Your Manager is Not Enough

Domain: Personal Development - Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

I truly hope that you have the most amazing, supportive, brilliant manager that you can imagine. If you are lucky enough to be in that rare situation…their support is still insufficient for your growth and development.

Part of the problem is that we confuse our bosses as mentors, coaches or champions. They may offer you mentoring, coaching or championing at times, but that is not their primary role. In fact, their primary role conflicts with their ability to fulfill any of those other roles to their best ability. Here are just 5 reasons why we recommend seeking support in addition to, but outside of the support your manager provides…

Too close to home

Your manager lacks objectivity based on their close proximity to the work and the fact that your results affect their results. Sometimes the most helpful guidance comes from those who have some distance from the situation, and can offer a more unbiased perspective

Bias, unconscious or otherwise

Depending on their personality, it may be difficult or unwise to be as transparent as you need to be with an effective coach or mentor. There's always the chance that you transparency could be used against you, even if it's done subconsciously. How many stories have we heard about new parents being overlooked for opportunities because the manager assumes they have too much going on already?

While coaches and mentors will have their own biases, theirs won't directly impact the opportunities you receive (or don't receive) at work.

Who signs your paychecks?

Power dynamics are also at play here. It will be more difficult for you to acknowledge shortcomings to the person responsible for your continued paycheck. It will be easier to be honest and vulnerable with a 3rd party who does not control your pay and therefore your livelihood.

Internal conflicts

Your manager will always have a conflict of interest between your development and the team's overall results/performance. Sometimes these things align nicely, but other times they may not. Not all managers put time into developing their teams and this means they may deprioritize supporting your growth in favor of short-term results.

Consider the fact that they are also responsible for supporting the development of the rest of the team, which means their support and resources will be spread across everyone on your team.

The right skills

Your manager may not be a good coach, mentor or champion. That doesn’t mean they are bad at their job. It just means they may have been promoted for other skills. You want to find the people who are knowledgeable in the domains that interest you AND who are also effective at guiding others in that space.

Thank you for reading. My hope is always that you've found something helpful and easy to implement.

This week’s action items:

1. Support from your manager is still important. Continue developing your relationship with them to ensure you are getting their foundational support.

2. Read our post on understanding the difference between coaches, mentors and champions.

3. If you don't have a mentor, coach or champion, begin thinking about who you would like supporting you in this capacity.

4. Consider the option of having different coaches or mentors for different domains in your life.