Becoming a manager for the first time can feel exciting or nerve-wracking or seemingly insignificant depending on your perception and experience. Regardless of how you take on your first managerial role, one thing that is true for all new managers is that things are different now. Despite how much you may try or want it to be otherwise, your new role is not the same as your previous one, and how you perform in your new role as manager will be the biggest determining factor in your professional success and satisfaction going forward. With all there is to learn and all that is riding on this, it can be overwhelming. Knowing what you need to know will help.
1. KNOW YOUR MOTIVATION
In most organizations, the most successful frontline staff will be promoted to manager, whether they have the inclination or the desire to or not. In most cases, the person doing the promoting will have no any idea nor take the time to ask about that desire. This is problematic because most people do not want to be managers. A large majority in fact. And if someone does not want to be a manager it will be impossible for them to be great at it.
Instead of promoting people who are great at what they do by taking away what they are great at doing, it is far more effective to promote people who are interested in being promoted. This conversation needs to happen early and often, so you can prepare people for management who are interested in management while investing in those who are not in other ways.
It is important for you to examine your own reasons for wanting to be a manager too. Or if you want to be a manager at all. Once you supervise others, this will take up the majority of your time and energy, and if do not want to do it or find you simply do not enjoy it, you will not do it well and you will not do it happily.
So, ask yourself, early and often, do you want to be a manager? If so, why?
If the answer is no, it is time to make a change. If the answer is yes, think about your reasons. If you want to be a manager in order to have control and get your way, you are in for an unpleasant surprise about what makes managers successful. If your reasons do not include some version of helping your team grow and succeed, it is time to think about if you are willing to invest in really understanding the purpose of your role and doing it well. If you find you do not have the interest nor the energy to invest in doing it well, for your sake and for those you lead, make sure you find a path that better matches your interests.
2. KNOW YOUR VISION
Being an effective manager requires a lot more than completing paperwork and meeting deadlines (though it does require a lot of both). Being an effective team leader requires that you have a clear vision for your team, that you are able to articulate that vision to your team, and that you are able to get your team on board with that vision.
So, what is your vision for your team? What are you trying to accomplish? What kind of culture are you trying to create? What are the expectations, both explicit and unspoken? What are your goals and what is your plan to get there? How do you plan to support your team along the way and help them grow?
These questions must be clear to you, and they must be clear to your team.
3. KNOW YOUR PEOPLE
One of the biggest adjustments for many first-time managers is how much collaboration is required. Often people are promoted because of how well they perform as individuals and are now expected to completely readjust to a style of working collaboratively. To do this, you must invest great time and effort into building relationships with your team and knowing them, both in terms of who they are as staff and who they are as human beings. What are their goals? What is their communication style? How do they approach conflict? What are their strengths? How do they take their coffee? Who is their favorite team? What do they care about? How do they like to be recognized? What do they need from you?
As you build these relationships with each individual on your team, you will also have the formidable task of simultaneously getting to know your team as a collective- something that will change over time and with each new addition and exit. How do they function together? Who dominates the conversation? Who holds back? Where are there tensions? Where are there cliques? Whose ideas are waiting to be discovered? Who rubs people the wrong way? What issues need to be addressed and worked on? What kinds of team building do they respond to?
At the core of management is relationships with those you manage. This will take time with each member of your team and will take longer for some than others. You must be patient and you must be persistent. It is the basis not only of how you manage but in managing itself.
4. KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS
To achieve your goals and support your team in achieving theirs, you need to know everybody’s strengths including your own. People are most effective and most satisfied at work when they are given the opportunity to do what they do best every day. Your job as manager is to figure out what everybody does best and provide the opportunity for them to do that every day. So when you think of each member of your team can you quickly name what they do best? Are they doing it every day? What about you?
As a new manager, you will quickly discover just how little time you have, and you will need to be strategic about using it effectively and efficiently. This will require you to focus on doing what you do best while delegating, eliminating or strengthening what you struggle with. The same is true for your team. Continue the discovery process with your team and be willing to adjust as staff and their skills develop over time.
5. KNOW YOUR LIMITS Knowing your limits includes your limits around your energy, your patience, your expectations, your boundaries, your workload, and your growth. When do you need support? When do you need some time off? When do you need to establish or enforce a boundary? When do you need to let someone go? Where do you need to say no? Where is there opportunity to say not right now? When do you keep working through a challenge and when is time to move on?
These questions will arise throughout your time as a manager and most of them will not have easy answers. Self-reflection will be important as will seeking outside sources of support to help you work through it. Establishing clear, healthy boundaries will be necessary to set yourself and your team up for success.
6. KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
Much of what made you successful as a frontline worker will make you successful as a manager- strong communication, prioritization, reliability. There will also be new skills you need to develop and new situations you will encounter- planning and facilitating meetings, giving feedback, hiring. As you take on your new role it is important to identify what you need to learn and get the training and support you need to learn it. As you start using each of these skills for the first time, it is important to continue receiving feedback and support along the way so you can grow those skills to where they need to be. So, what skills and tasks do you need to learn to be a successful manager?
7. KNOW YOUR SOURCES OF SUPPORT
Being an effective manager will require an investment for as long as you continue to be a manager. To continue growing, it will be important for you to know what sources of support you have- coaching, mentoring, training, trusted colleagues, and supervisors. You must invest in yourself as you invest in your staff. Advocate for and seek out support for yourself throughout your time as a manager and be willing to try new things as your goals and skills change over time.
What are your current sources of support? How are you utilizing them? Where might you need additional support? Who do you need to ask? What types of support do you tend to seek out? Which ones haven’t you tried yet that may be valuable?
There is a lot to learn and adjust to as a new manager. Knowing where to begin can be overwhelming and scary. Understanding what to expect and securing the support you need to help you along the way will set you up for success. It is never too early to start and there will never be a time when you have it all figured out. It is a journey filled with great challenge and opportunity. I wish you great joy and great success along the way!
