At my company, we have an unusual (and somewhat controversial) way of handling management roles: managerial positions are voluntary, and do not bring inherent promotions.
When we need a manager, we select one from those who are willing to do the job. They are trained to do the job. However, they retain the non-managorial seniority inherent to their department. Because there is no promotion with the job, they (a) are more like to take the role because they want to LEAD, and (b) can step down without it being considered a "demotion".
Thus, because managers are co-workers first, we don't wind up with the same attitude superiority seen in much of traditional management structures.
(Side note: business administration - keeping the "gears oiled" - is separate from management. Administrators aren't necessarily managers, and managers aren't necessarily administrators.)
Agile Coach. Software Engineer. Psychology Student. Keynote Speaker. Runner. Human being. // passionate about lifelong learning, communication & sustainability
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Lake of Constance, Switzerland
Education
University studies in computer science and psychology
Thank you so much for your feedback and for sharing your experience at your company.
The combination of taking a managerial job voluntarily and the possibility of getting training/support to work on your leadership skills sounds crucial to me for having success.
You mentioned your company's approch is "somewhat controversial"... could you share more about that?
Well, I'm referring to the fact that I've had a few people (mostly outsiders) telling me the leadership approach "won't work" because it's too different from the traditional way of doing things. It's common convention for management to be paid more automatically by default, so there is some resistance to the idea that our managers don't. I've learned that, usually when you get that sort of criticism this early on, the resistance scales up as you grow (not that I'm worried.) ;)
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Thanks for your honest sharing!
At my company, we have an unusual (and somewhat controversial) way of handling management roles: managerial positions are voluntary, and do not bring inherent promotions.
When we need a manager, we select one from those who are willing to do the job. They are trained to do the job. However, they retain the non-managorial seniority inherent to their department. Because there is no promotion with the job, they (a) are more like to take the role because they want to LEAD, and (b) can step down without it being considered a "demotion".
Thus, because managers are co-workers first, we don't wind up with the same attitude superiority seen in much of traditional management structures.
(Side note: business administration - keeping the "gears oiled" - is separate from management. Administrators aren't necessarily managers, and managers aren't necessarily administrators.)
Thank you so much for your feedback and for sharing your experience at your company.
The combination of taking a managerial job voluntarily and the possibility of getting training/support to work on your leadership skills sounds crucial to me for having success.
You mentioned your company's approch is "somewhat controversial"... could you share more about that?
Well, I'm referring to the fact that I've had a few people (mostly outsiders) telling me the leadership approach "won't work" because it's too different from the traditional way of doing things. It's common convention for management to be paid more automatically by default, so there is some resistance to the idea that our managers don't. I've learned that, usually when you get that sort of criticism this early on, the resistance scales up as you grow (not that I'm worried.) ;)