Good to Great: The Most Overlooked but Critical Skill of a Leader
What’s the role of a manager?
When I ask this question to interview candidates, many of them answer this along the lines of: “A managers is responsible for leading people and getting work done through them.”
Fair enough. And what is the role of a great manager?
To this question, there is usually a pause or a blank stare.
A manager is more than just someone tasked to get work done. While it’s true that you need managers to coordinate work, assign duties, track progress, etc. But a great manager is looking at more than that. In my view, a great manager looks to develop their people.
Try this activity with your managers: ask them about a time or experience they most enjoyed as a leader in the past year. More often than not you will hear responses like these:
- I enjoyed grooming and enabling my teams into a self-sufficient, high-performing teams
- I enjoyed working with my team members on their growth and development, which helped them to excel in their roles
- I enjoyed the process of growing together with my team, learning from each other, and delivering complex projects
- I enjoyed growing leaders under me who ultimately took over my role…
