. This work should be carried out in any team, regardless of whether there is a dedicated “manager” there or not. Teams can function without managers , but they cannot function normally without management . Someone (or all) must do the job of ensuring engagement.

Modern management is a specialized profession, which involves a wide range of skills - communication, psychology, empathy, problem solving, leadership and so on. These skills are not unique to managers, but it often makes sense to instruct some people to do more management work on behalf of the team. Paying their time and attention to this, they unload other team members, and allow them to focus on their tasks. They can work as coordinators, achieving teamwork. By focusing on management, these people can improve their skills by learning and practicing how people interact.

Myth number 2. Management is to tell people what to do.

There are many different management styles, each of which is oriented towards a certain type of team or organization. Factories are not managed in the same way as design studios, large companies are not managed in the same way as small ones, and each team has its own management style, which comes from a unique group of people working in it. Some managers specialize in individual management styles; others are more general.

“Tell people what to do” is a management style called “ Command and control". It is characterized by power, hierarchy and strict adherence to the rules. This style is widely used in military structures, as well as by managers who are shown in films and on television. It has certain advantages and disadvantages, which I would not want to dwell on now. My idea is that this is just one example, but this example is used to represent the general idea of ​​management. Another example of a management style is exactly the opposite: self-organization, when there is no specially designated person responsible for making team decisions.

Small, self-organized teams are able to achieve amazing productivity. They are easier to manage, since they themselves are relatively simple, and therefore simple tools and techniques work well here. Everyone can be fully aware of what each of them is doing, and new information is quickly distributed in a team. But when a team or organization grows, it often grows to the size at which it ceases to work, and requires adaptation. There is no single management approach that works equally well everywhere.

Myth number 3. Management is career advancement

You know how it happens. When an employee is successful in his profession, someone will eventually offer him the role of manager as a “reward" for good work. This is utter nonsense. Management is not a career advancement, it is a career change. This means starting as a beginner in a new profession and mastering it from scratch. Domain knowledge is important, as the manager must understand what people in his team are doing, but now they are not paramount. The team, as a system of people, now becomes the main thing for the manager.

If the organization cannot provide career advancement within the framework of the profession, people can go into management, as this is the "only chance to advance." And having only understood where they got, they often discover that they are completely unprepared for this new area, or even not at all ready for this work.

When someone “moves” from the position of financial analyst to the position of biochemist without training and experience, this will probably seem strange to us. But this is the same thing that constantly happens to new managers, and it has become almost standard practice in many organizations and industries.

So what?

Management is misunderstood. As well as science, engineering and many other areas. What does it matter?

“People leave managers, not companies ... ultimately, fluidity is basically a manager’s problem,”
- Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules

Myths like the ones described above lead to large-scale functional disruptions in organizations, making it difficult for everyone to do their job. They practically guarantee incompetent governance that hits everyone it touches. They spoil days and weeks, poison jobs and ruin careers. They make talented people leave companies and take them away from their chosen professions.

I recommend stopping slandering or ignoring management, and starting to improve in it.

Original: Matt Zimmerman, Management: a rant