PatronManager

Today’s blog post is written by Aaron Schwartzbord, Marketing Manager, Patron Technology.

I am a relatively young manager and am just beginning to develop and hone my team management skills. In a recent blog post, I wrote about a great online tool called Asana that’s helping me manage all of the projects within the marketing department I am part of. That’s just one way I’m working to better my collaboration and management skills, but I’m always on the hunt for more tools, techniques, and advice.

Today I came across this blog post entitled, “5 Key Things I Wish I Knew Before I Became a Manager,” on Hubspot’s marketing blog and it caught my attention. The following paragraph, in particular, popped out:

The skill set [of being a manager opposed to a contributor on a team] is totally different. In fact, the skills you mastered to become a top performer on your team might challenge you most as a manager. It’s like spending your whole life developing skills as a tuba player, then being handed a baton. You could be a brilliant conductor eventually, but in the beginning you’ll pretty much look like you’re shooing flies longing for the days when you played music more directly.

Managing people is not an easy or, for most, a natural role, but I think many of us are drawn to it. There’s the sense that we’re contributing to our organizations in a more influential way while making a statement that we’ve accomplished something in our careers and gotten somewhere. But, at least for me, it’s so much more important to be an effective and influential manager to my employees then just have the title and (for lack of a better word) the power.

I’m trying to manage with compassion, authority, and support. I want our team to grow and get better as a group and individuals. I’ve had fantastic managers in my career that have inspired and empowered me. I’ve also had managers who held me back and made me feel unimportant. I can’t know how my current and future employees are going to see me, but I’m certainly going to work hard to inspire and empower them.

I encourage you, especially if you are less experienced at this, to read this blog and think about how you can focus your skills. How can you emulate the amazing mentors in your life while being efficient and productive? To go deeper into these ideas, I highly recommend a book called The One Minute Manager. This quick and enjoyable book will get you thinking in depth about the manager you want to be and how you can achieve it.

Please feel free to share your feedback and personal experiences on this blog.

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