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

by Jim McCormick

To paraphrase Sir Isaac Newton, if I have provided value “it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

BY OPENING THIS BOOK, you have set yourself apart and made the clear statement that you desire to improve your management ability. Our compliments to you for your desire to both improve your professional skills and your ability to make other peoples’ professional lives more fulfilling.

compliments to you for your desire to both improve your professional skills and your ability to make other peoples’ professional lives more fulfilling.

a well-led team will always achieve results that are superior to those of an individual.

Teams can do more and better than individuals

Be thoughtful in your actions and always conduct yourself with class. You will never regret either.

Class and compassion

Being successful is about valuing, understanding, and guiding the most complex of all systems—people. You will find it more of an art than a science and potentially more rewarding than anything you have ever done.

SYSTEMS THINKING MINDSET People are most complex of all systems

The best individual contributor doesn’t always make the best manager, although many companies still make the choice on that basis. The theory is that successful past performance is the best indicator of future success. However, management skills are very different from the skills one needs to succeed as an individual contributor.

Great individual contributors are not nec great managers

Managers need to focus on people, not just tasks. They need to rely on others, not just be self-reliant. Managers are also team oriented and have a broad focus, whereas non-managers succeed by having a narrow focus and being detail oriented.

Managers must Prioritize people, not just tasks Rely on others, dont just be self-reliant Be team oriented not just detail oriented Mgrs succeed by maintaining a broad focus, whereas non-managers succeed by having a narrow focus

management is often nuanced and subjective. It involves a different mindset.

even experienced managers periodically should be given refresher courses in management style and techniques.

training program will not only help them avoid mistakes, it also gives trainees the opportunity to see whether they will be comfortable leading others. A management training program that helps potential managers decide that they are not suited for management has done both the prospective managers and the organization they are a part of a great favor.

Not everyone is suited or desires to manage people, some do it only because they feel it is the only path to promotion and/or it is thrust upon them without the offer of alternative advancement opportunities

In many companies, the opportunities for promotion are limited if you don’t go into management. As a result, some people go into management who shouldn’t be there—and they wouldn’t want to be in management if other opportunities existed for salary increases and promotion.

“If after attending this seminar you decide that the management of people is not something you want to do, just say so. That decision will in no way affect other non-management promotion possibilities or future salary decisions in your current position.” Approximately five hundred people attended these seminars, and approximately 20 percent decided they did not want to move into management. After getting a brief taste of management, about a hundred people knew they would not make good managers, but they were still valuable employees. This is dramatic to consider. If this program is representative it suggests that 20 percent of people advanced into management would prefer not to be there. Far too many people accept management promotions because they feel (often rightly so) that they will be dead-ended if they reject the promotion.

20% of trainees presented with an alternative to management advancement (promotion and pay increases) chose not to become people managers

Some people believe that if you want something done right, you’d better do it yourself. People with this attitude rarely make good leaders or managers because they have difficulty delegating responsibility.

Fail to delegate important work fail as a manager

What they are really saying is that they don’t know how to properly train their people.

Inability to delegate important work is an indicator you dont know how to train people

There is often a staff turnover problem in a team with this kind of manager. The employees are usually more qualified than the “omnipotent one” believes and they soon tire of handling only trivia.

Managers who cannot delegate often have high turnover because their highly qualified staff seek opportunity to do meaningful work elsewhere

It is a problem if you’re working for one, because you’ll have a difficult time being promoted. Caught up in your impossible situation, you’re not given anything important to do. As a result, you never get a chance to demonstrate your abilities. Omnipotent ones seldom give out recommendations for promotion.

Give everyone the chance to demonstrate their abilities

convinced that the reason they must do all the work is that their staff doesn’t accept responsibility. They can never admit that it is because they refuse to delegate.

If you notice that you are only delegating minor tasks, it is time to stop and make a personal assessment of your management style.

they seldom take their vacations all at once. They take only a couple days off at a time because they are certain the company can’t function longer than that without them.

For some omnipotent managers, any joy in their retirement years is demolished because retirement means an end to their dedication to the job, their perceived indispensability, and possibly their reason for living.

colleagues may even expect you to perform at a higher level than someone who does not have the advantages you have.

accept the higher standard they have set for you.

