How To Ace Your First Line Manager Role

How To Ace Your First Line Manager Role

Having been Line Managers for the first time, we understand what it’s like. It’s exciting and scarey all at once. When you have stopped celebrating your success at getting the first rung on the ladder, when you are sitting at your desk with the shiny new ‘Manager’ job title, what happens then?

That first promotion can be the most tricky. Why? Because a lot of the time you will have been promoted from amongst your peers, your friends. You know them and they know you. You know what they are good at, what they don’t like doing and what they like to ‘get away with’. And they know that you know. They also know what your ‘weak spots’ are. They know how to get you to sign up to their way of thinking. Or at least they did. But not now. Now you’ve got to rise above all of that and ensure that they do their job well and in so doing, you do your job well. When you get that right, they make you look good. When you get it wrong, well that’s not something we are here to talk about.

 How To Manage Your Boss

What are their expectations? Have they welcomed you into the role with a rah-rah, you’ve made it or have they just left you to get on with things?

What happens about those ‘gaps’ in your knowledge that you asked about when you were interviewed for the role?

What about how you fit into the overall structure of the team and organisation and what are your roles and responsiblities now that you have the job?

How do you manage the differences between what you expected and the reality of what the job entails?

How do you get to the end of that first year and look back knowing that you’ve done a great job of things?

Line Manager Challenges

1 The ‘absentee’

2 The ‘late attendee’

3 The ‘poor performer’

4 The ‘what do you know/you can’t tell me what to do’ team member who was, still is your friend

5 Your ‘Boss’ and the other 'Bosses'.

6 Your own objectives, your own skills gaps, your own learning

7 Understanding what’s required and what is not

8 Understanding how your new role fits in and how it impacts on the rest of the team, department and business

9 How to let go of the day to day stuff you know so well and start communicating (did you know a Managers’ role is 80% communicating, 20% doing?). 

10 Hard work, potentially longer than usual hours and maybe even…..

11 Overwhelm which can lead to…..

12 Self-doubt and fear of…..

13 Failure….

Promotion - How To Succeed

1 You start by understanding 'What good looks like’. What are you goals and objectives for the first 30, 60 and 90 days? What are the standards expected? What are you and your team setting out to achieve and how will you know that you are on track. Get to know what good looks like for you and your team and once you know what it is, write it down and communicate it clearly to everyone so that you all know what you are aiming for.

2 Book regular 1:1’s with your Line Manager. Never, ever expect them to do this for you. Whilst some might be highly organised and do things by the book, never assume. After all, you’ve been promoted because you have potential. Start as you mean to go on. Organise yourself and organise your Boss if you have to.

3 Have a 1:1 with each of your team as soon as you start your new role and schedule one in every month. Whilst it might seem to be planning out a lot of your time, when you know you are going to be busy, a 30 minute conversation on a regular basis will enable you to get to know your team, support them and head off any issues which may be bubbling. But, remember to ‘listen’ and by that we mean ‘actively listen’. Phones off, focus on their 30 minutes. It’s not about you or what you’ve got that’s urgent, this is their time. Give it to them.

4 Delegate You are a ‘Leader’ now, you are not expected to still do everything and neither will you be able to unless you want to break yourself. In your teams’ 1:1’s, find out who is good at what, ask them what they’d like to be doing, what they’d like to learn to do and what they’d like your support at doing. We all spend a lot of time working. No-one that we’ve ever met comes to work to ever do a bad job. Work with the strengths of your team.

5 Manage and by this we mean manage the team, the workload, the conflict. Have those difficult conversations as soon as issues arise and get them dealt with. In our experience a ‘have you got 5 minutes’ and giving those 5 (or invariably they end up as quite a few more than 5), will prevent issues being hidden and festering.

 6 Praise There’s an old saying and it’s a mantra that as a Manager is a golden rule of managing, amongst others. ‘Praise In Public and Tell Off in Private’. Give praise where due, when it's due. A simple Thank You goes a long way to improve what is commonly known as 'Employee Engagement'. And we all know what it’s like to be called out for getting something wrong. We all know how it feels. But we kick ourselves enough without having the embarrassment of being called out in front of everyone else. Learn from the mistakes of other Managers who got it wrong and most importantly, those who got it right.

7 Relax and have fun Yes, yes, we know that this can be a difficult thing to think about when you are up to your neck in ‘doing stuff’, but really it’s important to get some enjoyment out of being the ‘Manager’ otherwise why do it? Why spend time not enjoying something when you know it’s only going to lead to more of the same. Remember : no-one lies on their death-bed and thinks ‘I wish I’d spent more time at work!” so relax, take yourself a little less seriously.

 8 Get help Our advice is to find yourself a ‘Mentor’. There may not be a formal ‘mentoring scheme’ in the business that you work in. But, that doesn't matter. It could be a family friend, a parent or a neighbour. It doesn’t have to be someone who is formally recognised as a Mentor. This is a person who you can trust and be able to learn from. It might be someone who has done your job. It might be someone who knows absolutely nothing about what you do and who isn’t really that interested. But, it’s someone who is an advocate for you. Someone you can talk to, offload to and someone who you can say things like ‘Have you ever……?’ or ‘What would you do if?’…...We all like to be asked for help and it’s flattering to be asked to be someones’ Mentor. It may turn out to be a friendship that lasts for life. But remember, a Mentor is worth a lot. Don't expect them to do the work, that's your job. Respect what they are giving you. Their time, their effort and their experience. Having a Mentor is a very special thing. It's a gift, treat it and them as such.

9 Feedback Some say it's a gift but it's not always 'gift-wrapped'. If you can't ask for and take on feedback then you are not going to move forward. If you don't open up to it yourself from those you work for and with, how do you expect your team to open up to it? If it's not common practice where you work, start it, lead the way. Get to a point where 'feedback' is part of every day work and is accepted and expected. Not giving feedback when it's due or when the time is right is a lack of respect. If you did respect someone you'd do it right? No matter how difficult it feels for you. But after all, feedback is a way of showing that you are interested in another person. Learn how to do it well (and we don't mean the 'feedback sandwich' or what's commonly become known as the S*** sandwich, because we all know it's a way of sugar coating something that needs saying clearly and without the 'fluff').

10 Last but not least, What's Next?

A wise old boss once said, 

Year 1, Learn the job, 

Year 2, Fly High in the job, 

Year 3, Move up, Move on or Move out

Knowing when you've plateaued in a role is a good thing. It means you don't get stuck in a rut. If you can't move up, move on or move out, ask for a project to manage, mentor someone, learn a new skill or ask for ways to keep on developing. Our advice is to keep on learning, keep on striving for more. These days if you aren't learning, taking on more or achieving more there's a danger you'll get bored. With boredom comes complacency, with complacency comes mistakes. There's always someone willing to do more, be more, go for more so knowing when to move on, move up or move out, is key. 

Finally, if you’ve enjoyed reading this blog and have any additional tips on how to Ace the First Line Manager Promotion or feedback that you’d like to add, please feel free to comment.

And if you’d like help with your role as a Line Manager, get in touch.

Thanks for reading,

Mandy - your friendly HR Manager