The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You

by Julie Zhuo

it feels like a deeply human endeavor to empower others.

helping a group of people achieve a common goal.

working together in teams is how the world moves forward.

build a team that works well together, support members in reaching their career goals,

create processes to get work done smoothly and efficiently.

you don’t have to do everything yourself, be the best at everything yourself, or even know how to do everything yourself.

Your job, as a manager, is to get better outcomes from a group of people working together.

great manager’s team will consistently achieve great outcomes.

“the output of the work unit and not simply the activity involved.1 Obviously, you measure a salesman by the orders he gets (output), not by the calls he makes (activity).”

Half of what he looked at was my team’s results—did we achieve our aspirations in creating valuable, easy-to-use, and well-crafted design work?

The other half was based on the strength and satisfaction of my team—did I do a good job hiring and developing individuals, and was my team happy and working well together?

present ou...

for great outcomes in t...

Being awesome at the job means playing the long game and building a reputation for excellence.

never forget what you’re ultimately here to do: help your team achieve great outcomes.

purpose, people, and process.

The first big part of your job as a manager is to ensure that your team knows what success looks like and cares about achieving it.

Getting everyone to understand and believe in your team’s purpose,

Are the members of your team set up to succeed?

Do they have the right skills? Are they motivated to do great work?

To manage people well, you must develop trusting relationships

with them, understand their strengths and weaknesses (as well as your own), make good decisions about who should do what

and coach individuals to do ...

running effective meetings, future proofing against past mistakes, planning for tomorrow, and nurturing

a healthy culture.

Your role as a manager is not to do the work yourself,

Your role is to improve the purpose, people, and process of your team to get as high a multiplier effect on your collective outcome as you can.

the best outcomes come from inspiring people to action, not telling them what to do.

mentoring other folks on the team, taking on an intern, or interviewing managers who have recently transitioned to understand what their experiences were like.

you can pinpoint a problem and motivate others to work with you to solve it, then you’re leading.

bestowed. It must be earned. People must want to follow you.

“Here’s who I think should be on your team.”

work with your manager on a joint plan for getting started.

What do I need to know about the people that I’ll be managing?

What important team goals or processes should I be aware of and help push forward?

What does success look like in my first three...

sit down and make a list of all the things that are awesome about the current state of the world.

create a list of all the things that could be better.

a good understanding of the team already—not just how it works but also its goals and the projects that are in flight.

what kinds of projects are well suited to their strengths and interests,

“What do you want to be working toward in a year’s time?”

But don’t avoid those conversations, even if they feel awkward.

Seek to understand what your new reports care about.

Give them feedback about what they’re ...

to support and help your people reach...

“Hey, just an idea, but

have you considered …

own the outcomes of your team,

Growth is a sign that things are going well,

with your new team on what your group’s goals, values, and processes ought to be.