We slip into management without it being a plan. From engineer to manager, from salesman to manager, from accountant to manager. We assume it’s the natural next step, but oh no, it’s a gateway into a whole other world….!
They pay more for managers. now, why would that be I wonder? Could it be because they HAVE TO in order to get people to do it? And if someone offers you a free car with a job then be VERY suspicious – there’ll be a price!
Having been there, I can tell you what the price is. Here we go:
- Stress
- Have to do some things you don’t agree with – at times I have felt myself slowly selling my soul to the devil
- Delegation can be unsatisfying – you don’t get the ownership achievement glow of “I did that “
- Results take a long time to show – sometimes after you’ve left
- Good results – might have happened anyway, are the results of the team rather than just you, and you can always see how you could have done it better
- Bad results – are definitely your fault!
- Lonely – if you have a gregarious personality management may not suit you, but also if you are not a good communicator it certainly won’t suit you!
- Unpopular – often change is opposed, often your agenda is seen as against everyone else’s (getting costs down, output up, etc)
- Tribal – it’s easy to get dragged into sales vs. production vs. design vs. The Northern Division etc
- Difficult – you can’t please all the people all the time
- Difficult – who can predict future changes?
- Never ends – next year they’ll want another 10% improvement
On the plus side we do have:
- a bit more money (that you don’t notice after you get accustomed to it)
- never boring!
- might be a transferrable skill – though many companies (wrongly) still want managers who have come from their industry
What did I miss?
