Our topic for this post comes courtesy of one of my newsletter subscribers who sent me the following challenge:
My biggest / newest management challenge is becoming a manager of managers – instead of a manager of individual contributors.
I replied with some advice which I’d like to share and expand upon today because I think this is a big challenge and one that many of us will face at some point.
The difference between managing managers and individual contributors
Whilst the fundamentals of managing people are always (in my opinion) going to be the same, there are some subtle differences when it comes to managing people who are also managing other people at the same time.
I’d estimate that 90% of your management style will still be the same and include the basics such as:
- Giving feedback.
- Effective communication.
- Day-to-day management and support.
However, there is an additional layer of support that you need to provide, some of which is quite practical and some is more of a mindset shift.
Let’s explore two of the most important differences that you need to be aware of.
You’re helping solve people problems indirectly
When you directly manage someone, you’ll deal with any problems or challenges that come up yourself and probably be very hands on with them. For example, if one of your team is underperforming in their role, you can work with them one-to-one to try to help and fix any issues that they are experiencing. It’s probably only when things get really bad or messy that you may get some help from your own manager.
Whereas if you are managing a manager who has a team member who is underperforming, your job is going to be to support the manager in dealing with the problem, whilst keeping a bit of distance.
Many managers (me included) struggle with this because we’re programmed to get hands on with a problem and help solve it.
Instead of this, we’re basically coaching someone to solve the problem themselves, which is a very different approach to problem solving.
The types of problems that you experience are a bit more unprecedented
When you manage individual contributors, many of the challenges that they experience (and therefore, that you need to help them with) will relate to their day-to-day work. Perhaps it’s managing a difficult client or navigating stakeholder relationships on a project.
If you manage a manager, they are probably going to be experienced enough to handle these types of problems themselves – because they’ve probably been there themselves. They may come to you for some extra backup on particularly tricky clients or people, but most of the time, these problems won’t reach you.
Instead, the problems that reach you are probably going to be ones that, to the manager, are unprecedented. These tend to lean more towards intangible challenges, again related to the people that they manage and their careers.
Whilst you may have experienced similar challenges yourself, you need to be prepared for being presented with challenges that are unique and need a bit of thinking before you know how to help someone solve them.
Practical ways to manage managers
Now that we understand some of the key differences between managing managers and managing individual contributors, let’s look at some ways that you can proactively be an effective manager of managers.
Take time to align on goals/objectives
Whilst your personal goals/ambitions may differ, it’s important to ensure that as a team, you’re pointing in the same direction and working towards the same overarching goals and objectives.
For example, you may have revenue or client retention targets as a team or department, so you need to make sure that the managers who you manage are clear on these and that they’re communicating these goals to their team as well.
Alongside this, I’d recommend breaking down the goals so that they have something very specific to focus on within their team and they know the part that they are playing to contribute towards the overall goal. For example, if your department has a target of retaining 90% of client revenue, break this down to what it means for the manager who you manage. This may be to focus on upcoming renewals/contract breaks etc and support them to connect the work they do to the higher goal of 90% retention.
Balance freedom/autonomy vs. getting hands on
Leading on from one of the challenges above, it can be tempting when managing managers to “take over” when things get difficult or a bit tricky.
Try to resist this and give them as much freedom and autonomy as possible to run their team how they see fit. But give them guidelines/guardrails that help keep them in the right direction and prevent them from going too rogue.
One of the most practical ways that I do this is to give them the end goal / successful outcome that you’re looking for, then say to them that they have the freedom to find their own way there. I tend to give them a bit of help on how I’d do it, but make it clear that my way isn’t the only way to achieve the outcome.
Help them prioritise their time
As you’ll know as a manager, one of the challenges is doing your job as a manager and still doing your job as an individual contributor. Helping the managers who you manage to understand this and how to stay productive is really important and it can be a bit of a shock to their system when they realise this.
So I’d spend just as much time on helping them balance their time and to prioritising than anything else. If they can’t do this, then pretty much everything else becomes much, much harder.
For example, they’ll naturally have more meetings as a manager than an individual contributor, such as one-on-one meetings with their team members. So they need to take this into account when managing their time and making commitments to clients or stakeholders.
Another example is ensuring that they have the time (and headspace) to work with their team to develop personal development plans – again, something that an individual contributor doesn’t need to worry about.
Help them delegate tasks to their team members
Finally, they are almost certainly going to need help with delegating more tasks to their team. On a practical level, they are not going to have as much time as they had before being a manager to complete all of their tasks and deliver on their commitments.
On another level, delegating tasks is one of the most effective ways to develop their team, so in the long term, it helps everyone.
Now, delegating isn’t easy. Practically, it can take time and often feel like it takes longer than it takes to just do the task yourself. In the short term, this may well be the case, but in the long term, you save a lot of time.
But there is also a need for patience and a shift in mindset. This is because delegating tasks means letting go of some control and placing trust in a person. If someone makes a mistake, this can put you off delegating more in the future.
You need to help your team overcome this mindset and push through the challenges that delegating can bring – because it will help them a lot in the future to get this right.
Managing managers isn’t the easiest thing to do, but it can bring even more satisfaction and enjoyment to your own role, along with giving you even more challenging (and rewarding) situations to deal with yourself. Keep the above in mind and you’ll be heading in the right
