Most companies are organized so that the only way to advance your career is to climb the org chart, which means you’ll inevitably end up managing others. Nevermind if managing people is one of your strengths. Nevermind if managing is one of your aspirations. Nevermind if management takes you away from the work you loved and were good at in the first place.
The truth is that not everyone is great at managing people. Management is a very human process. It requires someone who’s equal parts leader to cast a vision and compel people to reach a goal, psychologist to work through the real human problems of team collaboration, and taskmaster to track processes and governance.
There are great managers out there. I’ve had the pleasure of working for some of them. But not everyone is a great manager.
Some people are happier making, building, creating, contributing.
But organizations aren’t set up to reward employees who are brilliant makers. The only reward for an exceptional creator is a promotion to a position where they no longer create.
“Hey, that person's a great designer,” says leadership. “They should manage all the designers.”
But when that individual is asked to manage a design team, he or she will no longer do much designing. Days will be consumed by statuses, reports, and meetings. How is that a good plan for the ongoing success of an organization? Where’s the sense in removing people from things they’re great at in order to have them oversee people who are less good at those things?
What is that designer to do? The poor employee has likely reached the pinnacle of design in the organization (since most companies don’t have more than a couple of designer levels). What choice is there but to take the promotion and hope for the best?
Organizations need to do a better job of rewarding talent and skill. There need to be incentive programs for exceptional work, opportunities for your great employees to lead without managing, and pay structures that compensate key contributors just as much as managers. Everyone will be better off.