One problem with how people become managers within an organization is that people management is “the next thing”. Once they have become good at whatever skills they were doing as an individual contributer, employees are often moved to “the next thing” – which often includes people management.
The skills that made them a good individual contributer don’t necessarily correspond to skills that will make them a good people manager.
Good people managers are rare, which makes shunting strong individual contributers into the role all the more strange. But the vast majority of organizations are structured like this. The more you move up in an org chart, the more people you manage.
Two tracks instead?
Here’s an alternate approach: two tracks – one for individual contributers to continue growing their skills and stay as individual contributers, another for people managers to grow theirs.
Contributing as a people manager doesn’t need to be “the next thing” but another route.
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