Do You Need the Manager from Hell?

30 March 2016

What do you really need from your next manager? 

Do you need someone who will have very high expectations of you, pushing you hard to be your best?  Or do you need someone who is going to mentor and guide you because you are still developing.  Do you need someone capable of doing both?  Do you need someone who trusts you to get on with your thing and just touches base with you every week or so?  Or do you need higher levels of feedback to know you are on the right track?  Not everyone needs the same style of manager, and what you need in a manger will change over time as you develop skills and knowledge.  Getting the wrong manager at the wrong time will feel like you have the manager from hell.

As you are making the decision to apply for a role it can be very easy to get caught up in the allure of the role, and to focus on the duties you might be doing, the conditions that will be available to you, the difference your work will make, the pay you will get, the skills you will use and the status the role will give you.  These are all important things to take into consideration.  Another important thing that is often not considered is if the style the manager is likely to adopt, and the culture they create, is one that will fit you.  

Working in most organisations you will have a manager – someone to whom you are accountable, someone who guides the work that you do, who oversees your development.  It is ideal if the style of this manager matches what you need at this point in your career so you are able to give your best work.  And while a great manager will be able to adapt to the varying needs of the people they manager I think we need to get beyond just expecting managers to do all the work.  You as an employee have a role to play in understanding what you need from your manager and thinking about this as part of your job search research is a good place to start.

Some questions to consider are:

• How much autonomy do you need your manager to give you?
• What level of creativity and innovation do you need your manager to encourage in you?
• How available for questions and feedback do you need your manager to be – open door, all day, once a day, every couple of days, weekly…?
• What level of challenge do you want this manager to give to you?
• What areas do you need your manager to challenge you in (e.g. public speaking, managing others, running a whole project…)?
• Do you need this manager to create a strong team environment, or do you need freedom to work more individually?
• Also reflect on managers around you who you admire – why do you admire them and what does this tell you about what you need in a manager?

Consistently employee and human resource surveys reveal that the number 1 reason people intend to leave roles and are disengaged with their work is poor management. Now while it is true that many managers are not as aware of, good at, or committed to their people management as they should be, there is a level of responsibility you need to take in assessing the basic competence of the manager before accepting a role. 

Before you start looking for a new role become aware of how you need to be managed.  If you don’t know what this is it will be difficult to ask focused questions in your job research and interview about the management style of the organisation and differentiate between manages who will help you be your best and ensure you get the career success you are looking for, and managers who (with all best intentions) frustrate you.

To assess the management style of a potential manager you need to ask questions.  Do your research and find people who have worked with this manager.  How have they found working with this person?  What style of management do they have?  It is likely that the people you talk with will have had different needs than the ones you have so use the information you discover as a guide only. 

Talk to the manager before deciding to apply, don’t wait till the interview when you have already invested a lot of time and emotional energy in putting forward an application.  Ask the manager to describe their people management style and to give you examples of consistent management habits they have.  Also ask how they are developing themselves as a people manager.  Knowledge of specific ways you need to be managed will enable you to ask focused questions.  For example if you know that you work best in a cohesive team environment you can ask the manager specifically what they put in place to create a sense of team.  Alternatively if you know you work best if you are allowed to quietly work away on your own then ask about the manager’s level of comfort with independent workers.

It may feel confronting to ask these questions, but ending up with a manager who is the wrong fit for where you are currently at will feel much worse and it may take a lot of work on your part to retrain this manager into the style you need – effort that will take you away from doing your best work.