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

by Julie Zhuo

What new processes are needed now that this team is growing?

How should this team look and function in a year?

other managers in your organization who support related functions, and managers in your area of expertise outside your organization.

Use the newbie card to your advantage by asking as many questions of as many people as you can.

If you’re not sure whom you’ll be working with, ask your manager for a list of people to reach out to.

I’m new, so pardon the question—

What did you and your past manager discuss that was most helpful to you?

What kind of feedback is most useful for you?

In your first few months, your primary job is to listen, ask questions, and learn.

One effective way to do that is to look at specific scenarios together with your own manager.

noticed that Z happened the other day.… Is that normal or should I be concerned?

How do you determine which things to prioritize?

“Since I’m new, you might not feel comfortable sharing everything with me right away. I hope to earn your trust over time.

“show, don’t tell.”

this situation, the best policy is to be honest with your own manager about what’s working

Because he brought it up proactively, we were able to create a plan

Don’t be too hard on yourself, and ask for support from your new manager as well as others around you

Change is a prerequisite for improvement, so give yourself permission to move on from the past.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

“No one person can entirely replace Robyn, and that’s okay. More

need to step up to grow into the gaps that he left behind.”

Anybody in the room could chime in with questions, concerns, or suggestions.

We’d offer up new ideas to explore in the spirit of making the experience better. We’d bring up similar examples to learn from.

We’d connect the dots on projects that different designers were working on.

EVERYTHING ALWAYS GOES BACK TO PEOPLE

With a small team,

maintaining a shared sense of purpose is straightforward.

There are only two possibilities.1 The first is that people don’t know how to do good work. The second is that they know how, but they aren’t motivated.

can do one of two things here: help your report learn those skills or hire somebody else with the skills you need.

perhaps he thinks nothing will change if he puts in more effort—there will be no rewards if things improve, and no penalties if they don’t, so why bother?

it a matter of motivation or skill?

First, discuss whether your expectations are aligned—does “great work” mean the same thing for both of you?

knowing how to diagnose and solve problems with your reports is critical to your shared success.

It’s human nature to want your manager to think well of you.

My reports regularly bring their biggest challenges to my attention. A hallmark of a trusting relationship is that people feel they can share their mistakes, challenges, and fears with you.

My reports would gladly work for me again.

“What are the qualities of a perfect manager for you?”

“I feel you,”

“Yeah. I struggle with it too,” I said. I then shared an example from just the day before, when I hadn’t done a good job walking

All I did was admit that I had basically the same issue.

It was that, for a moment, we related.

managing is caring.”

If you don’t truly respect or care about your report, there is no faking it. Trust me, they know.

What caring does mean, however, is doing your best to help your report be successful and fulfilled in her work.

It means taking the time to learn what she cares about.

If your report feels that your support and respect are based on her performance, then it will be hard for her to be honest with you when things are rocky.

The ideal 1:1 leaves your report feeling that it was useful for her.

she thinks that the conversation was pleasant but largely unmemorable, then you can do better.

Discuss top priorities: What are the one, two, or three most critical outcomes for your report and how can you help her tackle these challenges?

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