Choose Your Managers Carefully

What is a manager? What are the responsibilities of a manager? How has that changed and evolved over the years as different generations of employees have different behavioral patterns and ways of being motivated? This last question is crucial for today’s businesses because the future rides on embracing the differences between Generation X, Y and, now, millennials. And let’s face it. Not everyone is up to the task.

Let’s start with what has not changed: In most every organization it’s the job of management to run the business for its stakeholders, which usually involves making a profit. “Business is business,” you’ll hear. Or, “It’s not personal, it’s business.”

While that is the common thread and businesses are indeed in business ultimately to make money, how managers go about achieving that goal varies greatly. There are two main components that help drive revenue and profitability: creating product that is needed at a price deemed reasonable and creating a work environment that attracts, retains and creates opportunities for employees.

Any crack in that three-legged bar stool will result in a shaky business or even collapse. The problem organizations run into is that they primarily focus on the first two—making money and making products—and take the importance of motivating the workforce out of the equation. These companies typically hit a brick wall in terms of growth, have high turnover rates and leave more money on the table because they lose valuable employees and are constantly running inefficiently because of all the retooling.

Therefore, making someone a manager and giving them responsibilities to oversee other employees is not a decision that should be taken lightly. The best salesperson or the best programmer or the best designer does not a manager make. Too many times, organizations reward their top producer by giving them managerial responsibilities as a form of promotion. What a huge mistake.

First of all, by taking your top producer out of the field you are leaving a void—one that maybe no one else can fill. That can have a negative impact on sales right there. Before even considering changing the responsibilities of one of your top producers, you need to make sure you have a rock-solid plan to replace that lost production. All too often there is a big gap between your top producer and their closest counterpart and the distance is too great to make up.

Furthermore, some people aren’t cut out to manage others. Just because they can sell ice to Eskimos or program better than Bill Gates himself doesn’t necessarily mean they have the skills to listen to the needs of their workers, find solutions and ultimately motivate them. Self-absorbed glory hounds and Alpha personalities may make great sales professionals, but usually turn out to be destructive managers—those that don’t listen to their employees’ concerns because the agenda is not about driving the organization forward anymore but more about their ego. Destructive managers destroy companies from in the inside out.

Leaders lead by example. They take the responsibility for their workers and don’t throw them under the bus, but also share in their successes. They know how to listen and then act accordingly and realize that their people are their business. They know how to motivate and rally their staffs even in difficult situations. They realize it’s no longer about them but it’s about their people and the company they represent. Not everyone is meant to be a manager or a leader, and it’s your job as a business owner and operator to make the right choices. The future of your business depends on it.