Is it better to be a people manager or an IC Manager?

Having decided to move towards management, if you are an all-rounder, it might be difficult for you choose between People Management and IC Management. You would be familiar with the term people management.

However, if you are new to the term IC Manager, they are Managers who are responsible for core business and don't have people reporting to them. For example, a Product Manager / Program Manager / Strategy Manager are all IC Managers. In the long run when they go further up on the ladder, they may need to manage other IC Managers in the same domain. But, that is rare.

People Manager

As the name perfectly says everything, a people manager is someone who manages set of folks to get work done, by helping them remove their blockers in their projects and career path to grow professionally. This role is typically suited for people who are obsessed with people or value people over money. By money, we don't mean the ultimate business, but we mean their own growth.

A people manager should put their employees' growth before theirs, which is why we earlier said a people manager should be someone who should actually value people over money, to benefit both reporters and the company. This will ensure they treat the employees the way they would like to be treated in turn.

Top 5 characteristics of a People Manager

Genuinely interested in People

While trying to know each employee personally can be an overdo, you need to be genuinely interested in people and their presence. You should be the type of person who likes to interact with people to understand things than reading documents. You should be able to work beyond robotic rules to understand the nature of each person and how people are motivated differently. You should be interested to learn about psychology and put it to use.

Active Communication

You need to be a proactive person when it comes to communicating with your management and employees. Whatever it may be, getting your project prioritized, assigning a new project, or talking to employee about promotion, or recommending growth for your employee to senior members, you should be proactive in initiating communication and taking things to closure.

Sometimes it can be exhaustive, and feel like you are the only one interested in getting it done, however, that would be observed as your strength and increase the trust level of you in others. So you need to be self-motivated and determined to be active at communication. Humility plays a main role as a people manager.

Strong Backbone

You should have a strong backbone when it comes to pushing back unnecessary priorities on your reporters. If you don't push back enough, you cannot earn the trust of your employees and there would eventually be no need for you to be there.

This includes pushing back to your own employees too. Sometimes, they may take advantage of you to push back projects using your skill. You need to be able to balance projects and people without compromising both!!

Practice what you preach

Have you heard stories where people's own words backfire them. So, make sure you motivate people or use quotes and stories that you relate with. Whatever you say would be expected of you first. It is not how much you say, but what you say that matters. But, it matters more if you do it in the first place.

Take Responsibility for the whole team

To err is human. As an IC you would have accepted blame for your own mistakes, but here, as a team you need to take blame on everyone's behalf. You may rootcause the issue and have your own internal fights in your meeting. But, you need to shadow them in front of your boss or a stakeholder. Even otherwise, they would face it, but with a pinch of salt that would affect your relationship with them.

IC Manager

While a people manager's core characteristic should be a people's person, an IC Manager's main characteristic should be business-obsession. That's the core difference between the IC role and IC Manager's role.

Top 5 characteristics of an IC Manager

Business-Oriented

Metrics and data should be your best friend and your success will be directly proportional to the company's growth. The IC Managers' constitute the core business management and are entirely responsible for the strategies they propose. Hence, it is important they are more serious and growth-oriented both in their personal lives and in their career.

Growth Mindset

Do you remember the days when parents stopped us from doing insane things at home so that they are not repeated in public places? Likewise, a person who isn't growth-oriented in personal lives wouldn't be a great fit for an IC Manager role. Generally the top achievers tend to have an ambitious mindset. So, if you like to lead a jolly good life, it may be a strong no-no, as a single bad move can cost your job !!

Customer Focused

While a people manager focuses on their team, you need to focus on your customers. You need to build products or strategies that please your customers, not your own intellect!! you may need to talk to your customers, get feedback from them to alter your existing product and principles to give them a better user experience.

Whatever decision you make, try to have a backed-up customer data to support the same. Be on the toes, and always be attentive to social media. See what are your customers talking about your business and help them solve the problem.

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." - Bill Gates

Get Shit Done

Your intelligence or strategy doesn't matter until it actually reaches your customer. Everyone can come up with a solution. But, it takes greatly determined and focused people to make sure it gets prioritized and reaches production. It's your battle with the management, stakeholders and the various teams to ensure your product reaches your customer.

Voracious Reader

Just like technology evolves every day, businesses are constantly evolving too. Conventional businesses are migrating to digital, outsourcing is increasing with tools getting cheaper than labor. You need to stay updated and ahead of the competition to know where your business is sailing.

Also, it is the IC Managers who are involved in reading the 100 page long docs to fully understand the project. So, it is a highly desired skill to be a voracious reader.

From the difference in the main characteristics of the two personas, it is evident that both are different roles and you need to choose your role based on your strengths. Ensure you are at least 70% suitable for your role during the time of transition. Rest can be learnt through experience.