[nogbit]

Never use the word "manager" again. Instead, prefer "leader". If you are somewhere where the team needs to be managed then there are better jobs out there.

Buy and read Jim Whitehurst book The Open Organization before your interview and actualize the information in that book. Recall times you put into practice the things that are mentioned in the book (good and bad).

[mtippett]

I'd add slightly to this. Managers are one path in the leadership ladder. Management is organizational leadership the other is technical leadership. Technical leadership is the principal engineer, architect, or technical fellow at most companies. In most companies the lower parts of the ladder is shared as in technical or IC roles.

Surprisingly there is a large amount of leadership that is shared between both ladders. Group communication, group mentorship and coaching, group leadership is more or less the same. Teams are particularly weak if they don't have both technical and organizational leadership.

The technical leaders typically are focused on mentoring and growing engineers with architecture and technical guidance. Organizational leaders are focused on mentoring and growing engineers on their career path and a lot of the softer skills.

I agree 100% on the if a team needs to be managed, it needs to be changed. Teams will always need leaders to provide focus. And ideally they need both organizational and technical leadership. Rarely does that come in one package.

[taway_1212]

You can't self-proclaim yourself a leader, it's up to the team if they treat you as their leader or just a manager. I always chuckle when, in some companies, the higher-up managers call themselves "the leadership team". Yeah, they wish.