If you are a manager and you are feeling trapped, underappreciated, struggling in a company where you have no sense of ownership or purpose, you are not alone. In fact, this is quite common for managers who are focused on achieving the company's vision and goals to get to this state of personal discouragement.
Lately, I have been working with a couple managers of different organizations who are exactly in this state. They are lacking energy having worked to exhaustion for the company. They are starting to be short with their coworkers and their families, and in one of the cases, they were internalizing their frustrations and shutting down their communication with their boss. Does this sound familiar?
To be a great manager you need to know what you want to become and have a clear vision of what you want to do with your life. You have to be willing and able to take responsibility for your future and managing yourself. You need to decide whether that future that you dream of can be achieved doing what you are doing.
If you want to be a good manager you need to hear and see yourself as others hear and see you and that you really have to care about and show interest in those people you supervise.
This process of finding your own vision for your life is not always a simple task. As a successful manager you may have always thought that you have had to focus on achieving the company objective.
But let's look at it this way. If the company objective is for you to drive a team of people to achieve high sales goals - you might be invigorated by this if your personal vision is to have lots of money or be a top sales manager.
However if you decide your purpose in life is one where you want to work in a low stress environment and spending more time with your family is more important than achieving high sales or more money, then of course you are going to feel unmotivated and eventually burned out. A great book for managers is Michael Gerber's The E Myth Manager.
While it might be counter-intuitive, as a manager you must think about what you personally need first. If the company can provide for many of those needs you will be able feel energized in managing that business.
Ultimately once a person has decided that the management position has potential, the manager needs to think like an owner in terms of where money is coming from and where it is going. A great manager looks at the processes of the business and tries to make them better. A great manager understands the needs of their staff and works to help them reach their potential. By achieving success in these areas you will be re-energized and re-motivated as a manager.
As owners of businesses we need to ensure that our managers are not burning out by giving them the skills, opportunities and trust to build and improve our companies. We need to encourage, celebrate and enjoy the successes that these managers create and not be threatened by them. Both owners and managers have a responsibility to better their workplaces by creating environments and cultures that are conducive to fulfilling lives, dreams, and visions of both owners and managers.
If you are a manager that is stuck, or an owner who wants to create a management team that is focused, invigorated and successful, reach out and get help.
You have nothing to lose, but you might just gain your life back!
Dave Fuller, MBA, is a certified professional business coach.
He can be reached at [email protected] or 250-617-7467.
