Congratulations, you’re now the boss! Now what?
You may be one of the lucky ones whose company offers management training. More likely, though, you were promoted from the ranks and thrown into your new role with no idea how different your life was about to become.
But help is at hand from the management experts at Integrity Staffing Solutions. We’ve talked with hundreds of managers over the years, both inside and outside our organization, and here are the 10 things they most often say.
You’re not your co-workers’ buddy anymore.
The people who were your equals are now your subordinates. You’ll need to develop new relationships with them, so that you can effectively give direction, constructive criticism and performance rewards without giving offense.
You’ve joined a new club.
It’s the management club. You’ll have a new communication style with other supervisors on your level, as well as those above you.
Your role is not production anymore.
You were probably promoted because of your exceptional production. But now you need a completely different mindset: to manage the team, not try to do their jobs for them.
You need to see the big picture.
Before, you were only involved in one part of the team’s effort. Now you’re responsible for all of it. That means making decisions that promote the ultimate goals of the organization, not your personal goals.
You’ll learn to prioritize.
Everyone that comes to you with a problem will think that theirs is the most important and should be dealt with first. It’s up to you to judge which issues are truly critical to the success or failure of the team’s mission.
You must know each team member’s strengths and weaknesses.
Before, it wasn’t really necessary for you to know which personalities would be best suited to meeting a particular challenge, need more external motivation to perform well, and so forth. Now it is.
Your success depends on the team’s growth.
A great manager is a great coach. It’s well documented that teams whose skills are developed by their leaders outperform those that are left to their own devices.
Hiring is as hard as firing.
If you think letting someone go is difficult, wait until you experience the pressure of choosing which job applicant to hire. This decision could have lasting impact on the success of your team, and the whole organization.
You are a builder of the corporate culture.
Before, you only had to follow where your superiors led. Now, you are the example that others will look to for how to interact with each other as well as the company’s customers.
You can’t rest on your laurels.
Becoming a manager is a great achievement, but it’s not the end of the game. To stay successful, you must continue to learn and grow. Great leaders never reach a point where they think they know everything they need to know.
Like life itself, being a manager is a journey, not a destination. With these bits of wisdom to guide you, may your journey take you far!