How to Transform Management Woes Into Leadership Excellence
Did you know that only 36% of tech workers aspire to leadership positions? This statistic from a 2024 Forbes article aligns perfectly with what I've observed during my 30+ years coaching leaders
In fact, I'd argue that even fewer genuinely want to be managers. Most accept the title solely as a path to promotion, describing management as thankless—all responsibility with minimal satisfaction.
Why Management Feels Like a Burden
The disconnect is clear: excelling as an individual contributor requires entirely different skills than managing a team of contributors. Instead of creating a work product, managers navigate complex human issues: team conflicts, difficult feedback conversations, and organizational challenges.
The most troubling reality? Almost none of my clients received proper training in these critical skills. As the Forbes article states,
Although manager effectiveness is a top priority for companies, research shows that organizational support for managers is plummeting, according to MIT Sloan Management Review.
Management then becomes on-the-job training, with many leaders only knowing how they don't want to manage, based on negative experiences with past supervisors.
Transforming Management from Burden to Opportunity
Since 2009, my coaching practice has focused on helping over-taxed managers develop skills that make leadership genuinely rewarding. The transformation begins with mastering two foundational areas:
Conducting effective (and enjoyable) one-on-one meetings
Providing meaningful feedback, especially during performance reviews
Case Study: Rebecca's Leadership Transformation
Let me share a recent client success story. Rebecca (name changed) built her company from nothing into an organization serving multi-million dollar clients with a small team of less than twelve people.
While passionate about her work, Rebecca felt constantly pulled between competing priorities. As founder and company face, maintaining client relationships could easily consume all her time. Yet without a COO, she also needed to effectively manage her growing team.
Her core leadership dilemma centered on two questions:
How to divide time between external clients and internal staff development
How to maximize the impact of her limited time with employees
The One-on-One Meeting Transformation
Our coaching began by examining her one-on-one meeting approach. Two problems emerged immediately:
Meetings were dominated by crisis management and putting out fires
Remaining time was consumed by status updates on menial tasks
The result? Too much talking (often devolving into venting) with little focus on action items or meaningful outcomes.
Post-pandemic work environments require leaders to distinguish between what requires synchronous conversation and what can happen digitally. I coached Rebecca to request updates through shared documents rather than consuming valuable meeting time.
Rebecca implemented this approach by creating a structured document with seven core questions for team members to complete before meetings. The transformation was immediate! Instead of passively receiving client and task updates, she invested in developing problem-solving capabilities and professional growth for her entire staff. This fostered greater independence among team members who became more self-sufficient.
She also optimized meeting frequency, shifting from weekly 30-minute sessions (which inevitably ran long) to biweekly 45-minute focused development conversations.
Revolutionizing Performance Reviews
Building on this success, Rebecca tackled performance reviews next. She found the annual process tedious and recognized that employees struggled to meaningfully reflect on an entire year's work, resulting in uninspired goal-setting.
Leveraging her new one-on-one approach, Rebecca implemented triannual performance conversations over lunch outside the office. These "zoom-out" sessions allowed for reflection on the achievements of the previous four months and alignment on career development priorities. Each employee left these conversations energized by her investment in their professional growth.
The Leadership Transformation Payoff
Months later, these leadership adjustments continue yielding impressive results. Rebecca reports more confident, self-sufficient employees who require less day-to-day oversight, freeing her to focus on strategic company priorities.
The verdict? With the right approach and skills, management transforms from burden into opportunity—creating more capable and efficient teams, reducing leadership stress, and driving organizational success.
Are you struggling with leadership responsibilities or managing a team that feels more draining than energizing? My leadership coaching approach helps transform reluctant managers into confident, effective leaders.
Hit the Contact button at the bottom of the page for a free 30-minute consultation to see if there is a good fit with what you need.
