Mark LeBusque

Are You A SuperHuman Manager? 
– Take The Test​

I have been having some fun with the participants in my Human Manager Experience in an exercise that is based upon understanding ones Management style. The exercise involves the participants using their own experiences and insights on where they default to and also what might trigger them to leap from one style to another. Believe me we do leap from one to another based on the smallest change in circumstances, although we do have a default as our first preference. 

The 6 Styles of Manager are:

1. Super Human – Short Term 24/7 Bursts that turn into something much worse and Lead to Burnout
2. Human – Emotionally Invested and Human Focus First
3. Pushover – Sympathy before Empathy  
4. Robotic – Absolutely Follow The Rulebook 
5. Tyrant – Fear Rules Everything
6. Sub Human – In The Gutter, Bullying and Harrassing and Passing it of as “I’m only Joking”.

All have their own set of unique characteristics that can easily be observed and heard on a day to day, minute to minute and even second to second basis.

Not surprisingly most participants land on the default of a Pushover Manager – driven primarily by their fear and subsequent avoidance of conflict and difficult discussions.

Keeping the peace appears to be a strong preference to making progress on issues that may create some disequilibrium. 

I thought it would be worth exploring in more depth the Super Human Style of Management and give you an opportunity to complete a short survey to determine whether this is your current default style. 

This is one of the more interesting types of Manager. One who balances on the fine line between being “Hero” or “Zero”. One who sees the world as a sprint and forgets that our fast-twitch sprinting muscles quickly fill with lactic acid and are rendered almost useless after a short sharp burst. One who is looking to impress usually those above and forgets about the impact of those below. 

On the positive side the Super Human Manager has an ability to execute on really hard tasks with tight deadlines, is very well planned (even though at times it may appear they are a mess and can influence others to join their Super Human crusade).

The only rule here is to be honest with yourself when answering the questions.  

To determine the characteristics of each manager style the following questions are posed:
What would I observe the Manager doing?
What would I hear the Manager say?
What would the Team Members be Saying? 
 

For every question posed rate them as True (T) or False (F). 

What I Do:
Continually miss important non work related events in order to meet work related deadlines (T/F)
Work most weekends and accept it as that’s just “how it is around here” (T/F)
Take on more work than I can handle by volunteering for every project team (T/F)
Send emails at all hours of the day and night and expect a response from your direct reports within the hour (T/F)
Expect that at the “drop of a hat” my Direct Reports will volunteer to stay back or work weekends on critical work without taking into account their personal needs (T/F)
Take work home and prioritise this in front of self and family and friends (T/F)

What I Say:
“Can you stay back again tonight? I promise it’s the last time this week”  (T/F)
“I’m sorry I can’t get to the School concert because I have this deadline I just can’t miss – you understand don’t you? ” (T/F)
“Yes Boss we can have that finished well before the deadline” (T/F)
“I’m struggling here but no-one can do this work as good as me” (T/F)
“Looks like I’ll be coming in over the weekend again” (T/F)
“It’s sink or swim time here for all of us if we don’t do an overnighter on this project” (T/F)

What Team Members Say (maybe or maybe not not directly but it gets back to you):
“He or She is about to implode” (T/F)
“You can’t be serious; 5 minutes notice to stay back when I already had plans tonight” (T/F)
“This can’t go on as it’s impacting my personal life” (T/F)
“I just wish at times they would say no and not take on all this work just to impress the Boss” (T/F)
“I’m outta here, this is not sustainable” (T/F)
“Doesn’t this person have a life?” (T/F)

Add the True scores up and see where you landed:
11+ – You’re a Certified Super Human Manager and will eventually crash and burn and possibly take others down with you
7-10  – The time-bomb is ticking. At the moment you might feel like a hero but you are walking a fine line and spiralling towards zero my friend.
4-6 – You have an awareness of when to sprint and when to play a longer game and are possibly taking advice of others to slow down at times.  
0-3 – You are possibly new into a Management role or have a great sense of the importance of not burning out yourself and others in your team. Bravo You.