How to Know if People Management is Right for You

You’re looking for the next step in your career, so obviously you need to start managing people to continue to grow at your current company.  

Often individuals feel like becoming a people manager is the only path forward at some point in their professional life - the only way to take on more responsibility, to move up at the company, to make your money. You have to manage to move forward. This belief is prevalent, and it is also inaccurate. Being a people manager is an important job; it’s a fulfilling job, but it’s not the right role for everyone. In a 2024 survey, 95% of employees believe their managers are mainly responsible for their happiness at work.

But, according to recent studies, only 10% of people have the traits to be an effective people leader.

So, how do you know if people management is right for you:

• You love to teach and want to coach. As manager, you’ll be responsible for the onboarding and training of new team members and the ongoing education for existing staff. Do you enjoy presenting/instructing/answering questions? Do you get a rush when you see someone you’re teaching start to put the pieces together on their own. Are you open to adapting your teaching style to meet the learning needs of those under you? As the head of the team, you may be delegating parts of onboarding & training to others on your team, but ultimately, you are the lead trainer, and if you don’t enjoy the process of teaching someone new the processes, systems and ways of working at your company, it may not be the right fit for you. You’ll also need to be able to make a pivot from teaching to coaching. Teaching is showing someone how to do something. Coaching is giving them the support, resources and push to figure out how to do something themselves. You’ll need to help get your team members to the next stage of their own careers  - you need to truly care about their goals and their success. As a new manager, knowing when and how to effectively coach vs. teach will be a skill you develop over time - so you also need to be open to learning new things yourself, as effective professional coaching takes training & practice.
  

• You can handle not being in control of everything, and you’re ok with not being the star of the show. As a manager, delegation is a key skill in balancing your own workload and providing opportunities for growth within your team. Will you be comfortable giving up your largest client to someone else so you can focus on big picture projects? For your team to be successful, you’ll need to get out of the weeds - this can be a challenge, particularly for new managers, as taming & removing weeds may be where you feel most comfortable. If you have been celebrated for your career achievements as an individual contributor, are you ready to take a step back and let your team members shine? As a leader, your team success is your success, but that adjustment may be hard for those that are or were motivated by accolades, awards or regular shout-outs when they were a solo performer.
  

• You want a seat at the table. Being the leader of the team means you’ll be pulled into big picture conversations, whether for your products or process, your department or the company at large. You’ll be speaking for your team to those above you and sharing what you are learning in those conversations with those who report to you. Are you ready to be an active part of these conversations? Being the voice for your group means actively listening to your team, distilling their feedback down to thoughtful insights and airing their thoughts/concerns/questions in a way that drives the conversation forward. You’ll need to learn what details from your team are appropriate to share with your colleagues and what information from your big picture meetings is appropriate to share with your team members. It will be a balancing act - you are now actually part of two teams - your functional team and the people manager team. And, there may be times when the priorities for these two teams don’t align. As the manager of the operations team, your team may be in desperate need of an additional data analyst. However, from your people manager seat, you know that the company is implementing a hiring freeze until later in the year due to underperformance of the sales team. As the head of operations, you're disappointed and will need to share the news with your team, but as a people manager at the company, you do understand the overall reasoning behind the decision. Being part of larger conversations is an incredible opportunity to share your ideas and advocate for your department. You won’t always be able to achieve everything you want for your team, and navigating your team priorities with larger company priorities will be a skill you will develop with experience. 
  

• You are capable of having tough conversations. Good things come with being a manager - more responsibility, more input in decision making, more autonomy and more money. But, more responsibility also means taking ownership when things get rough - and, this often presents itself when you need to have difficult conversations. Whether it’s giving the team disappointing updates about resources or a less than expected bonus, you may be the messenger of bad news sometimes. And as a manager, it’s your responsibility to deliver tough performance conversations to underperformers when needed. You may also need to fire or layoff someone at some point in your career. While your HR or managerial support team should be assisting you through these tough conversations, you will be the face of the negative news. While these conversations should hopefully not be a common occurrence, they are part of the role that can’t be avoided and need to be communicated with care, empathy and professionalism. 
  

• You truly care about others. As manager you’ll sometimes feel like you’re part therapist, parent, advocate and reality check. All this to say, a manager is someone that truly cares about the people on their team, how they are doing as a person and as a professional, with the ability to be their biggest champion to celebrate the wins, and also to step in with critical feedback even when it may be tough to hear. The greatest joy of my career has been seeing those I’ve managed thrive in their lives - and that may be growing on the same team they were hired on, getting a new & exciting opportunity on a different team or at a whole different company, watching them change careers to something they are passionate about or seeing them start a family or achieve a personal goal. Knowing that my support had even the smallest fraction of influence on them and their happiness makes me feel like the work I do matters.

If you think managing is the only way to advance in your current role but you have doubts it is right for you, there are lots of ways to take on more responsibility as an individual contributor - can you own a system, process or new product?  Is there a special project or initiative that you are passionate about and is important to your department or company that you can be involved in? Can you lead trainings, seminars or be the main point of contact for your team in some way. Managers and companies should be thinking about multiple options for career growth for their teams - not everyone has the same goals or skills. For example, I’ve worked with many skilled sellers in my career, but only a handful had the interest or talents to lead & inspire a team. I’ve seen several try, only to realize their true fulfillment came from closing their own deal or crushing a personal sales quota. And, that’s ok. It’s ok to not want to be a manager. And, it’s ok if your skills, talents and passions are not a great fit for team leadership. There are other ways to challenge yourself, take on more responsibility and continue to gain fulfillment in your professional life.

But if you do feel like you’re the right fit to lead others and are curious if being a manager is the best next step for you, let’s connect to discuss.