As you take the necessary steps to accelerate your career, what do you see as the final destination you are trying to reach? Do you want to be the president of the company at which you started in the mail room? Do you want to start your business and execute a plan that will leave your competition begging for mercy? Do you want to reach a point at which you are given the flexibility in your schedule to spend more time with family and pursuing your other passions?
Maybe one of your goals as your progress in your career is to take on a management position. You want the unique skill set that only can be gained from supervising people and products. However, is it possible that an honest assessment of your personality and your talents might lead you to the conclusion that you simply are not meant to be a manager? What if you are the best worker an employer could ever hope to have, but that does not translate into a management role?
A recent article on MSNBC’s Business website posed the question, “Do You Have Management Potential?” The author, Sandy Shore, takes her readers through a series of questions that you should ask yourself before pursuing a management position. These questions include:
Are you interested in mentoring others?
Can you hold people accountable?
Could you discipline or fire a subordinate?
I encourage you to check out the article and read through all of the questions and the accompanying analysis. But, I also want to hear your thoughts as well.
What questions do you think are essential when doing a self-assessment for management potential? Or, maybe you believe the premise of the question is inaccurate. Do you instead think that any driven individual should be able to succeed in management if he or she is serious about career success? Please let us know your thoughts!
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t think everyone is management material. I wish more care was given to determine just who should be in management. But I also think the new economy will ultimately shake this out naturally…
Todd – I agree totally. Companies could also do more to show people that there are rewarding career paths other than managerial and that one is not a failure if they are not management material.
Additionally, unfortunately, the Peter Principal is far too common…
Joe,
I think management skills can be taught as long as the individual is a willing, committed participant and has the heart, passion and selflessness to focus on their team’s and organization’s needs.
As well, sometimes such talent lies dormant, and with the right mentoring, a staff member CAN become an excellent manager that successfully holds others accountable, mentors others, etc. (By the way, I think there are many ways to exhibit mentoring skills — many, diverse ways to manage and lead others, not just one right way).
That said, with exploration and self-assessment (a great idea, Joe!), I believe some people will discover the management path is not in their own best interest, not something they would even enjoy. However, for those who may not have the current savvy and skill sets to manage well, but who have the desire, I think a management career can be earned and learned!
Great post!
Jacqui
Hi Jacqui – thanks so much for adding your thoughts and expertise, I agree with you completely.
Unfortunately, as I mentioned to Todd, the Peter Principal is far too prevalent in many companies. I believe that is because of the lack of honesty in the companies’ assessment processes. Many companies that I know don’t do a good job of providing the feedback or honesty that people need to grow into a good manager…
I wrote about that last week http://healthcareittoday.com/2010/04/06/lets-be-honest-about-your-performance/
Thanks again for your insights and your commitment to our collective community!
As touched on above – some people are not management material…or just don’t want to manage people.
“Companies could also do more to show people that there are rewarding career paths other than managerial and that one is not a failure if they are not management material.”
Are there any companies in Health Care you can point to where individual contributors can advance and be rewarded and acknowledged? FCG had a “technical master” designation that valued and capitalized on knowledge growth and innovation. Hopefully there are other organizations where this is true.
Hi Gail – Thanks for your comments! I wish that I could throw out a bunch of names, but with the implosion of the former FCG, Superior, Dauo and Superior and the emergence of the smaller firms (Himformatics, Impact Advisors, Santa Rosa etc) I have not seen consulting companies embrace anything like the “technical master” path. I know that the prototypical TM, Dave Dimond, is building a consulting team at EMC and Bob Agamalian is working in similar role (more of product management) at Microsoft and those would be 2 places that would be worth checking out. I can connect you if you want, just send me and e-mail – jrl@resultsfirstconsulting.com
I’ve attempted to be a manager at a small discount retailer, but it just hasn’t worked out like I thought. I think the only reason they’ve kept me is because, 1) they don’t want to pay unemployment if fired 2)I’m very cheap (minimum wage) 3)I know how to open and close the store. I think I should have left a long time ago. flapjacks29