What Great Managers Do

Computerworld - What do great managers do? Just about the opposite of what great leaders do, according to Marcus Buckingham, a consultant on leadership and management and author of several books, including First, Break All the Rules (Simon & Schuster, 1999). In this month's Harvard Business Review, Buckingham draws on years of research to show how great managers get their people to perform beyond expectations. He told Computerworld's Kathleen Melymuka that it all comes down to chess vs. checkers.

Managers get so little respect. They're treated like leader wannabes who haven't made the grade. What's the real difference between those roles? Both are really important roles and really, really different. The job of the leader is to rally people toward a better future. It's externally focused, optimistic, ego-driven. Leaders see the present, but the future is even more vivid to them. The key skill is to cut through individual differences and tap into those things all of us share: fear of the future and the need for clarity.
The role of the manager is very internally focused: to turn one person's talent into performance; to ask, "Who is the person? What is his or her unique style of learning? What unique trigger must I squeeze to get the best out of him?" The challenge is to find what's unique and capitalize on it. It's really different but hugely important in a company. It's a role that's been undervalued.
People think of managers as leaders in waiting, but these are two very different abilities. The manager's role is catalytic. A great manager speeds up the reaction between the talent of people and the goals of the company. When that role is not valued, reactions are slowed down. If you want to know the future of a company, look at the quality of the managers.

"Average managers play checkers while great managers play chess." What do you mean by that? In chess, all the pieces move differently; in checkers, they all move the same. Many IT managers would love it if all programmers thought alike, but a great manager knows that's absolute bunkum. A great manager figures out who's the knight, the queen, the pawn. He coordinates all those very different abilities and contributions into the service of the overall plan. He builds a team out of individuals.

Marcus Buckingham, a consultant on leadership and management and author of several books