how do I know if I’ll like being a manager?

A reader writes:

I’m up for my first manager position after happily being an individual contributor for over a decade. Speaking with my future coworkers, I believe I would be a good manager for their team, but how do I know if I’ll actually enjoy it?

The question of what makes someone enjoy managing versus what makes them good at it is an interesting one. I’ve talked about how to suss out if you’ll be good at it here, but as for enjoying it…

You could think about projects where you’ve had a quasi-manager role, like mentoring an intern or junior hire or project-managing a particular piece of work, and reflect on what you liked and didn’t like about those things. But I’m going to give you a big list of questions too:

· Do you like the idea of being able to figure out how things should run and then making that happen, even if the road to getting there is rocky?
· When a problem needs to be solved, are you intrigued by figuring it out, or does the prospect of having to sort through it drain you?
· Are you comfortable having difficult or awkward conversations and delivering news someone might not want to hear (balanced with also getting to deliver good news)?
· Do you find it more satisfying or stressful to air out difficult topics and try to find some way forward with them?
· Do you find fulfillment in helping other people succeed?
· How personally do you take other people’s opinion of you? Can you be comfortable knowing someone might dislike you or find you irritating simply because you’re doing your job? (You don’t have to like that reality, but you ideally wouldn’t be devastated by it.)
· How much tolerance do you have for administrative headaches?
· When you imagine spending most of your time supporting and coaching others in their work versus producing a work product of your own, do you feel excited or like you’d be missing out?
· Do you think some conflict can be healthy and productive or is it always something to be avoided if possible?
· In general, do you find people more interesting than frustrating?

Related:
does anyone actually like being a manager?

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