[davismwfl]

Most important thing to me, learn the difference between leadership and management. A long time ago I was mentored by some great leaders who taught me the difference, and also taught me when to manage situations or specific people. Management isn't a bad word, but applied the way it is most places it should be.

My goal with teams is to inspire them to make good choices, show them the right paths and help them succeed. A leader serves his team, and doesn't stand over them demanding progress reports daily. A good leader gets updates from his team daily because he talks to his team daily, but doesn't do so because he needs status reports. Managers need status reports and many times use them to justify their job, or to throw Johnny under the bus because he is behind. A leader knows Johnny is behind because he talks to him nearly daily and has been helping him get back on track already. If Johnny can't get back on track the leader is looking for a way to make Johnny successful even if that means he moves him off the team or to another role. The leader turns to his superiors and takes responsibility for the team, but never hides behind Jonny for being behind.

Another key, always vent up, but communicate in all directions. What I mean by this, is always find a mentor at your same level or higher that will listen to you, who will let you vent some frustration and help you if you need guidance. Sometimes this isn't someone in the company, that's fine. Never vent to your team or other teams. Communication however, should never stop and be happening at all levels.

Last point I guess. Hierarchy isn't evil, it gives people boundaries so they know who to go to for what and when/why. Flat organizations sound awesome, but are sometimes a nightmare to be in because there is too little structure to give good guidance to people. Flat organizations that are successful are so because people are given boundaries and generally have good documentation or rules/values they can turn to and use as a guide. You are not a good leader/manager by giving total free rein, having boundaries is critical to success for everyone (same goes for parenting when you have kids, give them opportunities to take chances, make mistakes but have boundaries in place).

[paulie_a]

I honestly don't believe flat organizations exist. They claim to be but there is always an informal heirachy. Which is trickier to navigate then just having a bit of structure. No need to go overboard but at least formalize what exists but unsaid.

[noobiemcfoob]

It's a double-edge sword. Inherent hierarchies develop, but without being stated and defined, political types are less able to fully exploit them. But when they do, it's less obvious to the non-political types.

[snowwrestler]

I think you're right, and so do a lot of other people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyranny_of_Structurelessne...

[davismwfl]

I would agree, people call it flat but in reality there are always some structures, processes etc either known or not. But I do see that there are quality organizations that call themselves flat, when in reality they are more like an open door, open culture workplace. But they still have a structure and organization on how you do things. e.g. you can talk to the CEO, but you are not to use that access to manipulate the team dynamics or direction by skipping the middle leadership.

[paulie_a]

This is dead on. You could approach directly but it's probably better to bring up issues with someone else first then escalate to the CEO if necessary. Flat organization means you can go directly, but you probably shouldn't. So the structure exists.

[juangacovas]

Wasn't Valve who had a record of flat organizations? Their employee book leaked/was published and sounds good or perhaps work for them...

[karma_fountain]

Leadership: doing the right thing

Management: doing things right

Peter Drucker

[m-i-l]

Another way of putting this is that leaders determine the best destination and managers determine the best route there.

[fencepost]

Sounds like (from my non-military perspective) the difference between officers and sergeants.

[jimmytucson]

Leaders are declarative and managers are procedural?

[hitekker]

Agreed. Redefining the word "manager" to mean "degenerate leader" seems awfully short-sighted.

[Delmania]

You manage systems, you lead people.

Steven Covey

[snarfy]

One metric I've found true about recognizing leadership is that a leader is someone you would follow. It seems trite but the thing to recognize is it's a property not defined by some quality of the leader but by all of the followers.

[ummonk]

At first I thought that you were talking about the people management track vs technical leadership track. I guess "management" and "leadership" are overloaded terms.

[rainhacker]

> Never vent to your team or other teams.

Could you elaborate on this, why not ?

[billbrown]

It colors the team member's view of other people or other teams, whoever is being vented about. It's contagious and establishes a culture of complaining. It gives those vented to the notion that you might vent to others about them, which you probably do.

I have seen this take over many teams and it always starts from the top of the team.

[davismwfl]

Totally this.

I'd also add that venting to the team makes the team nervous, if you are saying X to them, what aren't you saying. Your job isn't to deceive the team, in fact if things are going bad you should be honest but show a path forward. Lying will cause people to lose their respect for you and hence stop following your lead. So you have to be honest, be humble but show the path forward to the team. And it is ok to not have a path at first, just be up front and give some options so they don't think things are at a loss.

[beefsack]

Not OP, but direct management venting to the team can have a really negative impact on morale, motivation, and inter-team relationships.

Managers who have a tendency toward complaining and negativity can really hurt a team.

[hitpointdrew]

Fantastic comment, wish I could up vote it multiple times.