Management Phases of Growth

These stages arent necessarily going to be sequential. Same manager may show signs from multiple different stages with varying proportions. They may regress between stages unknowingly during war times or under stress or pressure. The stages overall correspond to many manager's stage and growth.

Stage 1

New Manager : A new manager who is unwittingly trying to prove why he deserves the management job

Common Signs

1. General insecurity
2. Hero mentality : dives in wherever needed, wears all the hats, fills all the gaps, prone to burnout
3. Rarely says No or I Don't Know
4. Nitpicks a lot when providing feedback
5. Sometimes ends up competing with direct reports
6. Still honing delegation skills
7. Generally have mastery over a certain area or domain which leads from IC -> Manager transition

Stage 2 

A manager who is all business and primarily treats people as resources. May care about people. But cares more about short term results and targets. When the two are in conflict, unabashedly prioritizes short term results. 

Common Signs

1. Graduating from phase 1
2. Gets distracted in 1:1s
3. Often uses processes, policies, senior management, company culture for their stance, don't own the message
4. Tends not to make an effort to maintain a relationship once someone leaves the team
5. Doesn't optimize for long term health and wellbeing, optimizes for people and product metrics
6. People don't follow this manager
7. May sometimes feel the need to perform in 1:1
8. May burn out the team or members of the team
9. Doesn't have a strong executive presence at the top

Stage 3

A manager with only one management style that he uses on everyone on the team. In most cases, it is the style that "he prefers" to be managed.

Common Signs

1. Even though he doesn't spell out loudly, there is a preferred style and playbook which is "the right way to do things". Deviations are a headache. 
2. Hires people who fit a certain stereotype and lacks diversity. 
3. Great rapport with a few team members, but leaves all other team members very frustrated. 
4. May be directive or assistive depending on junior or senior people, has a set of questions as playbook. The playbook is evolving and doesn't have many new tricks.
5. May have good personalization in their style, but works for some types of folks.
6. These managers may be able to run certain kinds of teams sustainably and in a healthy manner for a reasonable lengths of time
7. Starting to develop executive presence
8. May sometimes model a stage 4 implementation and not the abstraction. May do it unknowingly, so will swing from doing well to being terrible depending on team and context change. 

Stage 4

Great Managers

1. Great Managers have multiple leadership styles. They are able to adapt their style to needs and the challenges depending on the lifecycle of the team and personalize that to the different kinds of needs and styles of the people. The adapt their approach to the learning and working styles of everyone, they don't have an ideal employee. 
2. They address context first and then content.
3. They don't apply band-aid on the wounds or address symptoms. They understand most of the problems are inter-personal. They diagnose and address the root cause. 
4. They use their charm, eloquence and writing skills as tools, not as weapons. 
5. The put their team members above their own self when they are in conflict. 
6. They are proactive about the career growth of their team members, they don't dread those conversations, they invite them. 
7. They are confident and secure in their role.
8. They model high agency. 
9. The have a mature attitude.
10. They know its fine to express vulnerability. They create a safe environment for learning. 
11. They exude presence. 
12. Good managers consistently get good results
13. They don't necessarily squeeze the last drop out for short term optimization for their team, but get long term optimal results for the company. 
14. Key difference between phase 3 and phase 4 is that mastery over a certain area is not needed for a stage 4 manager to succeed in that area. 
15. Executives rely on stage 4 manager's inputs to chart the trajectory of the organization.