Everyone Is Not You

There are many leaders and managers out there, each with their own style, strengths, and weaknesses. Working under the direction of these individuals is a large contingent of employees, each with their own unique set of attributes.

After working my way up through several engineering roles and after earning my MBA by attending night school I was finally promoted to my first General Management role for a global capital equipment manufacturer. One of the reasons I initially aspired to this role was the fact that I often bristled under the direction of managers that I felt micromanaged me and felt compelled to constantly offer ‘suggestions’ on how I should perform my role. In addition to outlining their strategy many would proceed to dictate in detail the exact tactical approach I should take to execute it. Then they would consistently ‘check in’ to see how I was doing. Feedback and recommendations were rarely solicited or well received by them.

My personal style is that I am highly self-motivated, like exploring creative ways of solving issues and am relentless at working through roadblocks. I also seek input from a wide variety of people I respect, especially those with differing backgrounds and outlooks.

So when I took on my first General Management role I was determined to lead people the way I wanted to be led and managed. Specifically in my case, give me the overall strategy and goals and leave it to me to get them accomplished. I didn’t need my manager to ‘check in’ on me constantly. If I was stuck or something or things were not going as planned, I had no problem reaching out to them. So this is exactly how I decided to manage my employees in that first role.

How did it go? Uh, not so well. Why? Because I learned very quickly that everyone was not me and they didn’t thrive when they were managed like I wanted to be managed. So, although in theory my business should have been a utopia for employees who hated constant meetings and micromanaging, the reality is that most employees actually needed to be managed across some spectrum of control in order to thrive. In other words, everyone was not me.

Finally, I had a company meeting and explained that although my intentions were honorable, I realized that some of them needed more direction, guidance and feedback. I realized that some of them felt uncomfortable if I didn’t ‘check in’ on how they were doing. Some of them wanted help figuring out the right tactical approach. When I told them I realized that my preferences for being managed weren’t necessarily their preferences there was a collective sigh of relief. Many stated that they were looking for more guidance but were afraid to approach me and ask. I had learned a very painful but valuable lesson.

The lesson above is even more applicable to entrepreneurs and founders who often started companies by themselves and are highly driven, creative, and tenacious. It is important to remember as I still must do, everyone is not you. To have a successful company you need to manage your employees as the unique individuals that they are and not assume they are all driven the same way you are. It is that uniqueness that gives your company its true competitive power, a lesson that I learned the hard way.

Bill Gately is President of G-Storm Strategies, LLC, a management consulting firm that helps business leaders, managers and their companies successfully navigate today's increasingly stormy economic environment. He can be reached at BGately@GStormStrategies.com.