If the thought of managing former peers, friends or those who are older than you causes some anxiety, you can reduce your worry by establishing some ground rules while earning your team’s respect. a winning strategy
The following tips, adapted from a recent article by Robert Half International, can help you succeed in your new role:
1. Keep an open mind
A common mistake that new managers make is to walk into the job with a plan that is one-sided and lacks employee input. Resist the desire to make immediate changes in your department in a show of authority, or you run the risk of damaging morale. While you are most likely to make adjustments and possibly even reassign some of your team’s roles, you should first work to obtain team feedback and, eventually, support.
2. Solicit input from the group
Ask what changes, if any, they consider necessary and the reasons for their recommendations. Remember that some individuals may have been doing their jobs for many years and are likely to have good ideas for improving the group’s cohesion and productivity.
3. Don’t assume, and don’t be a perfectionist
Assume you don’t understand all that’s required of you in your new role. There’s a good chance it’s more complex than you think, and if you go in believing you’ll get it right away, you’ll make a lot more
mistakes than if you approach it as a learning process. Also, some new bosses are so focused on proving themselves that they push people to work late and come in on weekends to get everything perfect. Being a superhero is not really worth wrecking the work-life balance of the whole team.
4. Be willing to back off a little
Get to know your staff. It’s vital that you form strong working relationships with your staff members. As their manager, you play a large role in their career advancement. People appreciate a workplace that makes their professional development a priority.
5. Start off on the right foot
Arrange one-on-one meetings with every person on your team. Before each meeting, do your homework. Review personnel files and evaluate recent performance reviews. Find out if your group has interests or talents that they would like to develop. Decide what you can do to foster such interests and how you can best take advantage of each person’s skills and experience. Set measurable goals and incentives, as well as a method for making sure these objectives are met.
6. Set the tone
Your actions will determine how your team sees you. Your goal is to establish your authority while also becoming worthy of respect. And when that tight deadline does hit and you ask your team to put in extra hours, do you stay late yourself? Will you stand up for your people if a conflict arises with another group, resolve their problems or discuss challenges?
7. Get feedback from your colleagues
Some new managers make the mistake of lowering morale inadvertently or in subtle ways. Like cutting off a team member who is speaking during a meeting. Don’t allow multi-tasking to prevent you from giving your full attention to an employee seeking guidance on a project. Also, don’t be the boss who keeps forgetting to include a particular person on group emails. While these indirect offences may seem minor, they could cause your team to resent your new role.
8. Be prepared for tests
As you establish your leadership, you may find that certain individuals will test your authority by missing deadlines or meetings, for example.
Create rules from the start on how you will deal with such behaviour, as your actions will set the tone for your tenure. Meet with those individuals and explain the impact of such actions. You might point out, for example, that failing to turn in a report by a set date may cause more work for other members of the group who rely on the information. If the employee has normally
been a high performer, try to find out what the problem is, and see if there is a way to help resolve it.
9. Be flexible – and collaborate
As long as you remain open to suggestions, encourage communication and set clear goals and incentives for your new staff, your chances of succeeding in your new position are high. And whatever the size of your business, you need to partner with people across the organisation and be prepared to work with leaders of external organisations and stakeholders.
