On Managing

When I first started managing people, I read multiple how-to manage articles and books. I implemented much of the advice I learned, but soon felt like I was becoming a one-size-fits-all manager. The challenge is that everyone is different; what works with one person doesn’t necessarily work with another. I became increasingly frustrated when things didn’t go according to plan, and I wasn’t really enjoying work.

While chatting with a friend, we realized how our personalities and behaviors vary towards different friends in our group. This thought eventually triggered the idea that I needed to adjust the way I manage depending on the individuals. Having said that there are 3 principles which I strongly believe is part of my job as manager - 

(1) The biggest job that I have is to help them grow and progress forward. It’s not about me, but rather helping them to complete their projects successfully or to help them get promoted. This means removing hindrances from their path and also guiding them through the tough times. 1-1s don’t have to follow the same schedule for everyone; each of us have different needs.

(2) Anti-fragility: My role isn’t to prevent mistakes or risks but to build the capacity to recover from them. Echoing the principles of anti-fragility, making plenty of errors—though not the same error more than once—is more reliable than systems where there was no errors.

(3) Know Them - Understand who they are. Appreciate each others individuality. We spend more than a third of our day at work; it should be with people we enjoy being around.

Needless to say I am still learning and these are some principles which helps me guide myself.