Why Few Executives Are Skillful Managers

Just read this great article over on the Harvard Business blog regarding the main pitfalls that managers experience, along with a straightforward plan for becoming a better team leader.

A couple of thoughts:

1) I would argue that time is THE greatest barrier to becoming a great manager. While many would love to interact more with their team, they simply have too many responsibilities that they themselves are accountable for to devote the time.

In larger companies, devoting an entire job description to “Manager” becomes a solution, so long as the responsibilities for that position become only to do cultural check-ins, help the team through obstacles, and be present for discussion. All too often, the role of Manager gets lumped in with sales, resulting in a hierarchy of attention and a pairing of character traits that aren’t necessarily complimentary (focus on maing $ vs. focus on building people). While some would argue that such a focused role is indulgent, I would counter with the fact that Project Managers are some of the most highly sought positions, and they are essentially focused only on workflow. Allowing a role to be dedicated to growing and mentoring great employees sends a great cultural message.

For smaller teams, in which singularly-focused job descriptions are an unattainable luxury, dedicated people-time becomes a great solution to the management issue. Block out an hour per day in which your employees can come to you with escalation issues, and make time each week to speak with each of your employees about cultural nuances, their strengths, and their current projects/struggles. During these times, make sure you are focused on the people in front of you, and them alone.

Any other thoughts on what makes a stellar manager (or how to hop on the path to becoming one)?