When I made the transition from individual contributor to manager a few years ago, I went from running large projects to running a large team (12 direct reports). Quite a change! To make it even more interesting, half of the team was in another part of the country, so I had to focus my on-site and virtual management skills from Day 1. In my first few months, I ordered about 10 management books from Amazon and read tons of articles online – which helped, but of course didn’t prepare me 100%. I learned a few tough lessons in the early months. I paid attention to what went well and what didn’t, and I regularly had great conversations with other managers and mentors. It was a trial-by-fire experience for sure, and I’ve been working on my management skills nearly every day since then.
I was reflecting on this transition a few weeks ago and thought it would be helpful to track a list of the things I wish I would’ve known at that time. I hope you can either learn from my experience or pass this along to somebody else who can!
Becoming a Great Manager
I found that a combination of hard work, reading, and researching gave me the basics to become a decent manager. It’s the experience, the time with your employees, and the actions below that give you the opportunity to become a great manager. Here’s what helped me:
Learn from the past
Reflect on managers you’ve had in the past. What worked well? What made you miserable? Capture a list of the characteristics you’ve observed in previous positions and work to emulate the positive ones. Talk to peers and ask them the same questions; learn from their past as well. Adjust your behavior and style as needed, keeping in mind that much of this is an experiment to see what works well and what doesn’t. As with a science experiment, test out your hypothesis and adjust accordingly.
Change your mindset
When transitioning from individual contributor to manager, you go from working on tasks to working with people to accomplish tasks. This is a completely different mindset with different implications. Now you need to learn how to get results through others. You’ll need to understand your employees’ skills, behaviors, motivation, work style, strengths, weaknesses, and more. Take time to understand how to collect and analyze this information. Learn about employee engagement and how to positively influence and empower others. And for a deeper dive, learn how psychology can make you a better boss.
To put it succinctly, Norman Augustine, former CEO and Chairman of Lockheed Martin, Inc. was once asked about the best way to manage. He said to follow three steps:
“Hire people smarter than you, tell them what you want, and get the hell out of their way.”
Let go of your old role
If you’ve been promoted to manager in the same organization, many people may still know you as the expert in your old role. Keep in mind that you are establishing yourself in your new role, so you will need to find a good way to navigate conversations when you are asked to do something from your old role. Essentially, you need to learn to say "No" in a nice way.
Figure out your management style
What type of manager do you want to be? Strict, democratic, or laid-back? Take a look at Lewin’s Leadership Styles to help you figure out your approach, and here are several other great resources and articles to help you figure out your management approach.
Find the balance
You may be in a role where you are expected to be a contributing manager, meaning that you are still a subject matter expert and responsible for certain work tasks or work products. Get clarification of your responsibilities from the very beginning so that you aren’t surprised later. Know where and how you should be spending your time, and then set expectations with your employees accordingly.
Earn respect
Understand that you must earn the respect of each member on your team. You don’t get an automatic blessing when you get a promotion that makes people respect you. In fact, quite the opposite: sometimes new managers over-do it, trying to exert their influence a bit too much from the start. This is a recipe for disaster, leading to a possible lack of trust or lack of confidence from employees. Earn respect by doing what you say you’re going to do, by being credible, and by committing yourself to positive change on the team.
Set boundaries
If you’re moving up in the same organization into the role of a people manager, you must now realize that you’re in a completely new position. Gone are the times where you went out with your co-workers for a drink and no more jokes at the water cooler (well, maybe they’re just cleaner jokes now). As a people manager, you are "on-the-clock" at all times and you must represent the organization / company first and foremost.
Understand the operations of being a manager
There are many processes that are part of the daily routine of a manager, including interviewing, hiring, coaching, reprimanding, giving performance reviews, establishing team processes, and so on. With each of these comes a typical set of forms, documents, processes, etc., etc. Seek out examples from others, learn from other managers, and try not to re-invent the wheel.
Find a great mentor
I was lucky enough to have several people I could reach out to when I had questions. This is invaluable! Consider finding somebody at your organization, a former professor, or a former boss. Find somebody that you respect (preferably in a senior management role) and reach out to them. Let them know that you’re going through a career transition and that you would appreciate the chance to pick their brain once in a while. (Hint: Offering to buy coffee or lunch once in a while is a helpful tactic.) Meet at least once per quarter to get feedback, talk through situations, and absorb as much advice as you can!
Never stop learning
I’m sure there are dozens of other tips and tricks that can help you make the transition. These were the ones that jumped out most for me. Always keep your eyes and ears open: look for feedback from employees, feedback from your manager, and ideas for how to improve your skills.
Highly Recommended Reading for New Managers
- The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels, by Michael Watkins
- Excellence By Design – Leadership, by John Spence
- The One Minute Manager, by Ken Blanchard
- For a much more thorough list, see Top 20 leadership books: What to give first to a new manager.
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