Dear First-Time Manager…Here’s 8 Lessons I Learned in Making the Transition

One of the most nerve racking transitions I’ve made in my career was in February 2019 going from an individual contributor to a team manager. I had always told myself “I never want to work in management” because I feared the added pressure, judgment, and even conflict that would come from supervising others. Now being four years into working as a team manager, I’m able to reflect on the journey including all the mistakes and lessons learned thus far and say it can be quite the rewarding privilege. Here are eight tips I’d offer to anyone making the first-time transition to manager or contemplating the move in the future.

Develop a Leadership Philosophy

It is very easy to become overburdened by the new daily share of responsibilities and decisions you’ll be required to make or give input on. Additionally, you’ll have to balance the expectations and perspectives of both your team and leadership that you report to. To help yourself stay grounded you may find it useful to create your own leadership philosophy that will provide you with a foundation of values & guidelines to help drive your actions. 

When I first started, I developed my philosophy around High Performance Coach Brendon Burchard’s E-6 framework for leadership which is Envision, Enlist, Embody, Empower, Evaluate, and Encourage. As a new manager it served as a daily reminder of the values I wanted to aspire to. 

Keep in mind that as time goes on your philosophy should continue to grow and evolve because as Meghan Keaney Anderson puts it “managers are almost never fully cooked”.

Learn Your Team

While it might sound obvious, taking the time to get to know what motivates and even discourages each person can really help to create a stronger connection with your team. There are so many approaches, such as scheduling a lunch conversation to learn about their own career journey, personal interests, or even astrological sign (as a Libra I’m curious to learn everything!).

Another fun way to learn about your team could be leveraging the various assessment tools such as Myers Briggs or CliftonStrengths. I personally found using the StrengthsFinder tool extremely valuable as a team building exercise as it helped us collectively get to know the strengths of our team and helped me to understand the way each person approaches their work. 

Delegation is a Practice 

Delegation is an essential skill as a manager because you can’t do everything yourself….however that doesn’t mean it’s easy. There are a variety of reasons why you may experience difficulty delegating, such as lack of time to articulate the task, you feel it's quicker to do the work yourself, or you know your team has a lot already on their plate and you don’t want to add on.

I’m still a work in progress when it comes to delegating, but as my friend Sara Mirza, Director of People & Culture at Parallel Advisors says “As a leader you get to inspire and create more leaders. So by not delegating you’re essentially stunting their leadership growth.” Remember delegation helps develop your team, builds trust, and increases your efficiency.  

You Don’t Have to Know All the Answers

One of the biggest insecurities I had to work through was feeling that I had to know all the answers when my team would face a challenge or problem. I felt that I was incompetent or a fraud as a leader if I didn’t know the solution. Through much trial and error I realized that being a manager wasn’t about knowing all the answers, it was more about knowing how to find the right answer or best solution to address an issue. This really helped take the unnecessary pressure off because I could collaborate with my team to troubleshoot. 

As a manager your worth is not tied to proving you have all the answers. It’s okay to say “That’s a really good question, I don’t know the answer but x could provide us with some insight or advice”. Sometimes the best solution will come from your team or you’ll need to tap the expertise of other colleagues for guidance. 

Develop a Growth Mindset

One of the core benefits to having a strong team is the diversity of experiences, skills, and viewpoints each person brings different than your own. You have to be open to letting your team solve a problem or complete a project differently than you would. In fact, your role should be to encourage and support them to tap into their own creative abilities to accomplish a task.

A major advantage of working with staff who think differently than you is that they will help expand your own ability to think outside the box. Napoleon Hill said it best in Think & Grow Rich “No two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.” Be sure to surround yourself with staff who are smarter than you and have strengths in areas you are weak so that you can learn and develop together. 

Find a Community of Leaders to Learn From 

Once I transitioned into team management, I realized that if I didn’t build up an inner circle of fellow leaders, I was going to fail quickly. I started by reaching out to other managers to interview them about their careers in leadership and how they navigated challenges. 

My supervisor also helped me enroll into a leadership development program for staff of color that focused on building core management and leadership capabilities needed to lead successful teams. Among the many benefits of the program was that it provided me with the much needed safe space & supportive community of peers to help me navigate the feelings of inadequacy and imposter syndrome.   

I recommend exploring any leadership development opportunities or communities available at your organization. If you’re unable to find any suitable options, you can always take advantage of the abundance of professionals and networks online through platforms like LinkedIn.

Psychological Safety

I firmly believe that one of the best things you can do as a manager is to create a psychological safe environment for your team. Psychological safety is about creating an inclusive environment where staff can be vulnerable to speak up,  provide critical feedback, share ideas, ask questions, and make an honest mistake without fear of retaliation or damage to their career. This is more important now than ever as according to a 2019 Gallup poll, just 3 out of 10 employees strongly agreed that their opinions count at work. It can be especially difficult for staff from marginalized communities to feel psychologically safe in the workplace to be vulnerable because of the fear of possible backlash or risking their job.

There are many ways to increase psychological safety such as being transparent when it comes to organizational decisions, compensation, and growth opportunities.  Another way to create psychological safety is to demonstrate your own vulnerability and shortcomings to show staff that it’s okay to be human or make an honest mistake.

I remember learning about how entrepreneur Sara Blakely schedules “oops meetings” where she and employees discuss how they messed up or an error they made. When I first started as a manager I would have “oops of the week” during staff meetings to share mistakes I’ve made to help create a safe culture where the team wouldn’t feel terrified of taking a risk or if they made a mistake. 

You can’t underestimate the importance of creating a psychologically safe environment where people feel comfortable to bring their whole self to work.

Prioritize Your Health & Wellness

When you’re new in any role, you want to prove yourself. However just because you’re a manager, doesn’t mean you don’t need support. Don’t neglect your own needs, you have to take care of yourself first. One of the toughest things for me to do was to actually admit to my team that I was struggling with burn out and would be taking personal leave for my own well-being. 

You have to model healthy wellness strategies yourself because as a manager you can play a vital role in the workplace well-being of your team. Whether it’s setting boundaries around your work schedule, using your vacation days, or communicating openly with your own manager when you do need support, it's important to demonstrate to your team that mental health & wellness is a priority.

Conclusion

While becoming a new manager can be an intimidating responsibility, it's a leadership experience that can be quite enriching. Similar to life, you’ll have good days and also make mistakes along the way but you’ll never stop learning. So embrace the journey as an exciting new chapter in your career and development.

What do you wish you knew before you became a manager? Any advice you'd offer to a first-time manager? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.