Can You Rise Too High?
Having made decisions in your career that moved you into management, do you regret it? Have you reached a pinnacle of success only to find yourself constantly reminescing about the fun of delivering on the front lines? If you’re having these thoughts, there are really two possibilities for where they come from:
- You’re feeling nostalgic (completely understandable) or
- You’ve moved into a position where you can’t do what you enjoy
If you’re consistently having thoughts like this, it’s important to really consider whether you’re in the latter camp. Given the wide variety of organizational styles that might provide the aspects of the job that you’re missing and the simple opportunities of taking a step back into a lower-level role, there’s no reason you can’t reconsider your position.
Most often this seems to occur with front line managers who aren’t too far removed from the delivery team and so get to see the parts of their jobs that they enjoyed dangled in front of them on a daily basis. It’s tantalizing to want to reach out and move the curtain, get your hands dirty and really get into the work. The problem is that by crossing that boundary, you limit the chances that your staff has to grow and mature professionally.
At the same time, a different structuring of your team could provide you with the opportunity to work on some of the day-to-day problems of your team without eclipsing them. An example is a round-robin style leadership where each individual can engage and help drive issues that the team is facing. This offers a chance for you to join in as a participant while giving the team opportunities to stretch and be challenged.
In some cases it might be better to shift to another company that has a structure that allows you to comfortably work on the day-to-day problems as well as maintain your managerial life. Some organizations with a flattened hierarchy as well as many start-ups have ample opportunities to dive in and help in the delivery realm either because there’s a need for everybody to work on problems as they arise or from simple resource limitations. Either way, being able to jump in and help when it’s needed and step back when it isn’t can make life significantly easier for everyone in these environments instead of complicating a chain of command.
However you choose to handle it, take time to think it through and try discussing the situation with your boss or peers, you might be surprised the doors that can open up for you.
If you’ve worked through this problem, or if you’re currently in the midst of asking these questions, let us know in the comments!
Peter Fitzgerald is the founder of CareerSherpas.com and is currently working on his first book, managing a team of project managers, and attempting to learn the bagpipes.