How did you decide whether to go into management?

December 7, 2015 4:58 PM

My department manager recently announced they were leaving, and asked me if I would be interested in their job. It's not really something I had thought about before, and now I'm trying to figure out whether I should apply for it. It's certainly not guaranteed that I would get the job, but I believe their recommendation would carry a lot of weight. How do I make the decision on whether to apply for his job?

This is a second career for me. I've only worked in my current position and industry for about 2 1/2 years after going back to school for a second degree a few years ago. I like, but don't love my job and I don't have very clear career goals. I feel like I'm still learning how to be better in my current position.

I've never really seen myself as a leader. I get along with most people and my coworkers and others usually have good things to say about me. My manager has told me that this is why they feel I would make a good replacement. I'm pretty sure that's not enough.

What questions should I be asking myself or others? I would love to hear about how others have made a similar decision.

posted by mumbleitaliano to Work & Money (12 answers total)

What would you learn in the position? What would the pay increase be like? Think about what kind of compensation package you would like and once you have that set in your mind think about what it is that your current department head does and what you like or don't like about what they are doing. See if your manager would go out to lunch with you and talk more broadly about what the job entails but also start thinking about what your life goals are in a bigger way.

What I have learned is that I do regret not taking on bigger roles when they were presented to me. And what I know is that there are things to learn in every position and you should find the things that you are most interested in for your professional development and focus on learning as much as you can about those things. Then as you hone in on a) what you are good at and b) what the opportunities are you are better positioned to get your dream job or invent the position that works best for you.

I think you should absolutely apply even if you're not totally convinced because that is good experience and when someone recommends you for a job it's good for you to follow up on that as a gesture of thanks and goodwill. You'll have a clearer picture if you keep exploring and pushing it forward.
posted by amanda at 5:31 PM on December 7, 2015

I recently transitioned into a management role and I'm really happy I did. So I mostly took it because I wanted to take on more and I'm sorta willing to try anything.

It turned out to be a really good fit for me despite having never really considered it because I do really well juggling a lot of things and making sure stuff gets done, and I'm actually great at handling people because I generally assume good intentions and I really try for the best solutions.

So if I were you, this is what I'd be thinking about:

-can you deal with being responsible not only for a lot of projects or whatever but also for whoevers on your team's success.

-are you good at staying out of drama? As well as handling what could be tense personal situations in a level headed and fair manner?

-Similarly can you work with employees who struggle more to try to succeed? And realizing that it might not be a good fit for whatever reason?

-Are you comfortable going to bat for your team to higher ups?

It'd really think long an hard about that stuff and whether or not you think you could do it. Cause honestly there are enough shitty managers in this world.
posted by KernalM at 6:29 PM on December 7, 2015

As someone who has moved into unofficial leadership, the hardest part has been the need to make decisions that make people unhappy, and thus unhappy with me. I'm getting more comfortable with digging into respectful conflict, and I'm glad of that.

I've watched some other new managers have to have difficult conversations - walking someone out of the building or delivering difficult news.

There is some uncomfortable work, and it's exciting to stretch into that.

It also means I have access and insight and sometimes a say in major organizational decisions.
posted by jander03 at 6:44 PM on December 7, 2015

Like amanda, I have never regretted taking on higher-level jobs, even when I haven't sought them out. I'm the kind of guy with Opinions on how things ought to be. I think I can make things better, not just for me but for the company, the customers, the other employees.

As I've moved up, I've gotten to have more influence. I've also learned that it's not always as simple as it looked - sometimes things are the way they are for very good reasons. Some problems are a matter of choosing the least-bad outcome and you have to get ok with that. You can never make 100% of everyone happy and you have to get ok with THAT.

But nothing is more satisfying than to make a change or have an idea (that actually gets listened to seriously) that improves things for everyone and makes a lot of people happy. I get that experience way more often now.

Plus, always interview. It's good for the experience of learning what kind of questions they ask for your own perspective, plus it gets your name more well-known. You don't have to decide until the offer.
posted by ctmf at 7:04 PM on December 7, 2015

How does your company "feel" about turning down opportunities? I worked for a big corporation for many years and you were burning your bridges careerwise if you turned down an opportunity they offered you. (I won't even start on how this is why the Peter Principle exists, but I digress...)

Think about how you would feel if turning down this opportunity might hurt your chances for other advancement. Happiness in your current role should mean more than it does at some companies.
posted by cecic at 7:08 PM on December 7, 2015

I decided not to go into management when I read an article in Psychology Today about a research study in management. The study was conducted at a fairly large corporation, thousands of employees rather than hundreds. As I recall it, there were two phases. The first was a wide ranging survey to identify the good managers, as selected by superiors, peers, and subordinates. The second was a personality study to try to identify common traits among the good managers, of which they found exactly one: the good managers were willing to be responsible for other people's behavior.

This crystallized a tendency I already had to not be attracted to management roles. I noped right out. I am just barely, on a good day, willing to be responsible for my own behavior. I have no slightest interest in being responsible for the behavior of my teammates. Over the subsequent 20 or so years, I found myself thinking, and occasionally saying out loud, "I wouldn't do my boss's job for three times what (s)he makes." Much less any off the jobs higher up the ladder.
posted by Bruce H. at 8:15 PM on December 7, 2015

Do you WANT to be a manager?
I was a manager at one point in my career (not my choice- promoted without being consulted, just told I now had 5 people reporting to me) and it made me decide not to want to do so in the future.

And what Bruce said was part of it: I did not like being responsible for other people's behaviour. I also found myself unsuited for the level of politicking involved.

There are a lot of great comments up thread on responsibilities and what makes a good manager. I don't think I was a bad manager, but for me it was emotionally draining in a way that made me realize it's just not a good fit for my personality.
posted by raw sugar at 10:18 PM on December 7, 2015

I was a manager once. I loved helping people
grow by giving them projects suited to their unique talents. I HATED keeping track of errbody's work -- I just don't have that "air traffic controller" brain to make sure 567 things that need to get done will get done. And while being assertive is easy, I get zero kicks from being The Boss. I'd much rather get lost for hours in uninterrupted work. This is why I work for myself.

Look into Maker vs. Manager time: which set of duties appeals to you more?
http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
posted by jessca84 at 10:45 PM on December 7, 2015

I would say the most unpleasant/hardest part about management, for me, was firing staff and the training/supporting/counseling/documenting leading up to termination. On the other hand, in 25 years I only fired two people, so it's not something that weighs on you all the time.

I'd also say that developing and leading a well-functioning team is hugely rewarding.

And the money's good.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:21 AM on December 8, 2015

Reasons to be a manager: implement your vision or strategy for the organization, more comfortable as leader than follower, more control over your schedule, assign unpleasant duties rather than perform them, make more money.
posted by MattD at 5:22 AM on December 8, 2015

From my short (3 week) stint as a manager (I left), my first question would be 'can I deal with the worst character traits of my would-be boss on a regular basis?' Who is the person above you? Is he/she a poor communicator (mine was)? From observing the current manager, what did she seem stressed about? I know every job contains stress but it's made easier by having easy going people to work with.

For me it was also to do with having lots of ideas that I wanted to implement that would contribute to a smoother running of the store and which would not have been implemented otherwise. It was a 'need'.
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 6:23 AM on December 8, 2015

One thing to keep in mind as you consider your future: Management is kind of a golden ticket, even when switching careers, industries, private to public sector, etc. Once that is on your resume, you will have more opportunities even if it turns out this role is not for you.
posted by kapers at 10:31 AM on December 8, 2015