You’re exhausted, aren’t you?
The feeling of being stuck in your career, waiting desperately for that elusive opportunity to manage people in your product organization.
What if those opportunities never come? Will you forever be confined to a static career, while others catapult ahead by landing the coveted people management roles?
You fear it’s true. And that fear feeds the frustrations that drive you to consider extreme measures – switching teams, job hopping, or even uprooting your life in search of those people management openings.
You have to do something. Your career growth is on the line here.
But amidst this emotional turmoil, you must ask yourself – is this really the only way forward?
Why PMs Obsess Over People Management
You’re not wrong. People management opportunities in Product organizations are scarce. Product orgs are significantly smaller than counterparts like Engineering, and thus flatter.
Why do PMs place such high importance on people management? Because it comes with many perceived benefits.
For example, people management…
Signals your readiness for greater scope & responsibility.
Managing people and managing big scope both require strong leadership skills, big picture decision making, efficient resource allocation, and an ability to influence and persuade. If you’re already a people manager – you probably have the chops to take on a bigger role.
Boosts your credibility within your organization.
If the company trusts you to manage people, your peers and cross-functional partners should trust you, too. With that trust, you can broaden your organizational influence and get things done.
Elevates your personal brand and attracts opportunities.
The external perception often is that high-ranking individuals manage people. Therefore, if you manage people, you will be viewed as a seasoned leader as well.
Self-affirms your personal growth and career progression.
Being selected to be a people manager is often a recognition of an individual’s capabilities, achievements, and potential. Such recognition validates you are valued.
Enables development of unique leadership skills.
Managing direct reports develops skills required for bigger roles. E.g. soft skills like empathy, active listening, and conflict resolution; and hard skills like budgeting, hiring, and performance management.
Up-levels your work from the day-to-day grind.
Direct reports take care of the day-to-day tasks on their teams, freeing up your time to focus on people development, strategy, and the bigger picture.
Right about now, you’re probably thinking to yourself:
Uh, Roshan – those benefits sound great. Now I want to manage people even more!
The Myth of People Management
Yes, people management can lead to these benefits.
But look at the list of benefits, again.
Can all those benefits only be achieved by managing direct reports?
The answer is no. Actually, hard no.
Chasing scarce people management opportunities can rob you of opportunities right now to make huge leaps in your journey to Product Leadership.
Even without direct reports, you can…
Signal your readiness for greater scope & responsibility.
The simplest way to signal you’re ready for more – ask for it!
Tell your manager you are ready to help with key projects or new initiatives that can benefit from a PM leader.
If your manager hesitates – ask them what signals they need to see from you to assuage their doubts. Then create a plan with your manager to develop those signals.
At Google, I doubled then tripled my team size this way.
Boost your credibility within your organization.
Credibility with cross-functional partners is based on trust.
Managing people is one (small) signal you are trustworthy. Cultivate trust faster by building meaningful relationships.
Start by developing a deep understanding of your partner’s incentives, goals, and challenges. This demonstrates empathy and an appreciation for their perspective. The Cross-Functional Mastery career boost can help.
From this foundation, rinse and repeat the following:
- Share your goals, challenges, and rationale behind recent decisions
- Seek your partner’s input & incorporate into your decision-making
- Publicly acknowledge their contribution
Elevate your personal brand and attract opportunities.
Managing people is a minor differentiator.
Demonstrating thought leadership is a major differentiator.
How to get started:
- Make a list of your accomplishments over the last few years. What advice would you give PMs a few years behind you, facing similar challenges?
- Post about it on social media. Speak about it at a conference, or host a webinar (e.g. at Product School).
- If posting isn’t your thing – request LinkedIn reviews from colleagues that emphasize your unique role in those accomplishments.
Self-affirm your personal growth and career progression.
Look for signals – other than being selected for people management – that demonstrate you are growing and are valued by your company.
- Monetary recognition: salary increases, bonuses, other forms of financial rewards (e.g. gifts, new perks, etc.)
- Non-monetary recognition: verbal praise, written commendations, company awards, etc.
- Growth opportunities: investments in your training & education, sponsored conference participation, increases in scope of responsibility, being provided a choice of new projects
- Seat at the table: involvement in key discussions, direct access to leadership, transparency around your role in future plans
- Trust and autonomy: being asked to represent the company publicly, sharp decrease in oversight, reduced administrative burden for approvals
- Work-life balance: respecting your personal time, providing flexibility when requested, relaxed vacation policy
Enable development of unique leadership skills.
You don’t need direct reports to learn key leadership skills.
Try this instead:
- Learn from colleagues: shadow people managers to understand their decision-making process, leadership styles, and strategies. E.g. ask to attend a budget meeting or sit in on interviews.
- Learn from others: read blogs or newsletters on leadership; listen to podcasts; sign up for online courses; join a PM circle; find a mentor. Better yet, try a Career Boost (just sayin’).
- Learn from experience: mentor junior PMs; mentor aspiring PMs; host an intern. No opportunities at your company? Post on LinkedIn offering to become someone’s mentor.
Up-level your work from the day-to-day grind.
You want time to focus on the bigger picture?
Direct reports will take some things off your plate. But new responsibilities like people development and performance management get added.
Instead – learn how to scale in a new way.
Delegating tasks is a great way to get started. Try this:
- Identify growth-driven teammates: ask your team about their professional aspirations and desired skill development.
- Align tasks to ambitions: match their goals with relevant tasks from your list. Pick tasks that are important, but not urgent.
- Offer growth opportunities: explain the ‘why’ behind a task. Provide context, objectives, and success criteria. Commit to mentorship.
- Refine and iterate: provide feedback to improve performance and final outcome.
- Recognize effort: publicly praise the teammate’s final contribution.
Over time, teammates will improve and seek out more growth opportunities from you. In return, you free up time to focus on the bigger picture.
Stop Chasing. Start Leading!
Product Managers who play the waiting game for people management roles miss opportunities that can navigate them straight into Product Leadership.
Imagine if you took a different path.
You enrich your skill set, build strong partnerships, elevate your public profile, and proactively signal readiness for broader roles – without the feeling of “being stuck in your career”. Instead of fixating on a specific destination, you find power in every step along the way.
It’s time to swap chasing for embracing. Embrace the leadership opportunities that surround you, and unleash the Product Leader within – direct reports or no direct reports!
