The First-Time Manager (First-Time Manager Series)

by Jim McCormick

Confidence is built on success, so your job as a leader is to give them tasks at which they can succeed.

Build in them the habit of being successful, starting small if needed, with smaller successes.

Occasionally a team member will perform a task incorrectly or just plain blow it. How you handle these situations has a great impact on the confidence of your employees. Never correct them in front of others. Definitely abide by the credo, “...

Your attitude about errors will speak louder than the words you use.

Never say or do anything that will make the employee feel inadequate. You want to build confidence, not destroy it.

For now, let’s amend the credo to read: “Praise in public or private (depending on the preference of the individual and the dynamics of your team), criticize in private.”

Without delegating any of your supervisory responsibilities, allow employees to have input into matters that affect them.

If your people sense you are going through an insincere exercise, you will be wasting time and risking a loss of trust.

As a leader, you need to make it clear that you see value in the ideas being offered and appreciate them. When you get input you cannot implement, you will be wise to briefly explain why you will not be going in that direction.

By insisting on perfection, you may in fact defeat your own purposes.

You can share the vision of the organization and the department with your team members. Doing this gives them a clearer picture of what the goals are and how they are helping to meet them.

You can give individuals clear directions. This shows that you know what you are doing and are keeping things on track.

You can share examples of how you have succeeded and what mistakes you have made. Doing that builds rapport a...

Many managers do not give their direct reports praise, which is a big mistake.

Those managers should bear in mind that if they praised their employees, they might perform even better. Considering it costs nothing and takes very little time, why not do it?

Be specific. If managers want certain behaviors repeated, they need to be specific in the type of positive feedback they give. The more detailed the manager is, the more likely the behavior or action will be repeated.

Make sure the praise is on target and deserved or it will lose its value.

First, you specifically describe the behavior, action, or performance that deserves the appreciation.

Then you describe why it deserves your appreciation and the business impact of the contribution.

What came in first, by a wide margin, was “a need to be appreciated for what I do.”

If appreciation is important to you in your relationship with your manager, realize that it is equally important to the people you manage. When people deserve appreciation, do not withhold it. It does not cost you or your organization and is in many ways more valuable than money.

Active listening means letting the other person know that she has been heard.

New managers should be concerned about their ability to communicate and listen actively.

The more they listen, the more successful they will be.

As a starting point, make sure that you are doing at least twice as much listening as talking.

First, if you do a great deal of active listening, you will not be thought of as a know-it-all, which is how most people perceive someone who talks too much. Second, by doing a lot of active listening and less talking, you’ll learn what is going on and gain insights and information you would miss if you were doing all the talking.

If you want to be thought of as a brilliant manager, be an active listener.

The more you listen, the more you learn and show respect for other peoples’ ideas, experience, and opinions.

For one thing, they encourage the other person to talk. When active listeners finally talk, they don’t turn the conversation back to themselves. They continue the other person’s line of communication.

Looking at someone who is talking to you indicates that you’re interested in what the person has to say.

When discussing a problem with an employee, other thoughts are likely to enter your mind. You need to take control of those thoughts.

By controlling your stray thoughts, you can stay focused on the subject at hand, rather than on some extraneous idea.

If you are vexed by a particularly persistent thought while you’re listening, you may want to stop the conversation briefly by saying, “Give me a moment to get this thought out of my mind so I can fully focus on what you’re saying.” Then write down the idea and get back to active listening. This will allow you to be fully present in the conversation and avoid sending the nonverbal message that your thoughts are elsewhere.

It is ok to stop conversation to clear head.

If you find yourself breathlessly waiting for an opportunity to break into the conversation so you can reply to something that has been said, you’re not actively listening.

In fact, just saying, “That’s interesting. Tell me more,” will make you a brilliant conversationalist in the minds of everyone with whom you come in contact.

Perception is everything.

Restating is powerful for two reasons. It sends a clear message that you are engaged in the conversation and it significantly reduces the chance that you are mistaken in your understanding of what is being said.

Always verify what you believe they said to you.

Once stated, you then ask the person you’re listening to if you got it right. By doing this, you are sending a clear message that you are placing value on what the person is saying.

That means that the words you use, your facial expressions, and your tone of voice all give the same meaning.

Another mixed message is to respond well verbally but look away from the speaker or become distracted by a stray thought, intended reply, or document.

Some people will overstay their welcome.

You need to have some tools in your managerial toolbox to wind up these conversations.

You should be aware of them for two reasons: First, so that you can immediately recognize them when a more experienced executive uses them on you, and second, so you can use them when they seem appropriate.

As a manager you need to play many roles—coach, standard setter, performance appraiser, teacher, motivator, visionary, and so forth. You select the appropriate role based on the situation you’re in and the objectives that you want to accomplish.

Another mistake many new managers make is believing that their role is to be directive—that is, to tell others what to do, how to do it, and make sure it gets done.

What enables you and your employees to succeed in the long run, however, is helping your employees to become self-directed.

2. Communicating is sharing the vision, goals, and objectives of the organization with your employees. It also means sharing information about what is happening in your department, unit, group, or business community.

3. Planning is deciding what work needs to be done to meet the goals of your department that, in turn, meets the goals of the organization.

5. Training is assessing the skill level of each of your employees to determine skill gaps, and then providing instructional opportunities to close these gaps.

7. Evaluating is assessing the performance of individual team members, providing them with valuable feedback, and comparing their performance to the levels needed for that person and the team to be successful.

One way to perform your job well is to give full attention to the needs of the people in your area of responsibility.