Stage 3 of 7

Managers of managers

Managing managers is the first job where you lead people you rarely see do the work.

Managers of managers lead people who now lead teams of their own. The job moves from doing and directing to building other leaders. You see less of the work itself, you hear about problems later, and your success shows up in how well your managers run their teams when you aren’t in the room.

The short answer

The biggest challenge for managers of managers is letting go of the work while staying close to what is really happening. Many keep solving problems themselves and quietly become the bottleneck. What helps is handing decisions to your managers, checking what life is like two layers down, and growing people who could one day do your job.

Drafted with AI for Jay Sampat, Chief Mirror Holder · coach review pending

You’ll know these

The six tests

  1. 13Span CheckLiveManagers of managers · Whether your span of control is healthy
  2. 14Amplifier or BottleneckLiveManagers of managers · Whether your team gets bigger or smaller around you
  3. 15Decision DebtLiveManagers of managers · The hours and money your team loses waiting on you
  4. 16Bench StrengthLiveManagers of managers · Who could step into your role, and when
  5. 17Skip-Level PulseLiveManagers of managers · What life is like two layers below you
  6. 18Strategy TranslatorLiveManagers of managers · How well you turn strategy into team priorities

Managers of managers

What changes when your reports lead teams of their own?

Your job becomes the leaders, not the work. You used to see problems as they happened. Now they reach you a week late, smoothed over by the time they arrive. Your managers make calls you would have made differently, and that has to be fine most of the time.

The quickest way to see your own habits is The 42 Test. It’s free, takes no sign-up, and shows whether you lean towards solving or growing, leaving room or spelling it out, shielding or stretching. At this stage, a strong lean to solving is worth a second look.

Do you have time for everyone who reports to you?

Span isn’t a number on an org chart; it’s how much of you each person gets. Span Check uses your own numbers, your direct reports, how many are new and the hours you can give, to show hours per report, a span score and what would close the gap. How many direct reports is too many? explains the trade-offs.

How do you stop being the bottleneck?

Start by counting what waits for you. Every decision that sits in your inbox is time your managers and their teams spend on hold, a cost we call decision debt. Decision Debt puts it in hours and money and names the most expensive kind of decision to hand down, and the real cost of indecision at work shows the sum by hand.

Then look at the habits behind it. Amplifier or Bottleneck scores whether your managers grow around you or wait on you, across decisions, information, development and credit. How to empower your managers shows what to change first.

How do you find out what’s really happening two layers down?

Ask, and make it safe to answer. People two layers down rarely tell you the hard thing unprompted, so the asking has to come from you, and their manager should know it’s happening. Skip-Level Pulse shows where your view is thinnest, and how to run a skip-level meeting gives a format and questions.

Does your team know what the strategy means for them?

Only if you’ve translated it. A strategy nobody can repeat in one sentence isn’t a strategy yet. Strategy Translator scores how well you say it, link goals to it, repeat it and check it landed, and why employees don’t understand your strategy has a worked example.

Who could step into your role?

If nobody could do your job tomorrow, you haven’t finished doing it. Bench Strength maps up to eight people, initials are enough, into ready now, ready in a year and not yet, and shows who is closest to your role. How to build bench strength covers what to do next.

Drafted with AI · coach review pending

From the Question Library

  1. How do you build bench strength in your team?Managers of managers · 9 min read
  2. How do you empower your managers?Managers of managers · 9 min read
  3. How do you run a skip-level meeting?Managers of managers · 9 min read
  4. How many direct reports is too many?Managers of managers · 9 min read
  5. What is the real cost of indecision at work?Managers of managers · 9 min read
  6. Why don’t employees understand your strategy?Managers of managers · 10 min read
  7. What should a new leader do in their first 90 days?Managers of managers · 7 min read

Questions people ask

What is the hardest part of managing managers?
Usually it’s letting go. The habits that made you a good manager, like knowing every detail and fixing things fast, start to slow your managers down.
How often should I meet my managers’ teams?
Often enough that you hear the truth, not so often that you undercut your managers. A regular skip-level conversation, run with your managers’ knowledge, is a good start.
How do I know if I’m a bottleneck?
Look at what waits for you. If decisions, approvals or answers stall when you’re away, the team is working around your calendar, not with it. Amplifier or Bottleneck scores it, and Decision Debt puts a price on it.
Are the Managers of managers tests free?
Yes. All six are live, free and need no sign-up, and your answers stay in your browser. Two are calculators. Three are built for your team to answer too; team mode is coming, and for now you rate yourself.

My team calls me first when something breaks.

Drafted with AI · coach review pending