Great points, Anton. I don't plan to return to a manager role, but when I led a handful of people, I was guilty of only managing down and not spending enough time to build relationships.
This second comes from the fact that I worked most of the time as a solo contractor with other solo contractors, and we kind of didn't care, but dynamics change inside a company when you're all employees.
Even inside a 'regular' company, many managers just focus on their own team, and don't care about what happens outside, so I think you are not alone there :)
I've seen a manager ignoring the destructive behavior of selected (favorite) individuals in a team, creating quite a toxic culture. The team really evaporated beneath them.
Giving negative feedback is hard, but having long term team dissatisfaction and erosion is harder.
Noted this great quote for future reference: "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept."
Your article moved "An Elegant Puzzle" up in my reading queue.
Thanks for the shoutout, Anton!
It was a long time on my list before I read it, definitely should have given it a go sooner :)
Great points, Anton. I don't plan to return to a manager role, but when I led a handful of people, I was guilty of only managing down and not spending enough time to build relationships.
This second comes from the fact that I worked most of the time as a solo contractor with other solo contractors, and we kind of didn't care, but dynamics change inside a company when you're all employees.
Thank you Akos!
Even inside a 'regular' company, many managers just focus on their own team, and don't care about what happens outside, so I think you are not alone there :)
"What you permit, you promote."
I've seen a manager ignoring the destructive behavior of selected (favorite) individuals in a team, creating quite a toxic culture. The team really evaporated beneath them.
Giving negative feedback is hard, but having long term team dissatisfaction and erosion is harder.
Great post, Anton! And thank you for the mention!
Thanks Samuel!
Yeah, I fell into that trap myself too. We try too hard to be nice people, but it ends up backfiring.
It's remarkable how many of these apply to PMs as well!
Especially to managers of PMs :)
I think most are common for any manager!