To think you have to have certain type of personality to manage people?

[Hulahoops30]

I would honestly hate to manage people, is that a bad thing?

It’s not for everyone. It’s important to not need to be everyone’s friend. And be objective.

It's certainly not for me. I'd be absolutely terrible at it.
I have only ever had one good line manager.i wonder if not many people are cut out for it, or whether I have just been unlucky!

I like to think I did a good job as a manager. Got a team who weren't pulling together united. Didn't mix up equal treatment with the same treatment. Can't bear micromanagement so didn't do it myself. Gave raises and recognition.

But I HATED it.

I hate that so many companies view progress in terms of managing other people. I prefer to award progress in terms of autonomy.

Lots of different personality types can be good managers. There are some traits and skills that make it easier though - being organised, being able to remove barriers for your team, listening, appreciation, developing people and being a good communicator come to mind.

I manage a team of 22 with 4 direct reports and regular professional interaction with layer below them.

Again I came to it late in life and I think a few grey hairs (metaphorically do no harm). I spend a lot of time coaching my direct reports to manage their small teams and put lots of thought about brokering new ideas and planting seeds for things we need to develop.

When I was one of direct reports I had a bigger team than others to manage and the overall team was toxic and dysfunctional. It was a bit like turning round the titanic but forensic performance management and giving people empowerment by becoming accountable did the trick.

I will have the back of every member of my overall team but there will be quiet and private conversations.

We have a great team. It is very hard work. They undoubtedly think I'm ancient but they will also come to talk through a problem and take advice.

Sometimes I say no. I give a reason and it is generally accepted. We have embedded cultural norms and expectations as a team.

Me too, not as long as 28years, but a team of up to 20 and working through some tricky stuff.
I think there is a "type" of person who enjoys managing people. I love it and (I think) I do it well. Building teams is brilliant. However lots of people hate it and/or are bad at it.
Some people are truly terrible at it but are not self aware enough to realise :(

Good managers themselves have good managers, generally. Bad managers create bad ones.

I think it depends on industry, sector and type of people you're going to manage.

My industry is very specific in that management is very soft, friendly, supportive and generally very good natured. Mostly people get given tasks and they get on with it without fuss. Shouting get nobody anywhere so just doesn't happen.

Happy people = happy team = good results so work generally fits round personal lives and families. As long as targets are met then that's how it should be, shouldn't it?

I absolutely hated it. I think I did a decent job, but it’s bloody stressful and you always get people who take the piss.

Depending where you are I think manager should not be bossy or snap at staff where it's not needed.
Managers should understand their team and that they are adults also.

Letting the know it all power hungry on people.... yikes.
Here comes high staff turnover.

I used to be a manager and it wasn’t worth the extra money! I’m ‘pleb’ level now and much happier!
Other than the inevitable sorting issues out, when one of my team made a mistake (it happens, we are but human!), I’d get it in the neck.
You have to be a teacher, confidente, problem solver, agony aunt and most of the time ‘the bad guy’, having to refuse someone’s holiday as someone else is off.
I did it for 18 months then ended up moving on to another company at a lower level but on the same ‘manager’ salary I was on!

I was really nervous about managing people, but actually I really enjoy it and get good feedback. The secret is listening, seeing the best in people but also having high standards, I think.

Managing people is the best and worst bit of my role. Senior exec with large team for years.

I manage a team and generally enjoy it and get positive feedback. Our firm
is very people focussed and therefore we have a lot of people training aimed at managers and in most training days I’ve attended, it has been impressed that if you do not enjoy and engage with the process, you should not be managing people.
I work in a professional fee earning role and I think traditionally to move up the chain you had to demonstrate you could lead a team which is why there are so many older, bad managers in my profession.

