Individual Contributor vs. Management Track: The Debate Rages On
Today’s article is not about coming to work with a hangover (despite what the picture may suggest. I’m going to talk about the relative merits of being an individual contributor (a.k.a. a sole contributor, a.k.a. the lone wolf). Check out these pros and cons and then decide which track is best for you. There’s no right or wrong answer, as long as you don’t choose “individual contributor because no one wants to work for me”.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever read an article (or read the headline at least) about how to become a manager. The overwhelming majority of advice that you’ll hear is on how to break out of the individual contributor mold and to become a leader of people. I’ve only seen a handful of articles that highlighted the positives of being an individual contributor, and I was actively looking for them for content to steal/paraphrase. (Don’t worry, this is all grade-A Philip’s brand of nonsense you’ll be reading today.) I won’t try to talk you into one option or the other. I’ll present the “totally scientifically researched facts” as I see them, and let you be the judge.
The Pros to being an individual contributor:
- You don’t have subordinates asking you for stuff all the time — Who wants to spend their day answering questions like “When am I getting paid”, and “Did you just take a 3 hour lunch”? When you’re a manager you have to be your employee’s cover, their shelter. They need you to be a boss, which leaves less time to get things done and go home already.
- You don’t have to fire anyone. Speaking as someone who has fired multiple people over the years, that is definitely an attractive plus in my book. When you take away some of the drama that comes from a hierarchical relationship, you can be a co-workers only true friend now. Everyone else is either gunning for a promotion or asks you to do stuff.
- You don’t have to play politics unless you want to. You can stay out of the fray of all the youngsters jockeying for position, and the oldsters trying to be the next in line for the corner office. Ain’t nobody got time for that. I imagine the introverts reading this are smiling slightly at the thought of not having to compete to succeed. If that’s your dream, make it real.
- You’ll have more time to focus on your day to day tasks — doesn’t that sound great? You’ll have time to get your work done with less time managing by walking around. The trick is not to take on more work at that point. You don’t want to wake up one day with your Outlook calendar saying “Hey, I’m your life”. You earned that time, keep it to yourself.
- It’s easier to be seen as an impartial opinion holder. Everyone else has to worry about how the decisions will impact their team, but you can be their sounding board. How great would it be to tell your team that you’re forever there for them?
The Cons of being an individual contributor:
- You have to be really good at what you do, and preferably a specialist in at least one critical element to your company. It’s a lot easier to be left alone if you are someone they depend on. Of course, if you don’t get it right, then you’re the one who’s blamed. No junior employees to blame mistakes on.
- Your place in the corporate hierarchy will be a little vague. Crap does roll downhill, but you may not have a hill to roll it down. You might have more of a slight incline based on seniority or title, and that crap will need a larger push to get rolling. When you’re the boss, it’s a lot easier to walk to your subordinate’s cube and say, “Do my dirty work, scapegoat.” When you’re flying solo, you’ll have to convince/bribe/blackmail other people for assistance.
- You’ll have to get really good at influencing laterally and up if you want to get your ideas implemented. This ties in with the previous bullet. Leadership titles have perks, and one of which is the authority to get things done. When you’re a team of one, then you’ll have to get a little crafty in your approach. When things go well, then you get to tell your boss that you’re the one who took you there. When things go poorly, you may have to grin and bear dealing with the same stuff, different day.
- Your earnings potential will be limited. People leaders earn more than non-people leaders over the course of their careers. You can thank an HR consultant for inventing salary bands. Part of the tradeoff for being left alone is you pay the price in lower potential earnings. It may not feel fair, but then again nothing’s fair. If you feel like that’s a good trade, then this con isn’t a deal breaker.
- The big one (for me anyway) — People you wouldn’t trust to open their own juice box can get promoted over you if they’re on a management track. It’s sad but true. The type of people who play politics well, go drinking with the higher ups, and sneak out for a round of golf with the directors, tend to be the ones who work their way into the upper echelons of a company. If that idea bothers you, then you may want to reconsider management. I’m 100% on board with strong, capable leaders running companies, instead of the people who have a strong short game.
So, should you be an individual contributor or a manager? I’m not going to sway your opinion on which option I prefer, but I personally enjoy bossing people around. Go back through the list above and see which pros sounds great, and which cons sound terrible. You’ll get a better idea of which path you should try (at least at first). Keep in mind that it’s really hard to get off the management train once it gets rolling. You’ll need a really compelling health reason (or be nearing retirement) to successfully make the transition to a lone wolf. Otherwise, you’ll be a manager who wants the salary, but not the work. Let me know your path to success if you manage to swing that.
-Philip
