Runs on PeoplePlaybooks / Measures · 3 min read
Good manager, good leader: how to know you're both
Managers make the work work. Leaders make people want to do it. Your team's results measure the first; whether people grow and stay measures the second.
The problem
“How do I know if I'm actually a good manager?”
In the model
In 30 seconds
- Managing is making the work work. Leading is making people want to do it, and better than they would without you.
- You need both. Teams with a manager but no leader comply. Teams with a leader but no manager are inspired and late.
- Measure yourself by your team, not your effort: delivery, growth, and whether people stay and speak up.
The situation
Nobody tells you how you're doing. Your own manager looks at delivery. Your team is polite. The annual review is months away. You're working hard, but you can't tell whether you're good at this.
What's really going on
Most managers measure their own activity: meetings run, emails answered, fires put out. None of it tells you whether the team is better because you're there. The real measures sit in your team: what they deliver, how they grow, and what they'd say about you when you're not in the room.
Manager or leader?
| Managing | Leading | |
|---|---|---|
| The job | Make the work work | Make people want to do the work, and do it better |
| Focus | Plans, priorities, process, delivery | Trust, growth, energy, direction |
| In the model | Clarity, Cadence, Reliability | Trust, Capability, Energy |
| When it's missing | Chaos, missed dates, firefighting | Compliance, quiet meetings, good people leaving |
| The question it answers | "Is the work getting done?" | "Would they follow you if they didn't have to?" |
You're not one or the other. You switch between them every day. The trap is staying in the one you're comfortable with.
The scorecard
Score yourself every quarter. Use real numbers where you can, honest guesses where you can't.
| Measure | What good looks like | How to check |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery | The team hits most commitments, and says early when it won't | Planned vs delivered, last two quarters |
| Predictability | Few surprises, for you or for your boss | How often bad news reached you late |
| Growth | People can do more than they could a year ago | Who took on something new, or moved up |
| Retention | You keep the people you'd hate to lose | Regretted leavers in the last year |
| Candour | Bad news reaches you first | When you last heard about a problem early |
| Bench | The team would cope without you for a fortnight | Who could stand in for you, today |
| Energy | Pace you could all keep up for a year | Overtime, sickness, the team scan Energy score |
The first two are mostly managing. The rest are mostly leading. A strong manager scores well on all seven, and a team scan every quarter shows the trend.
What to do
- Run the team scan with your team, not about them. Their scores are your scores.
- Ask three people the three questions below, and listen without defending.
- Pick your weakest measure and one action. Not a self-improvement plan: one change, for one quarter.
- Re-score next quarter. Track the trend, not the number.
What to say
Ask three people on your team, one at a time:
"I want to get better at this job, and you see things I don't. What's one thing I do that helps you most? One thing I do that gets in your way? And one thing you wish I did that I don't?"
Thank them. Act on one answer. Tell them which one.
In the frameworks
In other industries
- Healthcare A practice manager hits every target and loses two receptionists a year. That's managing without leading.
- Accountancy A manager everyone loves whose engagements always overrun. That's leading without managing.
- Manufacturing The best shift lead is the one whose shift runs fine when they're on leave.
- Small business If the business stops when you take a week off, you're managing everything and leading no one.
Try this week
Ask one person on your team the three questions above, and write down the answers word for word.
Think about it
If your team could choose their manager tomorrow, would they choose you?