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1.4 Plan to be a real team leader

There are lots of people in the world who use the title of Team Manager or Team Leader but are not genuinely doing anything to lead or manage. Sometimes this is a pure sinecure, while in other cases these people are deluding themselves.

Sinecure Team Leaders/Managers

People may be given the title of Team Manager as a sinecure (See Jargon buster) so that the organization can push them to the sidelines or a position where they can do no damage.

Sometimes this action follows the concept of the so-called ‘Peter Principle’, where a person has been promoted to a level beyond their competence. If no-one has the strength to remove them, they may be given a grand-sounding job title and marginalized. On the other hand, many organizations give sinecure job titles as a genuine way of recognizing and retaining technical talent. “We need to keep this person and give them more status, so we will call them a team leader but we don’t actually expect team management from them.”

one minute wonder Avoid becoming a team leader or manager in name only. Real team leadership is a highly active, challenging and rewarding role.

Delusional Team Leaders/Managers

There are two types of delusional non-managers:

1 People who have always viewed a management role as a ‘privilege without responsibility’. They get the bigger salary and the executive car parking space, and believe their job will be easy because people will automatically respect their rank and status. These people can usually be spotted by their absence! When they are around they have a tendency to ‘throw their weight around’; they bluster and coerce their staff to do their bidding, which often has more to do with bolstering their own egos than with achieving any meaningful objectives.

2 People who genuinely believe they are ‘managing’ but are really getting in the way of people doing their jobs. These people can usually be spotted by their constant calls for progress reports, their insistence on holding meetings in which nothing is agreed, and their micro-management of staff in the mistaken belief that they are somehow “helping”. They regularly introduce new initiatives, but rapidly lose interest in them.

If you have ever seen the TV sitcom called ‘The Office’ (either the original British version or the US spin-off) you will recognize the delusional type described here!

Your team will soon notice if you are a delusional team manager.