Newly promoted managers, whether they are sales managers, operations managers or technical managers, often come to the job with the same question: I’m a new manager! Now what do I do?
The interesting thing about this question is that many of these new leaders come from the role that they are now managing. For the most part, they all want to do a good job, but many come to the new position with a bit of baggage. It’s this baggage that can make or break a new manager.
One piece of baggage that some new managers carry with them into their new role is the “hands dirty syndrome.” These folks are the drivers. They’ve had their eye on this manager’s spot for a long time and have worked very hard to get here. They put in long hours and they often went above and beyond the job requirements. Now that they’ve achieved this goal, they feel that they don’t need to “get their hands dirty” by doing the job they just left. Their attitude is that they can sit back, manage their team by telling them what to do and reap the rewards. Unfortunately, the success rate for people with this type of attitude is very low.
The first thing these managers need to address is willingness. One of the most important attributes that a new manager can adopt and put into action is willingness to do the job they are managing when an employee can’t or won’t. This, of course, means being up-to-date on all of the processes and systems used to perform the job. It also means knowing exactly how each employee is performing so that the manager can step in when needed without negatively impacting the team’s performance. In addition, the manager will have to attend trainings and be a part of updates that involve their employees’ daily realities in the job. This takes great commitment, but the outcome in employee support, employee satisfaction and overall team performance will be worth it.
The second piece of baggage that new managers bring with them is not having empathy for the employee’s reality. Surprisingly, sometimes managers who were just in the same role themselves and know the environment intimately adopt an “I’m the manager now and they will do it my way” mindset.
Being a manager means being able to lead, but it also means having enough empathy for the employee in the work environment to understand when things go wrong. Nothing will sink a new manager faster than demonstrating they hold the job in higher regard than the actual employee. This is not to say that coaching and discipline are thrown out the window when an employee isn’t doing the job. But having and showing empathy will result in a better performing team with members who have great attitudes toward the job.
The final piece of baggage is the manager’s attitude that, “It’s all about me and making sure I look good.” Not only is this mentality extremely annoying, it’s just plain bad business! One of the most admired and successful attributes that new managers can embrace is selflessness. Ask any employees who say they have a good boss about what they admire—they will include things like, “I feel that my manager is being an advocate for me, my boss has my back or it seems like my manager devotes most of their time to our team.”
Of all the skills that a new manager has to develop, selflessness is probably the most difficult to learn. After all, the manager is moving from an individual contributor role and being concerned mainly with the job to a focus on overall team performance. This takes self-awareness from the new manager, conscious readiness to shift focus away from themselves and willingness to ask for feedback from the team. Now, this usually flies in the face of what that new manager believes, but again, being able to change the paradigm can reap great rewards.
New managers face many challenges: learning the mechanics of the job, adjusting to a new group of peers and managing time in a completely different environment are just a few. Being aware of these three attributes—empathy, willingness and selflessness—and focusing on strengthening them will go far to make this transition smoother and more successful. Not only will the new manager see the benefits, but the team will too.
