I hear many young professionals say their goal is to become a manager some day. Not a bad aspiration. My reply is usually something like, “Why would you want to be that?” Of course, that catches most of them off guard. There is nothing wrong with being a manager or supervisor. But that’s only a title. There is something deeper.
I didn’t understand this when I started my professional career. I had the same aspirations. When I first learned that management was just a title was when I was the sales rep in charge of training all the newbies. I didn’t get paid more for it; I didn’t get more recognition; I didn’t even get a promotion for doing it. They asked me to, and I said why not!
What I learned was it felt good to see someone come in not knowing what to do and being able to make an impact on their performance in a positive way. To see someone who just started with our company be able to compete with tenured reps gave me a feeling of pride and accomplishment. I had influenced their development. Again, I couldn’t have articulated it then, but I can now.
I was an influencer. I say influence because we can’t control someone else’s development. They have to make their own decisions whether to listen to us or not. I’ve found there are 3 levels of influencers (4 actually, but the 4th is a little more complicated).
Managers/Supervisors – These people often are busy managing processes and tasks. They are focused on checking a box off of a list. They often have to get people to perform by use of authority and demand. This can be effective at getting short term results, but ultimately there is not much positive influence going on, mainly negative.
Leaders – These people have found that building relationships with others is a better approach. It’s easier to positively influence someone’s development if you understand their background, struggles, and strengths. People are much more willing to listen and execute if they know you have their best interests in mind. This will lead to better long term results.
Mentors – One of my favorite terms! When someone can not only influence development the same as a leader, but also inspires you to fundamentally change the way you think and work, that is a mentor. Again, mentors don’t make people change, but they have such a profound positive impact on others, the choice to change is so easy. This is what gets us the best results in work and in life, mentoring.
So my advice to my young colleagues is always aspire to be more than a manager. Be a leader, be a mentor.
The Tech Exec 