97 Things Every Engineering Manager Should Know

Chapter 54. Managers and Culture

Arjun Anand

When I was pursuing my engineering degree, there were these hazing rituals in which those from a higher year bullied those of us who were just arriving. When I asked one of the seniors why they wanted to bully and haze us, he said that they do it because it was done to them. I never did get hazed, and so I never knew what that feeling was like, and so I never hazed anyone who was my junior either. What’s funny to me is that we still do this now even when we’re older and working in professional careers; we just call it the organization’s culture.

In an organization, the people who your employees will turn to in order to see the “preferred interpretation” of the company’s culture are the managers, leaders, and executives. These individuals are the day-to-day representation of any organization’s culture, and thus, it is imperative for the success of an organization to set the tone for leadership. To this end, I wanted to share a few thoughts that I feel are important for a leader in an organization (as well as for the organization itself) to know in order to support and grow new leaders.

Manager Training

When moving someone along the management career path, it is important to understand where they’ve come from, what they want to achieve, and how it aligns with the organization’s goals so that you can create plans for them. Training ...