10 Management Challenges And Tips On How To Overcome Them

Look1. Shifting Your Mindset Along With Your Role

In your old role as an employee, your main focus was on accomplishing your tasks. Now, your main focus is on helping others accomplish their tasks.

The key more than anything in this transition is to shift your mindset and take on a new approach. Before you were in charge of yourself but now you’re a leader. 

It’s your responsibility to oversee and guide your team, and this will involve developing your soft skills. Listen and pay attention to the needs of your employees to help them achieve the collective goals of your team.

Monthly one on ones are a great way to make sure you and your employees are on the same page.

2. Pressure To Perform

One of the most nerve racking things about being a first-time manager is the pressure to perform. You’ve been given an incredible opportunity, and now you want to show that you were worth it.

Remind yourself that you were picked for this position for a reason and that you deserve to be there. Becoming a leader is a learning process, and you will learn the most from the experience you gain as you go along.

Set clear expectations with your boss, and more importantly, yourself. Take time to plan properly and set yourself up for success.

3. Shifting From Coworker To Boss

In a situation where you’ve been promoted internally to a management position, you might end up with some former coworkers on your team. This is a common situation and can be awkward to navigate.

Remember that even though you’re a manager, you’re still a member of the team that you’re leading. Your role on the team is to support your employees and ensure that they have everything they need to succeed. Management is a two-way street, and the success of your team is as dependent on you as yours is on them.

Address your employees directly about your new position and let them know that you’re still a part of the team. Establish your role as “leader” rather than “boss” from the start.

4. Effective Communication

Effective communication with your employees is key to both their success and your own. Your employees want to hear from you and they want to be heard. Your feedback helps your employees grow, and their feedback will help you to develop in your role, too.

According to Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace report:

Only 23% of employees strongly agree that their manager provides them with meaningful feedback.

Clarity and consistency are key to effective communication. To be clear in your communication, make sure you’re as direct and specific as possible. The frequency of communication that works best for each employee will be different, so ask them what their preference is.

Be open and available for communication with your employees so that they feel comfortable coming to you when they need to talk something out. This will help you avoid being overbearing and micromanaging.

Active listening is a key part of communication. When your employees come to you to talk your focus should be entirely on them, and that means eliminating distractions (like your devices). Repeating back in your own words what your employee is saying to you can help you to retain it.

5. Time Management

Balancing your own tasks while overseeing your team can be difficult. You might not know how best to split your time, but remember that your team should always be a priority.

You should strive to be as available to your team as possible, but it’s also important that you set aside time to dedicate to your individual responsibilities.

Book times in your calendar specifically for your own tasks, and let your team know in advance that you won’t be available during those times.

6. Setting Clear Goals And Expectations

One of your main tasks as a new manager is to guide and motivate the employees on your team. Part of that is making sure that your employees have clear directions and common goals.

It’s important to make setting goals a team effort. According to Gallup, employees want to see how their individual work contributes to the larger goals of their team and the company:

Employees who strongly agree they can link their goals to the organization’s goals are 3.5 timesmore likely to be engaged.

Objectives and key results are great to align everyone on your team because the “key results” set expectations very clearly. Both employees and managers will have measurable results, making it easier to tell if they hit their mark or not.

Meet with your team to set Objectives and Key Results so that everyone is working towards the same final outcome.

7. Encouraging Productivity

As a manager, a key to your success is to make your team as productive as possible. 

This can be a challenge because all of your team members may have different needs and work in different ways. Some people like working later, some earlier, some people like being given specific instructions, some people like to have more autonomy.

It’s important for you to create an environment that’s good for everyone. Try to find out what works best and adjust accordingly.

Have short daily meetings where everyone presents their tasks for the day to the team. This will help your employees set their focus for the day and see how everyone else’s tasks fit into the broader goals of the team.

8. Hiring

Bringing someone new onto your team is a big decision. Don’t be shy to ask other managers or people from the HR team in your company for help and advice.

It’s important that you look at possible candidates from an all-encompassing perspective. Culture fit is as important as past experience. Look at your candidates as unique and dynamic individuals, and think about what they’ll bring to the team beyond their skill set.

A great way to hire someone is by doing a work sample test where you give them a small project to see how well they perform, communicate and interact with the team.

9. Firing

Letting someone go from your team is a tough decision to make. What’s important after you fire someone is to make sure that your team can recover from the loss. Prepare as best as you can to compensate for the gap that will be created in your team and their workflow.

Transparency is important in addressing your employees about a termination. Be as open and honest as you can and allow for open communication between your employees and yourself. Encourage them to come to you with any questions or concerns they may have.

Set up a time to address the termination with your employees and discuss how you will move forward as a team. Address any questions or concerns they may have and encourage them to come to you privately to do so, too.

10. Asking For Help

You might feel pressure to have all the answers in your new managerial role, but it’s okay if you don’t. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

Ask HR about training that you might not know about or expensing training courses online. Seek out opportunities that can help you and your team succeed.

Find a coach.