The Making of a Manager

At Everli we had recurring internal moments dedicated to knowledge sharing. One of the formats we ran was a book club for leadership books; reviewing key points together, then sharing our learnings and outcomes as we applied them.

Introduction

The book I want to talk about today is one of the most frequently suggested titles among my colleagues: The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo. I appreciated it for three main reasons:

• Tons of open, introspective questions
• Practical, real use cases from the author's experience
• After all, everyone is learning something new. This is a how-to guide for solving common problems and leading your team to new horizons.

The illustrations in the book are brilliant too.

The Manager's goal

If I had to simplify the main message of the book into a single statement, it would be this:

"You are doing something new. The great news is that great managers are made, not born."

No superheroes here, I'm sorry. Everyone is learning, trying, rinsing, repeating, failing fast.

You, as a manager, are learning how to get better outcomes from a group of people working well together. You should stop thinking individually; as an additive amount of effort. Your role is to improve the purpose, people, and process of your team to get the highest multiplier effect you can on your collective outcome.

Growing a team

What gets in the way of good work?

• People who do not know how to do good work → lack of skills
• People who know, but aren't motivated → lack of motivation

You should develop a strong relationship founded on trust, where your reports can safely share feedback and fears. "Managing is caring." Giving honest feedback doesn't mean always agreeing with them. And, remember some decisions are yours to make.

Know yourself

Being a great manager is a long journey. If you don't have a good handle on yourself, you won't have a good handle on how to best support your team. First, get deep with knowing yourself and your strengths.

Every manager feels like an imposter sometimes. Why?

• You are often looked to for answers; asking for budget, headcount, strategy clarifications
• You are constantly put in the position of doing things you have not done before

Admit when you feel bad. Even if you're afraid of the answer, confronting reality is always better than spinning disaster in your head. It is always worth it.

Making a plan

Executing well means picking a reasonable direction, moving quickly to learn what works and what doesn't, and making adjustments to get to your desired outcome. A good process is ever-evolving.

If you find yourself doing a similar thing over and over again, chances are it can be formalized into a checklist that makes the task go smoother in the future. You can then pass the playbook to others to learn and execute. You're still responsible for your team's outcome, but you can't be in all the details.

Effort does not count — results are what matter:

• Define who is responsible for what
• Break down a big goal into smaller pieces

Delegation

The most talented employees want to be challenged. There is no greater sign of trust than giving people big problems.

All the best managers agree on one thing: growing great teams means constantly looking for ways to replace yourself in the job you are currently doing with someone who can do it better than you would.

The rule of thumb for delegation is:

• Spend your time and energy on the intersection of what's most important to the organization
• And what you're uniquely able to do better than anyone else

Meetings are the "necessary evil" of management; the grown-up equivalent of homework. But do you really need to be in all of them? Delegate.

Conclusion

Management is a highly personal journey. Some of us start out stronger at certain skills than others. The person most invested in your career is not your manager; it is you!

Right ahead is another mountain, bigger and scarier than the one before. Everyone keeps climbing, and everyone achieves more together.

I hope this post inspires more leaders to read the book and develop the growth mindset, empathy, and confidence that all managers need.

Ciao!