The conduit

Managing is a bridging role. A great way of visualizing your role is by using a conduit analogy. A conduit is a channel, a delivery mechanism, or a means to transmit something. Let's explore:

A manager's role can be visualized as a conduit. What your team sees is highly dependent on you, the conduit. You are the primary (not the only) source of information, priority, nature of work, and philosophy for your team. How much of an organization and a management's philosophy is passed on to your team, will heavily depend on you.

On the other side of the conduit are your manager and the rest of management. What your manager sees of your team is highly dependent on you, the conduit. The effectiveness, productivity, and well being of the team depend on the conduit.

The conduit (you) has the ability to color the picture in any shade; how big or small and also control the view of the picture to smaller or bigger. The conduit doesn't need to be uniform and can be a funnel. The conduit can control the flow of content in either direction. Here's how you can visualize the forms of a conduit:

What flows through the conduit:

The rest of the organization is all around you and influences everyone in the picture. You, the conduit, may have a change of shape and flow of matters based on pressure/influence/expectation from the environment around you. Your team may have multiple channels of information and cultural influences due to the organization around them. The upper management may be forced to share more information, rewards, and work based on how the rest of the organization is working.

The conduit model does not mean that the manager has no power, or he/she isn't a thinking being. The manager controls being a conduit and hence holds great power. Controlling the flow, twisting, coloring, translating, and enhancing the work, culture, and rewards is a very empowering position.

The conduit also serves as a reminder of the fact that the power of a manager depends on the power of the two sides. A good team and a good upper management are both necessary for a manager to contribute.

The hierarchy or leader of the pack

Most people tend to think of a manager primarily as a leader and in a hierarchy, perhaps an influence from the most powerful form of organizing, the military. The verbal communication reflects that too, for example, "20 people under me". The growth path and designations also match this expectation; the first designation is Software Engineer, then Senior Engineer, then Project Lead, and then Manager. The visual is that of a reporting herirarchy. Most companies have an organization chart displayed on internal portals that support this vision of a manager:

It is indeed true that leadership is the key to being a manager. A mindset of responsibility and fronting the organization helps shape many other behaviors of a manager.

Unfortunately, the hierarchical view promotes a sense of superiority in managers and they find themselves at odds with today's reality.

The hierarchy is the fundamental representation of authority and responsibility and displays the relationships between people.

While looking at the chart, one must remember:

The leader should view his/her immediate organization as part of the larger organization and understand that the leader of the smaller organization is also being led. If we increase the scope of the visual, we'll see the following figure:

In today's knowledge industry, the leadership isn't limited to the manager, and the team members are capable of providing leadership in various aspects. For example, it is very likely that the technical leadership in the team or liaison leadership may come from different members of the team. The manager becomes more of a focal point of the system, managing different aspects of his/her organization.

The visual can be flipped on its side and this is how it'll look:

The larger organization will look similar to the following diagram:

The system now looks like more of a hub and spoke model rather than a hierarchical one and is more applicable in the knowledge industry. The manager is really in the centre of the team he/she is managing while connected to the larger hub. There may be lateral connections between hubs as well, leading to a complex network structure and placing the manager not only at the centre of his/her own hub, but also connected to and hence being influenced, and in turn influencing, other parts of the organization.

The orchestra conductor visual

Some people liken the manager's role to be similar to that of an orchestra conductor, as displayed in the following figure:

The orchestra conductor isn't the expert at every instrument, but is responsible for setting them in action, at the right time and at the right intensity. The orchestra conductor has a larger picture of the overall score and the overall execution plan. If anything goes wrong, the orchestra conductor has the best chance of course correcting.

The model works in certain cases in today's knowledge industry. The team members are typically highly skilled in their trade, just like the musicians in the orchestra piece. Most require only minimal direction to complete their task and have the maturity to work with other people in the team. There may be multiple small teams with different expertise. They need to be in sync with each other and play their part. Finally, all of them are required to make the score complete.

However, this model works only if the team has all members with high expertise and maturity. High technology and highly experienced team managers can potentially work in this model.

This model doesn't fit in many ways too, for example, today's manager's job is always changing and isn't a very well laid out plan. In fact, there's hardly any plan that doesn't change. The model also ignores the larger organization picture and the networking required to work in today's industry. Hence this model is only partially applicable and only in very specific situations.