I’m a New Manager—Now What?
How to transition from individual contributor to a manager
Jose was excited but anxious. It was his first coaching session and he shared that working with a coach was part of his development plan since being promoted to a management role a few weeks earlier.
“What would be most helpful to focus on during our session, Jose?” I asked him.
“Meredith, I’ve never managed before, and I don’t know where to start. I feel like my peers view me differently now that I’m their manager. I want to earn their trust and do a good job. What do I do?!”
Jose’s concern is often brought up during my coaching sessions with new managers. These are successful professionals who are promoted to manage others either because they excel at their job, or there was a vacancy, and they were the most competent staffer to fulfill the role.
However, there is a big difference between the technical skills necessary to do a job and the people skills necessary to manage others. And oftentimes companies promote an individual contributor to a manager position, but don’t prepare them for stepping into this important new role. This can cause frustration for the new manager and for those they manage.
There’s a saying that “people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers.” In my coaching experience, this is very true. In fact, according to Gallup, 50% of employees have left a job to get away from a manager. Employees often enjoy their work, but it’s their manager that can make their day-to-day work environment miserable.
The number one challenge I see with new managers is anxiety. They’re inexperienced and concerned about doing a good job. While they may have experienced good management in the past, they weren’t given the systemic framework or haven’t developed the mindset for making the transition from their individual contributor role to a manager. They often feel they’ve been thrown into the deep end of the pool without swimming lessons.
If you’re a new manager, or preparing to be one, here are the first three steps you can take as you move into your new manager role:
1. Get clear on your management style. The more clarity you have, the greater clarity your new team has. One of my favorite resources is the Working with Claire guide. When Claire Hughes Johnson joined Stripe as the COO, she shared this document with her colleagues so they could understand her work and leadership style. This “user manual” approach has become very popular. You can even create your own user manual to share with your team.
2. Become aware of your strengths and areas for growth. What are you really good at when it comes to managing a team? To become aware of where you need to grow, working with a coach is an excellent idea. In fact, I’ve found that working with a coach early on in their new management role helps my clients grow more quickly and become more confident.
Participating in a professional assessment will help you learn about yourself. And, after your team gets to know your management style, regular 360 assessments will help you get the feedback you need to better serve your team. I recommend entire teams take assessments together so they have shared language and better understand each other. There are many options, including Birkman, Strengths Finder, DISC, Enneagram, and Myers-Briggs.
3. Develop a management system. Since I coach so many new managers, I’m always looking for resources and tools they can use to improve their abilities and create a management framework. I recently learned about Manager 360 and attended their training. If you’re a new manager who could benefit from some training, I suggest checking out their resources.
In their book, The Manager’s Playbook, authors Joel Trammell and Alicia Thrasher note that perhaps the biggest change for managers is that “your team’s performance is now your performance.” Trammell and Thrasher observe, “As a boss, your people are the product. Your work is now done through others.”
This is a big mental shift for professionals; to go from working on their own to working through others. But you can successfully make this shift by investing in yourself and growing in your conscious leadership.
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
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The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant, and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
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