I often don’t write about my job at the big paper factory. However, it is from my many years at my job that I learned about working on a team and leading one. Some team leaders believe they are managing a team, while others lead a team. When one leads, others who assist can help, and see how things are done while learning new skills. If a team is managed, the team is compelled to try new things or participate in a training program set up by the team manager. This is why I enjoy Seth Godin’s ideas on leaders who lead and managers who manage.
There are plenty of managers who manage. They need you to fill in all the check boxes so they can collect them to confirm that you completed your task. This will enable them to inform their manager that you did your task during the meeting, which could have been an email. There are systems managers who manage systems. These managers manage the system; you go to check off the boxes so they can tell their bosses that they are working on a new project, maybe. However, many times, in my opinion, they are simply fixing things that might not be broken. You may not be able to call a systems manager at 3:00 a.m. when the system they manage goes down. You might need to wait. They have created systems around what to do if systems do not work. It’s quite simple, really, and you just follow the steps the system managers created.
Department managers manage all the managers in the department. Department managers hold a quarterly meeting with all the managers they manage, leaders, and teams, which should have been an email. They review all the statistics and findings of the various aspects they manage in the department, and share with everyone what they need to improve and manage better. They might even compare the stats with other departments in other places that they manage. This is to keep everyone and their managers up to date on the latest trends they see and the predictions they made. The department managers spend a great deal of time working on this PowerPoint presentation to assess how well they managed.
Corporate managers manage all the department managers. We, on the teams and the team leaders, see them a few times a year. We at times need to stop what we are doing, adding value to the process and company, to make time for these visits. On these visits, they may pass through quickly and get right to the meetings that could have been an email with the department managers and their managers. They may spend half a day in a meeting with all the managers who supervise them, receiving feedback on their management style. There is, at times, some good food at these meetings that could have been emails, and should you find the leftovers in the conference rooms, your team leaders and teammates will think you a hero for the snacks and goodies.
I do hope you have a good day managing or being a leader. We do need both for sure. You just need to pick what you would like to be. There are managers who lead rather than simply manage. I will be more than happy to allow AI to manage me. It might make more room for leaders to lead.
If I were living yesterday a second time:
I would have made a few choices differently.
Things I am grateful for:
The leaders on my team.
If I get to live to be 86, I only have:
12999 days left.