Ask Christa! Can My Career Grow If I Don't Want to Manage People? (S5E52)

Introduction

Hi everyone and welcome to Ask Christa! the place where you can ask questions about how to work through business challenges and workplace issues. I'm Christa Dhimo and today’s listener question is a common question but one most aren’t comfortable asking: what happens to a career if you don’t want to manage people? 

Listener Question

Here’s the listener question: “A couple of weeks ago, my manager and I had a great discussion about what my development path could look like. I’ve been a project manager at a software company for four years, but I started here six years ago, first as a Senior Business Analyst for just a year, then as a Junior Project Manager before promoting to be a full Project Manager. My next step is to become an Engagement Manager like my boss, where I’d have a team of Project Managers, Business Analysts, and Customer Support employees reporting to me. I was excited about the prospects in the moment, but since then I’ve come to realize that being an Engagement Manager doesn’t excite me at all. Part of that is because I enjoy working alongside of my clients more on a day to day basis, and the Engagement Manager role keeps to the strategic relationships, drafting / negotiating and renewing contracts, and solving problems when they are escalated. But the bigger part is I’ve come to realize I don’t want to manage people. It’s something I’ve always kept at the back of my mind, but now I feel like it’s hanging over me like a cloud. I’m afraid I have no career path if I don’t want to become a manager. Can my career grow if I don’t want to manage people?” 

The Myth of Management: Direct-Direct Reports No Longer Exist…

This is a fair question and one I think most are afraid to ask in case the answer is NO.

But the short answer is an emphatic YES. Your career CAN and WILL grow even if you don’t want to manage people. This point about needing to be a manager in order for your career to grow comes from a long standing myth that the only career path—the only way to promotions, the only way to “BECOME” in the workplace—is to manage people. 

It’s just not true. At all. WITH… a little caveat: 

If you’re in a highly regulated industry or an audit-intensive industry or an industry (or sector) that manages a lot of money or information or anything else that might be high risk for loss or corruption, my guess is you work in a far more hierarchical organizational design that clearly showcases decision and sign-off or approval structures. While some may feel this is bureaucratic and wasteful—and maybe in some cases it is—the purpose behind those kinds of structures is clear accountability, clear controls, clear scope of decision-making, and a lot of different eyes and signatures on various documents and decisions so the risks are minimized AND corruption is minimized, too. 

The hierarchy, at least when setup properly, tightens up the control. It shouldn’t be so restrictive that people can’t make small, nuanced adjustments, or decisions appropriate to their role, but the point of the structure is to restrict how easy it is to make the bigger, more material adjustments: changes that put your clients and potentially the public at risk. 

And before you knock how restrictive this sounds, think of what might happen if someone managing the code changes to a large web service makes a decision to go live without proper coordination with internal controls so clients around the world do not lose functionality of their websites or critical business tools. Unexpectedly. 

Some of the most catastrophic events have occurred because someone did not align to an appropriate hierarchy structure—and remember, those structures should be in place for appropriate reasons. Not to control PEOPLE, but to put control around quality, decisions, and workflows to minimize the potential of risks and harm to customers.

If you’re interested in learning more, I reviewed this topic in Season 2’s episode 19, which was a bonus episode called, “Why Organizational Structures Matter.” Most people, and even some Boards, do not think about the critical value of an organization’s structure. But it provides a framework for how you operate, so the right structure matters. 

Many organizations these days do not need the level of control they once needed. We’ve become more efficient, we share information much faster, and information is shared in a far more fluid manner than it once was. Employees are expected to make decisions within the scope of their role, and again, unless there is a specific reason for a hierarchical decision model, most times, decisions are best made in the moment from those who are doing the work. 

Of course, the more impactful and broad-reaching the outcomes of a decision, then yes—the broader the inputs and likely, still, the higher up you go for those kinds of decisions. Approving an $30 Billion dollar budget across a global organization with 45,000 employees, for example. That… should probably be at the higher level where they have a broader view of the business… but… even those decisions are best made with inputs from key areas across all stakeholders. But that will be for an episode about decision-making, if someone asks that question… 

Back to the organizational design as a function of career growth in management: many organizations share resources across different functions, a la “cross-functional teams,” and work within a matrixed organization where you have a direct manager, or “solid-line” manager on the org chart, and an indirect manager, or “dotted-line manager” for the work you do day to day. Your direct manager remains accountable for all your HR-needs: development, promotion, performance reviews, etc. But your indirect manager—maybe a project manager or a shift supervisor—holds you accountable for delivering what is needed day to day or during your shift, say in a project or on a call center floor. Both of those managers work together to support you, and you are responsible for delivering various things to them based on roles—at least, in theory. BUT! A lot of companies are successful in the matrixed model in practice also. It’s been around for at least 30 years.

