The essence of management is the belief that people can achieve more by working together than an individual working by themselves. As a manager, it is essential to realize that you don’t have to do everything yourself (additive behavior), be the best at everything, or even know everything. A manager’s job is to get better outcomes from a team of people working together (multiplicative behavior).
Since a manager’s job is to get better outcomes from a team of people working together, a great manager’s team will consistently achieve excellent results.
Personally, my framework for evaluating how well a manager is doing their job is simple. First, we look at the team’s current outcomes or results – did the team achieve their goals? Next, we look at the strengths and weaknesses – how good a job has the manager done hiring and developing team members? Finally, how satisfied is the team – is the team happy and working well together?
The types of tasks that make up a manager’s day can be categorized into these areas: purpose, people, process.
Purpose related tasks are those that focus on the outcome the team is working to accomplish. The manager’s job is to ensure that the team knows what success looks like and cares about achieving it.
People related tasks are those that focus on the individuals on the team. The manager should focus on answering questions like: Do the team members have everything they need to succeed? Do they have the right skills and tools? Are they motivated and inspired to do great work?
To manage people well, you must develop trusting relationships with them, understand their strengths and weaknesses (as well as your own), make the right decisions about who should do what (including hiring and firing when necessary), and coach individuals to do their best.
Process related tasks are those that focus on how the team works together. The manager should focus on streamlining workflows, removing obstacles, and ensuring no communication roadblocks.
A great manager is continuously working to improve the purpose, people, and processes of their team to influence the team’s outcomes.
As a manager, your role is not to do the work yourself (this is additive behavior, not the multiplicative behavior we want), even if you are the best at it because that will only take you so far. Your role is to improve your team’s purpose, people, and processes to get as high a multiplier effect on the collective outcome as you can.
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