Congratulations and welcome to management! Making the transition to a manager of people is one of the hardest and most rewarding transitions you will make in your career. Use these 10 tips to have a successful transition as a new manager.
1) Seek a mentor
This is probably the most important tip for a new manager. A mentor will provide you with encouragement and non-threatening advice on how to best handle a situation. It also helps build relationships because people love to be asked for their advice.
2) Respect longstanding employees
Chances are high that one or more of the long-standing employees that now report to you were passed over for the promotion. It is important to identify if this is the case and to find ways to show respect for their years of service as well and encouraging them to continue doing great work moving forward.
3) Network, network, network
Introduce yourself to key players in other departments, even those you don’t directly serve. Find out what is going well from your team and what could be improved upon. Have a balance between formal and informal meetings to build lasting relationships with them. Growing your network throughout the organization will benefit you and your new team.
4) Open communication
Interpersonal skills are your greatest asset. Clearly communicate the state of the state, the goals, and how the team is performing to those goals. Make sure that your team clearly understands your style, how you like to receive information, and how you like to work. Frequent and clear communication and feedback will ensure your success as a new manager.
5) Build your credibility
Getting the job was only the beginning but now you have to work to keep it. Establish yourself as a trustworthy person by keeping your word and delivering on your promises. This is just as important with your team as it is with people in other departments.
6) Ask more questions over giving more answers
Nothing will stop your team from respecting you more than if you barge in with a lot of change and start directing if you haven’t tried to understand things first. Spend more time asking questions about who, what, when, where, and why than you do giving orders. Once your team feels you have a solid understanding of their inhibitors and successes they will be much more open to your suggestions and opinions.
7) Take notes
If you aren’t writing it down you won’t remember it. Taking notes also signifies to the people you are speaking with that you are paying attention to. It will allow you to easily recall the conversation and the things that you agreed to.
8) Understand your predecessor
This can be really tricky. Your new team won’t readily provide criticism of your predecessor especially if they liked them and don’t understand why they aren’t around anymore. Still, it is important for you to know what they did well that your team would like to keep doing and the things that they did that made their job harder and would like to see changed.
9) Discuss your role
A) With your boss: how will your success be measured, how your role will impact their success and the success of the organization, how is your team viewed now and how do they like to communicate.
B) With your team: what they need from you to be successful, what you expect from them and how you plan to improve them as individuals and as a department, and how their and your success will be measured.
10) Be you
Be authentic in your approach and in your style. Don’t feel that you have to be authoritative just because you are now the boss. Help your team learn who you are and what you stand for and prove it through consistency.
Last updated on September 14th, 2020 at 06:21 am
