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I've been in my field for over 15 years, and most people in my age group in the field have already made the move into some form of management. I have more or less refused to go into management. I think the main reason is that I love to be hands on. I also love for the challenges of my job to be mostly technical and not people related.
I also have a general philosophy about the role of a manager. In the best cases, managers who are the best to work for spend their time managing. Either focusing on the business side, or protecting the team from ongoing politics. I've found the worst managers are overly involved in the day to day work, are bad at delegating, and let too many external politics leak into the team. They also don't know how to create balanced teams, having a designated "hero" or "high performer" on the team that they over utilize.
I think a lot of times in my field, a lot of managers were really good workers who get promoted. And you can tell they prefer to do day to day work. So they give themselves all of the "good work" while leaving their staff with nothing but the most minuscule task. I can DEFINITELY see myself being this very type of manager. And I hate these type of managers. So to avoid being a hypocrite I mostly have stayed away from management.
What reasons have you mostly stayed away and avoided management?
I work in a large organization, but there is rarely any turnover among the team leads, managers, much less above. It seems to be easiest to become a manager at an organization you already work for. It seems to be incredibly difficult to go from a staff to management role off the street, as most management positions demand previous management experience.
Truthfully, I have to be the boss at home; I don’t want to be the boss all day long at work, too. I’m content to be in my quiet, rarely visited cubicle.
Upper Management would be the only gig to go into. That would require bypassing middle management all together. A lot of the middle managers at the companies I have been in have 5 pounds of crap in a 2 pound bag every day and put in crazy long hours daily and with little to NO support from the management above them and generally in a thank-less position
I don't care how good the money is, who wants to live at work and have to put out fires every day? Generally upper management sets the tone and that trickles down. If its poor upper management that trickles down to the workforce and you're stuck in the middle trying to appease your workers (who have low morale or don't make it into work or the turnover rate is high and everything is thrown on you)
I only want to have to worry about myself and what I'm doing. Not the crap that upper management is pulling and how it may affect me or those under me. Just isn't worth it
Truthfully, I have to be the boss at home; I don’t want to be the boss all day long at work, too. I’m content to be in my quiet, rarely visited cubicle.
LOL, I get this completely. Especially the "rarely visited" part.
I had my years where I was trying to "climb the ladder", get that recognition, etc.
Now? I hope I get to stay "rarely visited" for the next couple of years on into retirement.
Been in and out and back into management roles several times over my career. I've learned that I don't like it, but that I'm actually pretty darn good at it. When I've been a manager I've viewed my role as setting the direction, working up chain on issues and actions, and basically being a s***shield for the team below. While at the same time guiding and training, as well as dealing with both hiring and firing. I don't really enjoy politics and people issues that come with it and have several times taking a different job and/or moved downward to get out of it, and each time I find myself getting promoted back into it again.
I just stepped into management and wish I didn't. I absolutely hate it. You have to deal with people's personalities, people who don't realize they are not good at their job, people that are needy.
I was so excited when I asked for a promotion and got one. Seven months in I have huge regrets. Being stuck under a CEO that asks for crazy information at the last second and over a team that is vastly under-qualified is not a good place to be sitting.
I work in a large organization, but there is rarely any turnover among the team leads, managers, much less above. It seems to be easiest to become a manager at an organization you already work for. It seems to be incredibly difficult to go from a staff to management role off the street, as most management positions demand previous management experience.
Similarly, opportunities have just not been presented to me. People who get into management roles seem to pull strings with their friends who are already at the top. I was having a conversation about opportunities with one of my peers just today, a manager, and she said that she doesn't have a Bachelor's degree. She finagled her way into a kush management job by calling her friend who reports up the the CEO of the company. I guess through her, she was able to get an interview and was ultimately hired for the position.
I'd love to have opportunities to grow and advance. I'd love to do what it takes to learn that new role and become successful. But at my current company, they don't believe in hiring/promoting from within. So I'm seeking opportunities outside of the company now.
I just stepped into management and wish I didn't. I absolutely hate it. You have to deal with people's personalities, people who don't realize they are not good at their job, people that are needy.
I was so excited when I asked for a promotion and got one. Seven months in I have huge regrets. Being stuck under a CEO that asks for crazy information at the last second and over a team that is vastly under-qualified is not a good place to be sitting.
A good manager will figure out how to mentor their struggling subordinates. Either they will learn and grow, or they won't. Bottom line is that it's on the subordinates if they don't put in the effort to do so. Otherwise, it's on you for failing to attempt to coach them to success.
On the other hand, I suspect there are a lot of managers like yourself who jumped into the role, ill-prepared and unrealistic, with their eye on the title and pay increase, but with little consideration for what it means to be a good manager of people.
Last edited by Left-handed; 03-19-2018 at 05:49 PM..
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