November 21st, 2021
I am a manager now! What should I focus on first?
Leadership
4 min read
Doesn't it sometimes feel to you, a manager, that you are expected to be a superhuman? Be great at planning, know what to do when, including right people, manage numbers, inspire and coach people, foresee future needs, analyse everything that has happened, know every answer, keep everyone happy, deliver-deliver-deliver. Oh, and fit it in the working hours. I do feel that pressure quite often. Let me walk you through what helps me overcome those difficult emotions.
Congrats, being a manager is such an honour. If you feel the honour comes from getting a promotion, having a fancier title or getting a higher salary, then we are not on the same page.
Honour of being a manager should come from being appointed as the one who holds tools for shaping. Shaping how a group of people achieve a common goal.
If there is 1 go-to recommendation I would give to fellow managers, it would be that before you do anything else, have yourself a clear answer to the question "Why?".
Why does your team need a manager?
Why do you have 1:1 meetings?
Why does our team keep not meeting the expectations?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Assortment of activities
No job is just a list of activities. Your job is not to have 1:1's, do performance reviews, manage projects etc just as a police officer's job is not to write tickets, write reports, insert data into a database. Your and the police officers' job is based solely on the fact of why is it important? Police officers' job is to secure a safe environment for all citizens.
A manager's job is to get better outcomes from a group of people working together.
Reminder number 1: take off the pressure from yourself that you have to do everything yourself. You do not have to be the best at everything.
Why? Who? How?
Why
Let's rewind to the beginning where we hinted at "why" is the most important pillar to being a manager. As a manager to have your group of people together working on outcomes and achieving goals, I would utilise some self-reflection and ask myself what would make me more effective in working together with others to achieve a goal. For me, it all comes down to having and understanding the purpose. If I understand the hoped outcome and the rest of the team has a similar understanding of what our shared success would create, then we are all set on our first pillar. Your role as a manager is to avoid mismatched expectations or different definitions of what success looks like.
Can your team answer “why does our work matter?”?
Who
Barely having an X number of people does not equal success. The people are too narrow if you leave "the right people" out of it. What people you need and what do they need to thrive is a second pillar to figure out for yourself. Do they have the right skills for achieving the why? Are they motivated to do great work?
Can you understand what are your people's strengths and weaknesses?
How
One person trying to figure something out and by luck doing it in a way it was needed, is a slim chance. Having a bigger group of people follow their gut feeling and best judgment to how they work, is a non-existent chance of the result coming in. Processes are there to help people understand how they are supposed to work together and make it replicable.
Does your team understand in the same why "who should do what by when?" or "how a decision should be made?"
Reminder number 2: mindreading is not a core human competency, therefore communicated purpose, understood people or working processes is any manager's first to do's in their role.
Multiplier effect
Manager ≠ Individual contributor. Letting go is hard. Letting go of the daily things you did as an individual contributor takes 8 managers out of 10 a lot of extra effort. Let me help avoid a lot of struggle: the bigger the team get, in reality, it starts to be more and more unimportant how good you personally are doing the work yourself. Your role as a manager is not to do all the work yourself, even if you are the best at it. Your role is to improve the purpose, process and people of your team to get the as high an effect of the multiplier as possible.
What got you here, will not take you further.
Reminder number 3: you will not be evaluated by personal results. It all comes down to a) team results and b)strength and satisfaction of the team.
🎧 Podcast recommendation: The Future of Work with Jacob Morgan
📚 5 reading or listening recommendation:
Julie Zhuo "The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks at You"
Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman and Kaley Klemp "The 15 Commitments of a Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigma of Sustainable Success"
Brene Brown "Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts."
Patty McCord "Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility"
HBR's 10 must read for New Managers
✔ Bonus! LinkedIn follow recommendation: Simon Sinek
✔ Bonus! Twitter follow recommendation: Adam Grant