You Will Be a Manager Whether You’re a Manager or Not…

I bring this up because in both instances, your direct manager and indirect manager are invested in providing you with guidance, performance feedback, growth options, and transitions, where transitions may be moving from project team to project team or talking to you about switching to a different group if that kind of move is better for you and the team. 

And a matrixed organization is just one example of how a non-manager role, such as a project manager (like our listener here), has… a… manager role. They do not have all the HR responsibilities, but they are the feeders and keepers of the work and also nearly all the information that goes to the direct manager SO THAT the HR responsibilities can be fulfilled.

And so, do you need to be a manager for career growth? No. No you don’t, unless you are in a hierarchical design where moving upward truly means the scope of decision-making broadens, and so… OK, in those organizations, maybe.

But for the last 20-25 years, a lot of companies, even those with hierarchical designs, have made a point to let employees know that not all career growth requires you to have direct-line employees. Many employees love the work they do, but don’t want a portion or all of that work to be about people-management. And when I say people-management, I’m not talking about telling people what to do… I’m talking about the guidance, performance feedback, growth options, and transitions throughout the time an employee is with an organization. Sometimes those transitions mean moving to a different team in order to improve in an area… sometimes it means a lay off or even a termination with cause. Management is tough and it isn’t for everyone, and that should be OK. It doesn’t mean you’re weak or can’t “hack it” if you don’t want to manage people. It means you know who you are with the self-awareness of understanding where you’ll thrive, and you need to be OK with that. It’s the only way you’ll determine what your career path will be without being in a people-manager role.

So Learn Management Skills Even If You Don’t Want to Be a Manager (you’ll manage someone)

But you will be a manager in one way or another during the course of your career, whether you’re a people manager or not. There are many instances where someone grows as subject matter expert, working across teams and adding value as an individual contributor. There are other instances where an individual contributor indirectly manages people, like our listener as a project manager.

With that, it’s still important to learn management skills even if you don’t want to be a direct manager. Management skills enable you to work BETTER, more effectively, and more efficiently with others. Sure, you might think you don’t have to learn about conducting critical or difficult conversations about someone’s poor performance… but… there WILL be times when someone misses a deadline or lets you down or begins to have trouble with their performance. In those instances, it’s in your best interest and your co-worker’s best interest to address the situation directly, even if they aren’t your direct report. And, as an example, if you’re the project manager, you are being held accountable to deliver on the expected deliverables. See… indirect management has its own challenges, even if you aren’t a people-manager. 

BUT… if we’re going to work well with other good humans, it’s important to have good-human skills, like listening skills, feedback skills, approach skills, redirect skills to keep other good humans focused even if there’s an uncomfortable discussion like a big client issue… or… a large global web service going down…

Learn management skills. They will most assuredly enable your professional growth as well as your personal growth, and both vastly contribute to your career growth. Remember: career growth is growth.

Additional Resources

For your resources, located in the show notes, I’ve selected articles that focus on how to navigate your career growth even if you don’t want to manage people.

First up: An article in Forbes from February 2025. It’s called, “How to grow in your career if you don’t want to manage people.” It’s written by Julia Korn, and she writes about other ways you can lead, add value, and talk about whether you want to manage people or not—and to be OK with it if not.

Next up: a December 2012 article from Harvard Business Review titled, “What if you don’t want to be a manager?” It’s written by Anne Kreamer, a former executive, who offers insights to forging your own path and finding ways to contribute across many teams versus managing a team of people. 

I also included an article in Ambits from January 2023, written by Gerrit Sarens. It’s for anyone who’s currently a manager and is thinking of stepping down, and the article is appropriately titled, “Stepping down as a manager.” The first sub-title of the article? “Debunking myths: moving from a boss to an individual contributor doesn't torpedo your career!” INDEED.

 Last, for those who enjoy a good academic read—although it’s applied research, so, aligned to real-world—I have an article written by Svanström et al., from 2025 called “Thoughts on and motives for leaving the first-line manager position: A Qualitative Study.” The qualitative method gives us insight to the “why’s” of human behavior. Read through the short introduction; you’ll see they focus on the dynamics of front-line managers, including those who leave and why. Then jump down to section three, “Findings.” They found the theme to be “A tipping point for the unit and manager,” and they report on three interesting subthemes: overwhelming challenges, time to leave, and bridging the gap. They then break down each of those subthemes, and it’s interesting and insightful. You’ll see direct quotes from their participants also—a nice touch you see in all qualitative methods. Section four is the Discussion, which is worth the read also.

Wrap Up & Submitting Your Questions

And there it is, episode 52 in Season FIVE, focused on Career Growth! 

You can submit YOUR question on my show’s site, AskChrista.com, that’s Christa with a C-H, where you will see all my episodes listed based on category and season. While your there—sign up for my More Answers… newsletter, where you will receive additional content on Sunday nights to set you up for the work week.

Thank you for your support, as always. And remember, if you have a business challenge or a workplace issue—Ask Christa!