The Job of a Manager

In a book I am reading, the author made the following point, which I pondered as I watched the waves crash on the shore today:

"The job of a manager is to create unnatural results."

Hmmm....

At first I paused as I thought about what he really meant by that. Is a manager tasked with some supernatural powers to wield his will over his direct reports? No, I don't think so, and I don't think that's what the author meant.

I think what he wanted to incite is that unless a manager is using his people to create results that wouldn't happen on their own (naturally, in this case), then what is the need for the manager? In fact, I would argue that if we look at the natural behavior of most people - self-serving, lacking direction/motivation, myopically focused - then it is the job of the manager to motivate his team to get beyond those natural, say sinful, characteristics and to reach beyond that in a spirit of common good and teamwork to achieve the needed result. The unnatural result.

A manager's job - a leader's job - is to create more value out of the individual people through the assemblage of the collective group. If they are not able to do that, then they are not really managing, regardless of their title. This also requires an intentional desire on the part of the manager to actually invest in their people individually and a group to make this happen, since, after all, it's not a natural occurrence) rather that solely focusing on their own career goals, needs, and priorities.

Those that do make that choice become leaders worth following. Those that don't end up being ineffective and eventually redundant.