I am a manager
Due to careful and deliberate hiring of the people I manage (I've hired them all), I am lucky enough to have an excellent group of smart, professional people. This leaves me very little in the way of actual "managing", because they're all doing their jobs very, very well. I do help out with a lot on the team, but a big part of my job is spent doing rather menial tasks so that they're freed up to work on their jobs rather than bothering with small but necessary tasks.

I often ask myself if I'm a good manager, or if the fact that I'm frequently looking for things to do means I'm awful. It's the first time I've ever really managed, and my basic premise is to remember all the horrible things done to me in the past, and do the opposite. And to remember that it's just a JOB, and that people have lives outside of work.
(herbivorous, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 1:41, 10 replies)

Sounds like a plan.

(waxdart hello., Fri 11 Jun 2010, 1:45, closed)

As a general rule

If you're running around fighting fires the whole time, you're not doing your job correctly*. If you're relatively calm, and the job's getting done nonetheless, it's a credit to your ability. It means the problems that other people face simply don't arise under your watch.



*excludes firemen
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 1:59, closed)

"excludes firemen"
Raised a chuckle :)
(Cloudane, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 11:28, closed)

I've also found you need to be a little underemployed when things are running OK
So that when the shit hits the fan, you have the spare capacity to deal with that without dropping everything else.
(Pie of Meat ___°¬¯O¯____\o/_____/\_,____Y¯¯Y, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 10:16, closed)

Got any jobs going?

(sabre-tooth monkey, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 10:21, closed)

Ha
I second that question, can I send my CV?
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 10:43, closed)

?
Are you David Cameron?
(phils1969, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 14:01, closed)

"I am lucky enough to have an excellent group of smart, professional people"

I doubt it.
(dchurch bah, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 14:10, closed)

I was once told
That the aim of every good manager is to make himself redundant.

If your people can do their jobs without a great deal of input from you, other than strategic decision-making and work prioritisation, then it sounds like you've got it about right.

Well done.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Fri 11 Jun 2010, 15:00, closed)

Careful now...
A friend of mine did himself out of a better position by having himself too good a team.

He listens to people, takes care to employ appropriate people who gel well with the rest of the group, and generally acts like a real manager should.

However, come promotion-prospects time, he's heavily marked down.
Why? Because he hasn't had to deal with nasty interpersonal conflicts, discipline issues, firing, hiring unsuitable people, etc, so they don't think he can go up a grade.

*facepalm*
(PerspexAvenger, Fri 11 Jun 2010, 21:28, closed)