The role of a manager is not to police, it is to get things done through other people. This is done by recruiting, developing, tooling, aligning and harmonizing.
Recruiting is best done through trial. Tip: when recruiting, ask them to do the job first (on a trial basis) an then interview them. Not the other way around. Another thing, hire people to do the work; not to teach them to do the work.
Developing is tricky because everyone has their own aspirations. To make matters worse, people choose not to be honest about what they are truly passionate about because it implies that they do not appreciate their current work. Therefore, dig deep to find people’s strengths and talents and nurture them, even if it means they leave your company.
Tooling simply means making sure people have the best tools to get the job done. Without the right equipment, hardly anyone can do the right stuff.
Aligning means getting people to do work that is aligned to their strengths. Therefore, rather monitor what people are good at instead of their weaknesses.
Harmonizing, like a music conductor works with different instruments and musicians, means working with different egos and temperaments to create a beautiful symphony of productivity.
But management is different from leadership… that’s a subject for another post.
