Laura Finaldi
Updated: August 22, 2022
3 things
3 Things I know about ... Transitioning to a management role
By Laura Finaldi
You’ve put in your time, worked your way up, and finally gotten the management promotion you so richly deserve. Or maybe you started a brewery or software company as a passion project, and now suddenly have a bunch of employees looking to you for guidance.
Whatever your path is, here are some tips for first-time managers, so you can get your feet firmly planted on the ground.
3) Trust your employees. When it comes to employees, trust should be given, not earned, Ursula Kralova, chief people officer at Bloomreach in Slovakia, told the Harvard Business Review. First-time managers sometimes make the mistake of letting subordinates prove themselves, which Kralova said is a mistake. “People are hired because they are experts in their field or show potential to do great work,” she said. “Withholding trust can make them feel you’re not acknowledging the skills that brought them to the table in the first place, potentially leading to resentment.” Instead, managers should trust employees are competent enough to do the work they’ve been assigned.
2) Don’t isolate yourself. It’s natural to want to prove yourself as a manager. All eyes are on you, so you might feel inclined to buckle down and do your work. And that’s important, but part of being a manager is developing a network of people you can turn to for advice, Ian Daley, founder of Toronto-based consulting and training firm Daley & Co., wrote in the Harvard Business Review. “Ryan Hawk, the host of ‘The Learning Leader’ podcast, says that you need to start developing a personal board of advisors. This is a group of three to five people who can act as a sounding board, listen objectively, and provide you with unbiased advice when you need it most,” Daley said.
1) Communicate and be transparent. While you want to trust your employees are intelligent enough to figure things out on their own, when you need something done in a certain way, it’s important to be clear. “The more you communicate, the more trust will be built and the team will see you as an ally instead oåf an authoritarian,” Melissa Lamson, president and CEO of Arizona-based Lamson Consulting, wrote for Inc.com.
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