Why Managing People Doesn’t Work and What You Need to Know to be Effective

By Mike Matalone and Todd Gross

Most people confuse “Leadership” with “Management.” They believe they’re a Leader because they were given a “manager” title. But it takes more than a title to become a true leader.

Think about it; nobody wants to be managed. But almost everybody is open to being coached. Therefore, if you want to be a highly effective manager in today’s world, you need to become a Performance Coach.

Coaching is a more collaborative process than merely managing. It builds closer relationships. It celebrates success. It looks forward, optimistically, to seeing what’s possible, and how to get there. And it’s highly goal oriented.

So how do you do this? You must make a conscientious effort to create a positive employee experience in order to retain that top talent you worked so hard to find, hire, onboard, and train. The primary “ingredient” in this “recipe” is emotionally intelligent leaders – the kind of people that can understand and facilitate that positive outcome.

Climbing the Leadership Staircase

The path to achieving business results and the path to leadership are the same path.

This path is built on a foundation of knowledge. Take a look at the “staircase” illustration above.

There are many ways to gain knowledge; the key is to always be learning. If you want to climb the leadership staircase and ascend to the level of being a true leader, you’ll need to climb the following steps:

Step One: Self-Awareness

You must be self-aware that you must make a change in your approach or behavior. For example, a particular task might require you to be extremely detailed. First, you must possess the knowledge that this task requires you to become more detailed. Then, you need to know how to become more detailed in order to accomplish it effectively.

Step Two: Self-Management

Have you ever met someone who was incredibly un-self-aware? (Think: “Bull in a China shop”). How good was that person at self-management? You can’t self-manage without being self-aware. The first is a prerequisite for the second. In other words: you can’t skip steps.

Step Three: Influence Others

The third step is the ability to influence others. Once you’ve mastered the above two steps, you can then learn to effectively influence others behavior and actions.

Step Four: Influence Results

At this level, you can now begin to purposely impact the results of those around you. Leadership is the ability to consistently get results from others in a positive manner.