What does it mean to be a manager?
Let me tell you a story, and see if it sounds familiar to you. Several years ago, I was the manager of a team delivering an event for a client.
All of us worked really hard and, by and large, the event was a success in my eyes – one or two minor hiccups, but we delivered. Or so I thought.
Following a review and some honest feedback from the client, we realised that they were not as happy as we would have liked.
What we thought were ‘minor hiccups’ were, in fact, important points of quality, and they were upset. They asked me why I hadn’t spotted these things and arranged for the team to sort them.
‘I’m really sorry,’ I apologised, ‘I was busy doing another task.’
‘Ah,’ said the client, ‘I thought you were the manager.’
They went on, ‘So why were you busy doing a task, and not managing your team to make sure my event was perfect?’
A VERY good point! I learnt a lesson that day that I have never forgotten: if your job title is Manager – then that’s your fundamental purpose.
Of course you can chip in and work alongside your team, helping out with tasks – but NOT at the expense of managing the staff and the process.
I still see this time and time again — managers so buried in doing tasks that they forget to actually manage. Meanwhile, their team is underused, problems go unnoticed, and quality slips.
So here’s your challenge: next time you’re about to roll your sleeves up and just do something – stop, and ask yourself: is this my job, or am I avoiding my real one?
