Managers often fail to implicate their teams

managementIt’s the conclusion of an article I read last week in the french economic daily “Les échos”. It pointed that in a lot of cases managers reached their position because of their expertise in a specific domain.

It’s a common mistake : because one is doing a great job we think we have to give him a better position, so we promote experts to managing positions not because they have the skills to be good managers, but because they were good employees. I’m convinced it’s not a fair thank : they won’t do anymore the things they were good at, and moreover they often don’t have skills to manage people. Instead of valorizing them we put them in difficulty.

Since they don’t master their new function they try to control everything what is exactly the opposite of what they should do : improve autonony, networking, make their team succeed.

So que question remains : does a manager have to be an expert in all the tasks of his team ? Surely not. A manager is to animate, to make people succeed. It has nothing to do whith hierarchical position and the authority that comes with. Power is not management, it’s just one of the manager’s levers. Bad news for people with a strong ego : they have to support their team, be a ressource for them, not a dictator. The manager’s legitimity comes from the way he will make is team reach its goals and make people work together. Not from his expertize in such or such domain.

As management is more an art that a science, the best man of the team is rarely the best person for managing it. It’s also a question of leadership : we all know that some people are leaders, and some others aren’t…whatever their position may be. It’s not a question of position but a question of people.

So don’t expect experts to become great managers because you give them the position. Give to position to people who have the required skills and who have leadership. And never confuse giving a position for giving a bonus…

Bertrand DUPERRIN
Bertrand DUPERRINhttps://www.duperrin.com/english
Head of People and Business Delivery @Emakina / Former consulting director / Crossroads of people, business and technology / Speaker / Compulsive traveler
Head of People and Business Delivery @Emakina / Former consulting director / Crossroads of people, business and technology / Speaker / Compulsive traveler
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