What New Managers Get Wrong
What New Managers Get Wrong and What They Can Do Right
Unfortunately, too many new managers step into the management role with serious misunderstandings of what it takes to succeed. If only they could have the benefit of proven new manager training that would help them develop the leadership skills they need and to dispel their misconceptions about leading others.
The 4 Most Common Things That New Managers Get Wrong and What To Do Differently
We know from people manager assessment data that far too many new leaders are mistakenly convinced that new supervisors should:
1. Tell People What To Do and How To Do It
The best managers set expectations for performance but then are able to back off and let their direct reports work toward job goals in their own individually preferred style – at least until more guidance or correction is needed. Work with each team member to identify job goals and accountabilities. Then support each employee to reach them. Micromanaging your team will kill creativity and alienate people.
2. Be Liked
Rather like good parenting, effective leadership is not a popularity contest. Granted, a team that gets along can work very smoothly together and have fun doing it. But the ultimate test of a good manager is that they have their team’s respect. Now and then, you need to hold difficult conversations and make unpopular decisions. That is what leadership is all about. The best managers focus more on providing guidance and support that foster long-term goal achievement, rather than on short-term likeability.
3. Change Somehow
Many new leaders think that with their new management role they should adopt a new personality. If they do, they come across as inauthentic and less able to take charge. Your job is to encourage open, honest dialogue within your team. By not showing who you genuinely are, you undermine the relationships you want to build with your employees. It matters less whether you are introverted or extroverted than if you show that you care about your team members in a natural and unforced way.
4. Be Automatically Good at Giving and Receiving Feedback
Listening well, empathizing, checking for understanding, and being direct but supportive are all skills that the best managers demonstrate. But they don’t come automatically with the promotion to management. Feedback is your major tool for relating to your employees, coaching them for improved performance, and inspiring them to greater effort. Make sure you know how to both deliver and receive feedback in a constructive way. And, yes, you need to ask for and take in feedback on your own performance. It cannot be a one-way street.
The Bottom Line
Too often, new managers get wrong too many areas that matter to their success. Make sure you dispel the mistaken ideas about management before your new managers get wrong what matters most.
To learn more about being an effective new manager, download the 6 Additional Traps that Can Sabotage Your Success as a New Leader