Will You Be Happier if You Become a Manager?

Robby

That’s the big dream of so many people working in companies in Indianapolis and beyond. Their goal: get into management.

But, I think we should be cautious about thinking that “becoming a manager will make you happy.” If you’re not happy right now, changing to a job in which you have responsibility for ensuring others have the resources to be successful will probably not make you happier. Instead, it will probably increase the stress you already have.

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The first question might be: what do managers do? Sure, they are “the boss” but there’s more to it than having increased authority. Managers also have more responsibility. They are responsible for coaching, teaching, mentoring, and helping others.

But, “coaching, teaching, mentoring and helping others” are not exclusive to management. Every employee should be doing these things as they work with colleagues. The fact that so many employees don’t coach, teach, mentor and help each other is a failure of management, not an aspect of being an employee.

So what is a manager? What makes a manager different than other employees? Is it a matter of degrees?

No, it’s matter of scale. Managers manage work. Employees manage work. The size of units of work that a manager deals in are larger, where as employees deal in the moment-to-moment.

If you’re not happy dealing with the work you have now, it doesn’t seem likely you’ll be happier in coaching, teaching, mentoring, and helping employees to do that work if you become the boss. The first step is to find some joy in your own work. And then–if it makes sense–look for a role in management.