I think its a split between the team, the environment and the manager personality. I hated it, for a mix of the above reasons. I had some brilliant members of my team with huge personal issues or health issues and it made me incredibly proud when they'd thank me for being supportive and fair through rough patches. They'd try their hardest and i'd try my hardest in return. However, i also had team members who just didnt have realistic expectations of what a manager's job is or what allowances companies can make, and i found that really hard. They were 'lifers' at a massive legacy company who didnt know life outside it, and i really struggled with conversations where they'd get aggressive with me when i'd already stretched the absence or performance policy as far as i could without personally getting into trouble with HR. I have a 'i will fix this' personality and you cannot 'fix' that someone thinks companies shouldnt do ANY absence management EVER and ultimately i really struggled emotionally with that, it made me really doubt my own abilities and work because sub conciously i internalised their anger as me doing something wrong and that i wasnt doing the job 'right'.

I think it depends on the people you're managing and 'fit' to some extent. I have a really high performing team. I expect a lot from them for their pay grade, but I give them a lot of autonomy and don't mind if they mess up occasionally. They came to me having been micromanaged and it was a big shift and took about 8 months to get to a really good place.

I know that I'm less good at managing people who need a lot of structure, and I find it a bit annoying to have to 'instruct' people and be very directive- I hate it if I'm managed like that myself so can't get used to it.

I get brilliant feedback from my team and I do find it rewarding- on the other hand if I was told I never had to manage a team again I wouldn't mind. I'm probably a bit soft in letting them do too much L&D, but that sort of thing buys their loyalty as well as being good for performance.

A good bit of advice I had early on was to think of your worst manager and do the opposite. I think about that a lot...

Why would it be a bad thing not to want to be a manager or have the skills?

Neither of those things are essential life qualities and by definition the vast majority of the workforce will never need r even want to be managers

What makes you think you should want to do that?

Overall I enjoy being a manager. I definitely want to continue in a role where I manage people - I like leading projects & ensuring people with different skill sets work together to achieve a shared goal.

But..

So much depends on the overall organisational culture & the back up of the next-level management.

I manage a team with several poorly performing staff, and one particularly difficult team member who has spent her timing waging war against anyone she can, including me. It's exhausting as while I have got much better at dealing with such issues, I don't have sufficient support at senior level & it's draining.

I also made the mistake of being too nice, worrying about what people think & wanting to be liked, I suppose, in earlier years. I'm over that now, but it can be a lonely place

I am very supportive of my team if they have personal difficulties; are upset or have challenges in work. Despite probably being under-appreciated for this, I still continue to prioritise it. It matters to me to be decent.

OP, google Belbin’s team roles. There is definitely a manager personality type. I’m a very strong Shaper and have been told that I’m difficult to manage, but that the secret was to give me a project and just leave me to get on with it. Managing people would be my worst nightmare. My personality type gets things done and I’ve unilaterally taken over a project that was then rolled out nationally, after it stalled under an incompetent manager. A good manager had “chairmanship skills”- recognises the different abilities in the team, supports weaker members, includes everyone and motivates. I had a brilliant manager in my last job who trusted me and knew not to micromanage.

Whatever personality is needed, my manager doesn't have it. Sociopathic lack of empathy, poor knowledge of the job and systems, and terrible communication. Everything's her way or the highway, even if she's doing everything arse about face.

The entire team are miserable, and she genuinely believes it's an us problem. It's not, she's just abysmally suited to the job.

Hallmark of an excellent manager.
I also think that one essential for being a really good manager (and I was shit hot) is the ability to have a clear vision of where the team is going, to be sble to communicate it clearly and to get the team on board with it.

Being a good manager comes from experience and practice (and training if possible). A lot of managers end up doing it because they are the most senior person. Others end up doing it because they have forceful personalities or were in the right place at the right time.
IME in both these scenarios their being a good manager does NOT necessarily follow.
Good managers can come from anywhere but they need to put the work in to do it properly.

Definitely, I couldn’t. I’m too nice and a pushover

I think everyone can learn to give effective feedback or feed forward. Not everyone can manage.

Also managing people shouldn't be about paperwork. It should be about having your teams back, fighting for the resources they need to be the best team they can. Creating a team dynamic. Helping everyone perform to their skill set. Listening. Training people forward. And listening again.