The Manager’s Path — Book Summary [Chapter 1]

Here is a summary and my takeaways from Camille Fournier’s book “The Manager’s Path”. As a new tech lead, I was looking for a book to smoothen my transition from an IC to a people manager. I was immediately hooked; it highly resonated with me on the challenges I am facing in my new role.

As I read through the book, I will be adding more parts to this series. While summarising, I have also augmented it with some of my own learnings so far, and thoughts on how one can go about scaling the challenges of being a people manager. I have written this from a POV of a manager to make it easier to consume for everyone taking a similar journey as mine. So, let’s jump in!

What to Expect from a Manager

One always starts off from the other side of the table and often, our experience of being managed is the foundation of our own management philosophy. A lot of times your reference point might not be good as there are very few “good” managers. Do not take your own manager as a template as everyone has their own execution style, and rarely is the solution 1 size fits all.

A “good” manager:
- cares about their reportee as a person and helps them grow
- guides on how to navigate difficult situations
- teaches important skills
- gives valuable feedback
- wants to make themselves redundant by growing and grooming their reportees (so the reportees can take the manager’s job someday)

The above list just includes some of the traits of a good manager. In practice, it takes a lot for an individual to showcase the above qualities. As you try to keep your team on track, communication is the most important tool for you.

One on One meeting

The aim of 1:1 meetings is to open a line of communication between you and your reportees. There are two primary goals that this achieves:

• Goal 1: Create a human connection between you and your reportee
  Great managers can notice if the energy level of their reportees is different from usual [This could be due to personal or professional reasons] and care to ask about it. This connection also builds trust which is very important for the team to be highly functional
• Goal 2: Share/receive periodic feedback on what is (or ain’t) working
  Timely feedback on what needs to be improved/is not going well will help the employee course correct to be on the track to success. Similarly, timely appreciation also goes a long way to show the employee that they are seen and heard.

As a manager, you can follow these guidelines to have productive 1:1 sessions:

• Schedule the 1:1s at regular intervals
• Hold 1:1s with predictability [so that reportees can come prepared]
• It is not for status updates on tasks
• Be open to feedback
• Share feedback regularly [positive or negative] so that the reportee knows that their efforts are being seen
• Let the reportee focus on their pain points; drive the meeting to help them narrow the issues, clear any misconceptions, and together conclude on the final feedback [to both you and reportee] [Strengthens the connection since everyone wants to be heard]
• Take clear Action Items where applicable and also add an end date so that it is clear to the reportee that steps are being taken to solve the problem [Builds trust]

<Bonus Tips for a Reportee>

A lot of what you want to achieve at work is owned and controlled by the individual rather than the manager. The manager can explain the available growth opportunities, showcase the list of available projects and give performance feedback but they cannot tell you what makes you tick. Hence, communicating what is on your mind to your manager is very important.

• Be prepared with a list of topics that you want to discuss in the 1:1 [if you are unhappy, talk about it; if you are stuck, ask for help; if there is something that interests you, ask for that project]
• Be open to feedback
• Be vocal: This meeting is for you to bring up things that you want to change for your in the work setting; try to make the most out of it
• Setup follow-up meetings if you feel that not everything was covered
• Be appreciative of your fellow team members; appreciate what went well
• Try not to be overly critical of what you can improve
• Talk about your pain points and give suggestions, if any. Your manager will not always have answers. But this is a good opportunity to bring about a change you would like to see. You can propose solutions to the problems you are facing. That way, you will be able to expand your influence from just yourself to your team, and at the same time, you also help out your manager by resolving some problems, giving them the confidence to lean on you a bit more in the future.

Feedback and Workplace Guidance

It is human nature to err. Sooner than later, some member of your team will make a mistake. As a manager, it is your responsibility to work with the team to acknowledge the error without prejudice and work with them to figure out corrective steps for it. Some key notes on sharing feedback as a manager are:

• Give feedback periodically
• It is always better to provide critical feedback in private; to avoid embarrassment/awkwardness for the reportee
• Praising, on the other hand, is better done in public. This gives recognition to the individual while also motivating the other members of the team for working better by reinforcing positive behavior
• As a manager, it is important to help your reportee understand the value of the work they are doing

Praise in Public, Criticize in Private

Training and career growth

Most companies have training programs, online resources (ebooks, subscriptions), conferences, mentorship programs, et al to help an employee achieve their true potential.

As managers, you can facilitate some of the parts of the training process for your reportees, but it is usually an individual’s responsibility to figure out what is the right training for them [especially in more technical areas of the job]. It would help if you guided your reportee to find the right answers:

• For training, connect them with the learning dept in the company
• For mentorship, you can reach out to some other senior folks outside the team to seek if they are free for mentorship
• For work, try giving them work that will also help them acquire the skills needed for them to move up the ladder

The other way where a manager has a much more direct contribution to career growth is via promotion and compensation. As a manager, you should be aware of the qualifications of the next level and keep your reportees informed on the same as part of your 1:1s. While you cannot guarantee promotions, you can guide your reportees in building the right profile. You should guide the reportee through the process of making a promo packet: artifacts that the promo committee will review. Also, more often than not, you will be advocating this promotion case for approval.

With this, we conclude the first chapter of this series. I hope it adds value to people who are at similar stages in their careers as me. Will be summarising the following chapters over the next few weeks.

Link to Chapter 2: https://medium.com/@dhruvaggarwal043/the-managers-path-book-summary-chapter-2-dbefb7f66441