That Moment I Realized I'm Not a Manager

At my dad's retirement party at the big office where he worked in Houston, was when I thought I was a manager.

I saw the environment he worked in, how highly his manager spoke of him, and the influence a manager could have, and I wanted that.

I don't think my dad really cared for his boss, but I was looking past this specific situation to one where, if I were in the same position as his boss, I'd be motivating, coaching, helping people succeed in their work. The thought energized me.

So yes, because I thought being a manager was the only role where I could have such a career, that's when I thought I wanted to be a manager.

At the time of the retirement party, I'd already had a management job. It was my first job actually, Sno-Biz Snow Cones in Port Arthur, Texas. I was 16. But even in that job, I'd been the coach, motivator and vision shower.

Yes, there's vision even in snow cones.

Tell Everybody I'm On My Way

So with this as a background and my own vision as motivation, I headed off to college to study management. It wasn't long before realized a degree in management was going to take me way too long, so I switched to Economics in order to get my piece of paper and go out and start building my dream.

I worked some hard jobs and paid my dues and at 28 I got my first job as a manager. I'd been doing the motivating, coaching, vision thing all along because that's who I am, not just what I do. So when I got this first break, I made the most of it.

I moved from department to department, getting opportunities to do manage remote teams in other offices of the company and individuals who worked from home in far-off lands. Things were going pretty well for me. But it never felt like I was breaking through to that vision I had back at my dad's retirement party.

You see, along the way there were projects. Big projects. Business integrations, re-engineering initiatives, acquisitions, office moves, new equipment purchases, I even assembled cubicles one weekend, and canceled a vacation due to an project that just had to have MY attention.

All these projects took away from the time I had to motivate, coach, and instill visions.

In fact, all that other stuff took about 80% of my time. It actually took about 98% of my time, but I forced extra hours to give my teams 20%.

I started to wonder if I was a manager.

Last week, I got a text from my sister asking what made me decide to leave my current manager role. You see, about three weeks ago, I told the folks at my company, I didn't want to be a manager anymore.

It was the same thing I'd found being a manager in some of my past organizations. greater than 90% of my time was spent managing projects large and small. I'd go many days without even seeing members of my team.

Motivating, coaching and instilling visions was no longer an option.

I'm Not a Manager

So, when I got that text from my sister, rather than answer her right away, I went for a walk.

I'd had a moment here and there where I questioned if I'd done the right thing. Somewhere during that walk it hit me. "I'm not a manager."

Back at my dad's retirement party, I had built my own vision of what a manager is. It was that motivator, coach and visionary. Don't get me wrong, I know there are numbers to manage to and your little corner of the business to run as a manager, but in most manger roles I've seen there's not even time for that.

So my vision of what a manager is, doesn't jibe with the rest of the world.

And so, I realized after many years of management, that I'm not a manager.

Advice to the Business World

Now, if I were to give advice to the business world at large it would be this:

Hire people managers to manage people and project managers to manage projects. Your people managers should never be doing anything more than consulting your project managers on projects.

Managers of people should be motivators, coaches, and visionaries. Yes, they should know the key metrics for their departments, that goes without saying. You have to have that to share a vision and motivate.

But project management is for project managers. And there are very few people in the entire world who can manage projects and people with equal effectiveness. Everyone is going to be better at one than the other. So what you're doing by having your people managers be project managers is killing the productivity of both roles.

It really is that simple.

Ryan Houmand is author of "A Passion for Monday". He's an employee engagement expert and a Gallup-certified CliftonStrengths coach. He has appeared on FOX, CBS and NBC sharing "The 3 Mistakes that Make People Hate Monday". He loves to teach people. And he really is a manager, just not in this world.