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Not everyone should be a manager. More people need to say that out loud.

We think moving up means moving into management. Organizational leaders assume the only way to promote someone is to give them people to manage. Early career professionals assume it is the only path to advancement and higher pay.

One of the worst, most draining mistakes you can make is stepping into management when you are meant to be a strong individual contributor.

Management means putting down your craft to lead people and develop the next generation. Being an individual contributor means building deep expertise. Both paths are valuable. Both are needed. You have to know which one fits you.

Management brings its own stress: hard decisions, hard conversations, and responsibilities you can’t just check off. But the reward of helping others grow is real.

Some people thrive as specialized individual contributors. They become highly valued and well paid, without managing a team.

Success comes in many forms. Pick the one that fits you.

They say clarity is kindness, and I tend to agree. The clearer we are about vision, expectations, roles, deadlines, deliverables, etc., the better our teams become.

I’ve learned that clarity doesn’t appear out of thin air. It’s an intentional commitment an organization makes to its people. And the way you create greater clarity, in my view, is through building better systems.

Consider a few common sources of stress in an organization:

• Unclear roles: When people don’t know what they own or what others own, you need a system that proactively defines roles and responsibilities.
• Projects are vague: The deliverables and deadlines are fuzzy, so you likely need a better project kickoff and management system.
• Poor communication: If key people aren’t “in the loop,” you might need an internal comms system that makes sure updates flow the right way at the right time.
• Decision-making bottlenecks: If people don’t know who can make what decisions, you may lack a system for defining authority and approvals.
• Mission drift and shiny objects: If your team struggles to stay aligned on long-term goals, or too many “exciting ideas” keep popping up, you need a system for setting plans and regularly reviewing goals.

Again and again, when an organization lacks clarity, it’s not just a communication issue, it’s a systems issue.

If you want to create greater clarity, try identifying the missing system.

I remember in college when I was a state officer for DECA. We had to generate a fifth-of-the-month report (FOMR) for our coach outlining the projects, wins, and challenges we worked through that month.

I hated them.

Then I got into the professional world and had to do more reports – some internal, some client-facing.

I still hated them.

I get it – writing a report is a big lift. Whether it’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly, they not only can take a lot of time to complete but there is always the fear of leaving something out or getting called out for something you include.

Despite their reputation, I am a big believer in weekly reports. They can be a powerful thing if done well. But most of the time they’re not. They become a formality or a Friday afternoon chore. A waste of time. The problem? No one ever explains why they’re important, or what a good one looks like. They should be seen as an opportunity to tell the story of the week.

Here’s how I approach weekly reports as a manager:

• They’re not a task list. They should tell the story of the week: progress, wins, challenges, and lessons learned. If it was a great week, the report should clearly communicate why. If it was a bad week… same thing.
• Provide a guide: If you want to avoid reports being phoned in, set clear expectations for what reports should communicate. I literally created a “good report / bad report” side-by-side comparison for my team when I noticed a pattern of unhelpful reports, and it worked.
• Good reports create better one-on-ones. The weekly report should be your pre-read for check-ins. That way, they can focus on coaching, providing context, working through challenges, and professional development – not just a project status that can be communicated another way.

When done correctly, weekly reports help leaders stay connected to what’s really happening on the team and help employees feel seen, supported, and celebrated.

Oh, by the way, managers: make sure you actually read them 😉