Management : It's not about you!

The argument continues, Are the managers born? or Is it a skill that is learnt? To me it's a bit of both. I'd fall to the latter. You can teach people almost anything. Management certainly falls within that realm.

But when someone puts lot of effort to do something, many think they were born with it. Such is the power of practice!

Different people have different styles of management. However what is the fundamental purpose of being a manager? It's an attitude game where the right attitude prevails.

Are you the right management material? According to management expert David Maister answer this very simple question

"Can you get satisfaction by making other people succeed?"

(or do you have the need to score all the goals yourself?)

Key is, it is not about your ego, your name etc. You should be able to build something and allow others to win contracts, businesses, achieve things etc.

Management is very similar to coaching. Every successful team has a great coach. From individual greats such as Pete Sampras and Tiger Woods to great teams such as All Blacks, Australian cricket team there had been a great coach who had been performing behind the seen.

Those who reach the management status should keep this in mind. They need to have "parental instinct", ability achieve satisfaction from seeing the growth of the others.

I've come across many managers who are mostly self centered. They have survived the test of time so to speak. But that's because those who appointed them and those who are above them have all got it wrong!

When star performers are made managers they need to understand that they need to shift gears. You are itched to do things your way, by you. Trust me I know the feeling. BUT that's exactly what you should avoid. One might save sometime in the short term by performing things on their own. Remember it's detrimental in the long run.

If you fall on to the category of people who would want to do things on your own, "to be a rainmaker" all the time, it's not bad at all. You need doers as much as you need managers in this world. There's nothing to manage without doing anything!

Doers are very much part of the success. Just that doers might not always be the best management material.

Good luck and get your act together as a manager.