You’re a new manager . . . now what?
Jeff was just promoted to lead his team. His former team leader left for greener pastures. This is quite a compliment to be recognized for his hard work and accomplishments.
Now what?
Obviously, Jeff needs to lead the team meeting and assign work. What else? Does he keep doing what he has always done? He is known for his hard work and getting his assigned tasks done. He sees an opportunity to fix the team’s dysfunction. Quietly, he thinks to himself, “Now is the time to exert my newfound power in the organization and leave my mark.” What should he do?
All new managers are asking themselves these same questions.
Instead of exerting power, he should reframe the thought. Jeff certainly has “power”, but should he choose to see it that way and act accordingly, he won’t build trust with his team, nor will he be an effective leader.
If Jeff thinks in terms of influence rather than power and authority, he will approach the job with a different set of skills and behaviors. To lead a team, he must employ and grow his relational skills. Sometimes as managers we think in terms of tasks that need to be done. However, we need to realize that we are working with people. Yes, people accomplish tasks, but our focus needs to be on the people; how are they acting, feeling, and working? As leaders, we must build solid working relationships with all of our team members to create mutual trust and respect.
As a result, as tasks are assigned, there is team buy-in and we naturally instill the intrinsic motivation that is needed to get the tasks completed with excellence.
At the CrossGroup, we recommend starting with three sets of conversations held with employees at different levels of the organization. These conversations don’t happen just once; they will extend across the role and tenure of the manager. As managers, we never complete this task. We are constantly developing and communicating with those around us.
Developing Relationships as a New Manager
Conversations with your own supervisor are crucial.
As you understand your manager’s expectations, you see your role more clearly. What are the expectations of your manager as you begin your work as a new supervisor? What are the manager’s goals for your team? How does your team fit into the larger picture of the strategies of the organization? How does he or she define success?
Conversations with your team members help you understand them as individuals.
You need to build trust and openness. They need to know your personal interest in them. They may have doubts about your leadership since you were sitting in their role just a few days ago. Once they understand that you have their best interest in mind and are open to their ideas, trust can be built and sustained. Learn: what are their personal goals? What are their concerns? What challenges them? What do they see as their strengths and weaknesses? What training and development do they need and want? What are their career goals? These answers will help you move forward.
The outcome of these conversations over time will help you assign meaningful and fulfilling tasks. Being open and vulnerable will also open doors for difficult conversations in the future. Performance goals and coaching will become everyday occurrences instead of the annual drudgery.
We recommend that you mark your calendar for every two or three months to ensure you make time for these follow- up conversations. If your organization has annual reviews, make sure there will be are no surprises for your team members because you conduct regular follow-up conversations many times in the year.
Fairness is not treating your team members the same. Fairness (and effectiveness) is treating them as individuals. Team members can tell when you treat them as individuals you care about, and their loyalty, work ethic, and productivity improves because of this relationship.
Conversations with stakeholders are vital to your success.
Every team will define stakeholders in different ways. For some teams, this includes clients. For others, this includes outside consultants, internal team leaders, or individual contributors who you serve internally or who support your team. Get to know these important people no matter where they are on or off the organizational chart. Find out how your team interacts with these people, discover their perspective, and find out how you can serve and help them. Learning and understanding stakeholders’ interests show you care about the partnership and their goals. In turn, they will show the same loyalty when it comes to your initiatives.
Influencing Others
New managers are often promoted because they are great individual contributors. Once promoted, managers must learn how to best contribute by influencing those they serve. As a manager, you will still have tasks to complete, but the most important task is interacting with all those in your vital network.
To lead well, you must influence a host of people.
Congratulations! Now get to work knowing and being known inside your circle of influence.
