Ducks in a Row: Managing is Like Parenting
by Miki Saxon
Ask anyone if it’s easy to accomplish a task through others and be prepared for eye rolls and laughter.
In a post at Managing Salespeople, Dr. Jim Sellner talks about why managing is so difficult.
Management is not something you do once then sit back and enjoy your work. It’s a never-ending, unfolding story with many subplots. It is a mindset, a viewpoint, not only of work, or people, but of one’s worldview. It’s about making unique, often seemingly disconnected associations, connecting the interactions no one else sees. It is ongoing curiosity, questioning, searching for something new, different, better — posing the uncomfortable questions like “What if?” or “Why not?” That is the stuff of managing people.
Sounds a lot like a description of parenting, doesn’t it?
No, your team members aren’t children or crazy hormonal teenagers, although at times they may act that way, but even when they are acting like responsible adults they still need you.
- They need you to share the vision, so they know and understand why they are doing the work they do. They need you to provide all the information to do that work efficiently.
- They need you to challenge them, so they can grow to and beyond what they think is possible.
- They need you to trust them enough to let them make their own mistakes so they can learn from them.
- They need you to believe in them, encourage them and cheer them on.
So the next time one of your team comes to you, whether at work or at home, don’t short-change them with a brush-off response.
Remember that it was your choice; nobody put a gun to your head and forced you—you chose to be a manager, you wanted to have kids.
Now is the time to be the best that you can be—even if your manger/parent isn’t/wasn’t.
Image credit: Svadilfari on flickr
