4/17/2023 0 Comments First time manager advice![]() In order to be successful, you need to be able to delegate! Otherwise, you become a bottleneck and your team’s productivity grinds to a halt. When you step in and second-guess every decision that your team members make, you’re essentially telling them that you know better than they do. Micro-managing is corrosive for a number of reasons. It’s become a bit of a cliche, but micro-managing is an all-too-common pitfall for many managers – especially first timers. If you focus on being there for your team and giving them the guidance and support they need, they will perform better – the wins will start rolling in. It can be hard to see, but success comes with growth. Instead of serving and supporting their team, they end up making their lives miserable. Eager to notch some wins, they push their team harder than they should. It’s the latter that keep many first time managers up at night. There’s pressure from direct reports to be a strong leader, and there’s a newfound pressure from executive leadership to demonstrate results. Think about it – middle managers are squeezed from both sides. I’ve seen this time and again with managers who feel the pressure from above and below. On the other side of the spectrum is the “Mean Boss.” In order to do that, you sometimes have to hold your team to a high standard, and being “the cool boss” usually undermines that. ![]() You want to provide guidance and support for your team so that they can grow as professionals and hit their goals. Remember, your number one job is to have your team’s back and to set them up for success. Why doesn’t this work? Because this approach misses the point. You might call it Michael Scott Syndrome – a desire to be loved that renders you an ineffective leader. When it’s your time to shine, you might think, I’m not going to be like some of the task masters I’ve worked for in the past. If you’ve ever worked for a boss that was a real pain, there’s a temptation to over correct. Our Employee Engagement Guide breaks down exactly what it takes to be a good manager.īy the time you take on your first management role, you’ve probably worked under a few different bosses with different leadership & management styles – some more pleasant than others. I focused too much on my knowledge of the role and not on what it actually takes to manage.įirst time managers should be aware that management is a whole new ballgame that requires a distinct set of skills. Looking back, this was my biggest mistake. At most companies, individual contributors are usually promoted to manager based on their stellar performance in the role, but aren’t given adequate management training. This is probably the most common mistake first time managers face, and it’s easy to see why. But while knowledge of the role is important, management itself requires a completely different skillset. It’s easy to assume that the skills that made you a good salesperson will make you a good sales manager. Relying on the Same Skills that Got You Promoted Want to improve your employee appreciation program this year? Yes! 1. So here are the top mistakes that most first time managers make the hard way. We’ve asked around, and put together some sage advice from expert managers – people who manage managers, and know what it takes to overcome that initial learning curve. But there’s good news – you don’t have to suffer like I did (or like my team did). Unfortunately, my experience as a first-time manager is more rule than exception. Eventually, I became a good manager, but not without some major growing pains. Luckily for me (and my team), I had great mentors who showed me what being a manager is really about. And not only did I hinder their growth by always solving their problems for them, I eventually became a bottleneck. While I thought I was playing the hero, my team saw me as a martyr. In reality, I was doing my teammates a gigantic disservice. It was faster and easier than guiding my direct reports to the right answer, and when time was of the essence, it seemed like the right call. When people came to me with problems, I would just jump in and fix things. One major mistake – I thought I had to be the smartest person in the room. I quickly found that management was a whole different ball game, and the skills that had made me a decent practitioner were much different from the ones I needed to be a good manager. I had my very own direct reports (two!), an office (that I shared), and the kicker, actual business cards. With a few years of successful wordsmithing and journalist wrangling under my belt, it was time for me to make my big move to middle management. (The job required me to do things like obsess over word choice and agonize over grammar, so I was a natural.) It was early in my career as a communications pro, and I had showed some promise as a practitioner.
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