Why do I like the subject of management? Why do I like managing? Those are questions that I have been asked many times and my answer has remained the same since I first experienced being a manager. Simply put, I like making a difference. When you achieve a management position, you have an opportunity to improve the experiences of your customers, employees and partners through your wise decisions and the professional application of your skills and knowledge. While there are always organizational and societal restrictions on all managers, still you can always improve the lives of others or make thing less difficult for others. The higher one goes in management the greater the opportunity to make a difference. Virtually everyone has at one time or another complained about a manager or wondered what their managers do. What managers do is often invisible to employees, but not to the success of an organization. Frankly, being a manager is not easy; if it were then anyone could do the job. The reality is that managers and the field of management are often misunderstood.
Consider the negative way that business managers are portrayed in popular literature and in the media. Managers are often portrayed as people of limited talent and education, focused only on making money, unconcerned for others, undeserving of their position and pay, and unethical. In the popular Dilbert comic strip, the manager is portrayed as a short, pointy-haired, unethical idiot. I suggest that these characterizations reflect many people’s general disappointment with their own managers and supervisors.
Many people without any management training or education think they are perfectly qualified to manage an organization. Unfortunately, many, if not most, people equate managing one’s own life with managing an organization. The reality is that the skills and knowledge necessary to successfully lead a medium size or larger organization are far different and more complex than what is necessary to manage one’s own life and career.
Some people believe that the only way to learn to manage is to learn on-the-job. Learning on-the-job is not the best or the most efficient way to learn, but it is the most painful way to learn. The subject of management is large, complex and multidisciplinary. It takes a lot of courage and dedication to be a good manager. Managers carry the weight of the success or failure of their organization on their shoulders. Often their decisions and their actions will affect the financial health of their employees and their families. When things go well for the organization, then they share in the glory, but when things go badly in their part of the organization, then they often receive all the blame. For many people, the responsibility inherent in managing is scary. Other people crave the responsibility inherent in managing. They want to lead and manage. Some want to make decisions that affect other peoples’ well being, while others seek to empower other people to make decisions that give them greater opportunities for success. They do not fear the future because they do not focus on what can go wrong; instead they focus on a positive vision of the future and what they can achieve for the organization.
Fear will only hold you back; focus on the exciting possibilities of the future! Find your courage and then you can achieve more than you ever thought possible. Few things in life are as rewarding as managing an organization well.
Dr. Doug