Me? A Manager? Not So Much
For the past year or so my manager has
been after me to move into a management role. I managed to avoid doing so until
fairly recently, using my work on my doctorate as an excuse for not really
having the time to take on all the work of learning the role, learning the
courses I would manage and so forth. Recently, however, I was approached again
and, having all-but completed my degree, really didn't have a good reason for
not acting. So I applied and went through two steps of the interview process. I
didn't get the job. Exactly why, though, I'm not sure. I do know that they had
multiple applicants and no one was chosen. That's fine. That experience,
though, got me to really thinking about whether I really wanted to continue to
pursue a management position.
The Answer is "No"
It's pretty common, I think, for people to expect that as you gain experience in
a field that you'll want to move up within that field. For most people, that
means moving into management. And, if that's truly where you want to be, that's
a good plan. But, when people begin to expect you to move up and you don't --
particularly by choice -- they begin to wonder why not. Why, they ask, aren't
you interested in growing? Or, why don't you want to improve yourself? Some
organizations even set the expectation that you either express a desire to move
'up the ladder' or move on. They (wrongfully) equate a lack of desire to 'move
up' with a lack of motivation to do good work. They are very short-sighted.
Ignorant, even.
Here's the thing in my own case. I began pursuit of my doctorate not because I
wanted to
become a manager but because I wanted to teach. It really doesn't make sense to
get a degree that fully qualifies me to teach and then abandon teaching for
management. Perhaps as importantly, management is simply not me. I've done
management. I have a degree in management. I'm not a good manager. My manager
disagrees and that's okay. The problem is that he is evaluating my life through
his lens.
There's also the simple fact that leadership and management are often seen as
being the same thing. They
are not. I am a good leader. I have good ideas, I see ways that things can be
done differently and more effectively, and I am good a communicating those
thoughts. I look at things through a different lens, which allows me to present
alternative ways of seeing and approaching things. And, because I am both good
at expressing those thoughts and pretty much unafraid to bring up questions,
others listen to me.
But, just because I am a good leader doesn't mean I'll be a good manager. The
requisite skills are different. Perhaps more importantly, the constraints on
the two roles are different. As a manager I am constrained to present the
organization's perspective in a positive light, at least to those under my
management. As a simple employee, I'm free to voice my frustrations and
disagreements with the 'company view'. That can be dangerous, but is less likely
to garner significant backlash than if I did so as a manager.
Academics and Management
I can't speak for anyone other than myself, so that heading is a bit misleading.
But, it seems to me that academics go into education for one of three reasons.
- First, they genuinely enjoy teaching. They enjoy the interaction with
students.
They love to see that "ah ha!" look in the students' faces when the students
connect the
dots and a concept crystallizes for them. - Second, they are curious (I'll write
more about that later) and academia allows them to satisfy that curiosity and
to share the fruits of their curiosity with others. - Third, I know at least
some people who come into education more as an avoidance of or escape from some
unpleasant work experience than for any particular desire to educate. This
third group may also include people who can simply no longer function in the
workplace due to age or infirmity. Nurses, for example, may come into teaching
more because they can no longer physically do the work of nursing. There's
nothing wrong with that, though they may not be the most effective educators. I
do disagree with the old saw that "Them what can, do; Them what can't, teach."
I don't think that's true. In my experience, teaching is simply an expression
of what drives the individual.
None of these reasons points to the need for a position in management. It's not
about power or authority. It's about sharing with others and exploring one's own
interests. It's not about growing into more 'responsible' positions (whatever
that means), it's about growing in understanding and insight and
accomplishments. I don't see the ability to manage others or to implement the
plans and goals of others as necessarily being growth. Nor do I see stifling my
own perspectives, interests, and curiosity in order to meet some vague corporate
conception of what I should be as a desirable thing.
In short, I've given it thought and I will not be pursuing management anytime in
the foreseeable future. I want to grow, but as a person and as an intellectual,
not as a minion to those with more titular 'power'.