In the best organizations, you’re not chosen for a managerial position because of your technical knowledge, but because someone has seen the spark of leadership in you. That is the spark you must start developing.

leader is a person others look to for direction, someone whose judgment is respected because it is usually sound. As you exercise your judgment and develop the capacity to make sound decisions, it becomes a self-perpetuating characteristic. Your faith in your own decisionmaking power is fortified. That feeds your self-confidence, and with more self-confidence, you become less reluctant to make difficult decisions.

Leaders are people who can see into the future and visualize the results of their decisionmaking. Leaders can also set aside matters of personality and make decisions based on fact. This doesn’t mean you ignore the human element—you never ignore it—but you always deal with the facts themselves, not with people’s emotional perception of those facts. This does not mean that you are blind...

student of human behavior,

Don’t believe that everyone is happy about your promotion. Some of your coworkers will feel they should have been chosen. They may be jealous of your new position and secretly hope you fail.

“yes people,” will immediately start playing up to you. As the chosen one, you can be their ticket to success. Their objective isn’t all bad, but their approach is unfortunate.

Some coworkers will put you to the test early. They may ask you questions to see if you know the answers. If you don’t, they’ll want to see if you’ll admit it or if you’ll try to bluff your way through it. Some may ask you questions you cannot possibly ...

Most—you hope the majority—will adopt a wait-and-see attitude. They’re not going to condemn or praise you until they see how you perform. This attitude is health...

refrain from immediately instituting changes in the method of operation.

most people find changes threatening and are inclined to resist them either consciously or unconsciously. Sudden change often results in a fear response that will work against you and not serve you well as you seek to make a positive impact.

While change may be frightening to people the unknown is even more disabling.

Determining what to disclose and what to keep to yourself is part of the judgment you need to have as a manager.

don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” if you don’t. Your people don’t expect you to know everything. They may just be probing to see if they can trust you. Trying

If you make changes immediately, you’ll be resented. In addition to being disquieting to your team, your actions can be construed as being arrogant and an insult to your predecessor.

It is vital to remember that you’re the one who is on trial with your subordinates, not they with you.

Many new managers communicate rather well upward to their superiors, but poorly downward to their direct reports.

You are going to be judged by how well your team functions—the results your team delivers—so the people who now work for you are the most important people in your business life.

flawed belief that because you now have the authority of management, you have to start using it—and you must use and display it in a big way. This may be the biggest mistake that new managers make.

View the authority of the new position as you would a limited inventory. The fewer times you draw on the inventory, the greater is the supply that remains for when it is really needed.

people you lead know that you are the manager. They know that the requests you make carry the authority of your position. The vast majority of the time, it is unnecessary to use that authority.

understatement.

difficult, if not impossible, to de-escalate the overuse of authority.

When it comes time to talk, ask them into your office, to lunch, or out of the office for coffee for an unhurried discussion about anything that is on their minds. Do no more talking than necessary. This first discussion is not designed for outward communication with your team members; it is designed to open lines of communication from them to you. (Have you ever noticed that the more you allow the other person to talk, the higher you’ll be rated as a brilliant conversationalist?)

at all times you must avoid getting into a situation where you’re giving personal advice. Just because you’ve been selected as the boss, it doesn’t make you an expert on all the personal problems confronting your people. Listen to them; often that’s what they need more than anything else—someone to listen to them.

show a genuine interest in their concerns and learn of their ambitions within the company. Ask questions that will get them to expand on their points of view. You can’t fake genuine interest in others; you’re doing this because you care about the employees’ well-being. Such attention is advantageous to both sides. If you can help employees achieve their goals, they’ll be more productive.

1-1 agenda

It is even more important that they see that they’re making progress toward their goals.

1-1 agenda

let your team members know you care about them as individuals and you’re there to help them achieve their goals. Let them know that if possible you want to help them solve the problems they are facing in their job. Establish a comfort zone in which they can deal with you. Make them feel that it is perfectly natural for them to discuss challenges with you. By discussing small problems and small irritants, you may be able to avoid larger problems.

1-1 agenda

technical abilities are not nearly as important as your human abilities.