Welcome to your first role in management! Here are 7 rules for the first time manager to ensure you are successful.
The day you become a manager represents quite a transition. You can no longer focus on doing good work yourself; you must now focus on doing good work through others.
This represents a very important and often difficult transition that is very difficult for some very successful people to grasp. Here are 7 rules for first time managers to get things started on the right foot.
First time manager rule #1 – Delegate work
This is so obvious and yet is probably the number one mistake for new managers. What got you promoted to management is likely your high standards and ability to do good work. This will no longer cut it.
Your natural tendency will be to continue to do what got you promoted. Namely, take more work on your plate and tweak your team’s work until it is just right.
If your team is of any size you will drown doing this and you will ultimately fail as a leader. You will have excuses like:
“I’m the best at doing this type of work and the assignment is critical.”
“I can’t rely on my team to get this done.”
“I don’t have time to run teach anyone how to do this before it is due.”
Yes, these all may have a degree of truth to them, but you still need to get over them and delegate work. If you look at small business owners (who are often first time managers), this is the #1 mistake they make.
So how do you delegate successfully when all the above excuses are true? See rule #2…
First time manager rule #2 – Set high standards from the start
Once upon a time I used to teach sailing to groups of teenagers who lived on a 50’ sailboat with me and another instructor for 2-3 weeks at a time. What I found was that the tone and the standards I set from the very first meeting were critical to the successful running of my boat.
Set low standards and it is impossible to raise them. Set high standards and you can back off them when necessary.
On a boat where everyone lives together, the difference was massive.
What does this mean to you as a new manager? It means you must set clear (and high) expectations.
When a member of your team presents you with a word document, powerpoint or other work product that isn’t quite right (i.e. needs formatting edits, doesn’t use the right language, etc) you will be tempted to fix it yourself. After all, it will only take you a few moments.
Don’t do it. You have to point out the errors/corrections/edits to the member of your team and have him make the changes. Doing this consistently sets a standard and ensures that his future work only comes to you when it is up to par.
In other words, you have set a high standard and eliminated a whole bunch of potential work for yourself as you perfect what other people do in each assignment.
I have found that the key in pointing out the required edits to a member of my team is ensuring that I explain why the edits are necessary. I’ll speak a bit more about this below, but suffice to say that if you request a bunch of edits without saying why, your staff will be demoralized.
Take the time to explain why and your staff will feel you are investing in their development.
First time manager rule #3 – Always explain why
Every time you make a request of your team (or a member of your team) it is absolutely critical that you explain why you are making the request.
Check out the difference between these two requests:
“John, can you please put together a one page word document that explains what our group does?”
vs.
“John, we have a big client coming in next week. He’s really interested in our group and what we do. Can you please put together a one page word document that explains what our group does?”
Notice how much more empowering the second request is? The reason for the request is clear, which is important because nothing gets morale down more than work without a purpose.
The other thing the second sentence does is set context for how the document will be used. This allows John to use his intellect and experience to think about what aspects of the team the client will be interested in. It also gives him context for follow up questions.
Always explaining why you are making a request is as critical for first time managers as it is for seasoned ones.
One of my favorite explanations for why is captured in the term “commander’s intent,” which is used in the Army. Basically, the idea is this: convey what success looks like succinctly and the plan for getting there, but know that in the fog of war the plan may change but the goal remains the same.
Said differently, if the goal is to capture the bridge and the plan is to do that by land but it turns out that doing that by land is impossible, the troops are free to figure out another way to capture the bridge. The commander’s intent is the same.
This is helpful in the business context because if your team knows what you are trying to achieve, they can take action even when you are unavailable in order to move your agenda forward.
All of this can only happen if you explain why you have given them a certain assignment.
First time manager rule #4 – Explain the problem and ask your employee(s) how to solve it
Once again, note that the first step is to explain the why (i.e. explain the problem). Frequently a good second step is to ask your employee how they might go about solving the issue/challenge.
This is helpful for two reasons:
- It gives you a good sense of the capabilities and reasoning ability of that employee
- It may present new options to you that you hadn’t thought of
Note that I didn’t say that it would increase the motivation of your employee to complete the task. This is a common belief, one that I myself shared until I read a research article about it (see: The Surprisingly Unnecessary Meeting).
However, even if it doesn’t add to motivation, spending a few minutes getting your employee’s opinion is helpful for the reasons above.
Also, please note that it isn’t your role to know the answer to every problem just because you manage a team now.
Your role is to have the best judgment, which means you should use your whole team (as necessary) to come up with the right solutions.
First time manager rule #5 – Always ask your team why
You will from time to time get work product back from members of your team that are not what you expected. You thought you communicated a set of instructions and their rationale fairly clearly.
Obviously your employee didn’t follow your request and therefore the natural tendency is to jump on them.
Don’t do it. Pause, take a deep breath and ask them why they did the assignment that way.
This is unbelievably important for two reasons:
- It makes you seem interested in the employee and their thinking process, thus making them feel valued
- It may provide you with new insights that you hadn’t thought of before
In the end you may go back and again ask them to do it your way, but in the process they feel heard and valued, which means they will go forward with a positive attitude about things.
First time manager rule #6 – Be fair and consistent
First time managers don’t set out with the goal of being unfair and inconsistent, but the problem that new managers often run into is that they tend to want to be liked by everyone (see: Executive Coaching: The best personality to lead a team).
This is a very big challenge for a lot of first time managers. While you were an individual contributor it was probably easy enough to be liked by everyone (or close). Now that your role has shifted, you have to let that go.
Changing relationships can be very difficult for new managers. You need to get used to the fact that you won’t have lunch with the same people as often, that the context of those lunches has changed, and that people won’t be as up front with you as they used to be.
Your goal as a new manager has shifted, from “be liked by everyone” to “be perceived as fair by everyone.”
In your new role you will have a lot of requests for exceptions: “Can you give me a break because… my cat died, my car broke down, my cousin’s house…”
And you will also notice that there are some people who report to you who never have excuses and never make these special requests.
Now, I’m not saying you need to follow policy like a robot, but more that every exception is a judgment call and that each time you make an exception that is a bit soft, your star performers get a bit resentful.
A good rule of thumb is to imagine that everyone on your team knew about the exception, and ask yourself if they would agree to it. In all reality, this is what is going to happen behind the scenes.
Sally’s coming to work late so she has time to walk her cat is going to be noticed by everyone, and people will judge you as a leader as a result of your exception.
First time manager rule #7 – Don’t make changes right away
There is a natural tendency that leaders have to want to make changes right away when they get control of a new group. Many of us have a belief that we are smarter, have better judgment, etc, etc and know just what changes should be made to a group.
While in some cases, you may be asked to overhaul a group as part of accepting the role of leading a team, in most cases this won’t be true for a first time manager.
Instead of making changes right away, take some time to understand what is going on around you. See my article: Executive Coaching: Starting a new job to get details on how to make a smooth transition into a new role.
In summary, if you are a first time manager, be sure to:
- Delegate work
- Set high standards from the start
- Always explain why
- Explain the problem and ask your employee(s) how to solve it
- Always ask your team why
- Be fair and consistent
- Don’t make changes right away
Congratulations on your promotion to manager and best of luck!