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Being a new manager is scary. Also just because you were a great IC doesn’t mean you’re naturally a great manager. But being a great manager is something you can learn. If you lead with trust, authenticity, and genuine care for your team, you can be a wonderful leader even with no experience. Enable and empower your team to take ownership over processes, decisions (with your guidance), and team working norms. Managing isn’t about knowing everything on the IC side (though it helps). It’s about being there, present, and supportive while guiding the team to be the best version of themselves and getting stuff done. Good luck!
You’ll get used to it quickly. I went from zero to 10ish people under me. Have a few tips on my end
1. Make sure you spend extra time planning each week. You no longer can just plan for yourself
2. Be the role model for however you want your team to behave
3. Don’t hold back too much on both praise and negative feedback. You want your team to improve, but the praise also is important
Don’t worry. You’re not alone in this - you can prepare for it. The last thing you want to do is micromanage. That was my mistake and so I took courses. Here’s a great one:
https://www.ed2go.com/courses/business/soft-skills/ilc/fundamentals-of-supervision-and-management-1
When I became a leader, first thing I did was read a book about leadership (don’t remember which, it was a beat seller). Of course you won’t learn by only reading, but it helped me a lot.
Second thing is, no one knows that you feel insecure; you should ask for help but don’t start saying to everyone, especially to your team.
Check out LinkedIn learning there are some good courses there, read books on leadership and how to lead as an introvert. Look for a mentor or see if they offer coaching at your job. Asking for support is a great first step!
The best tips for new managers (I've trained a lot):
1. Always listen to your team #1, and listen to understand them and their unique needs.
2. Meet them where they are; treat them all as individuals.
3. Do some fun things with the group to get to know each other (team building can get a good way to get more engaged as a team).
4. Use your experience but don't assume your experience is the same as your employees.
5. Take time to build a rapport and trust with each person; you may need to do more 1:1s early on.
6. Document everything; it will help you with annual reviews, promotions for your teams or problems as they arise.
Don’t doubt yourself. You’ve got this! You will be ok just take it a day at a time. Get feedback from your reports until you really get the hang of thangs. Keep your head high.
OM this was me 5 years ago. I had been a solid, award-winning sales/solution engineering IC and when we re-orged I ended up running our east coast account division with 12 direct reports. It scared the living sh*t out of me but now I truly love leading and people managing.
I made more mistakes than I can remember (I still do!) but the imposter syndrome will slowly fade. As the previous poster said, leading with trust and integrity are supremely important. Extend trust and space to your team. Support them to the ends of the earth— but not blindly. Let them make mistakes and find the value of accountability and learning through failure.
Good luck! You will do great!
Asking for help is a major signal that you’ll be a good manager. I would try to find someone you respect (internally or your network) that is a successful manager and talk with them about how they have been successful.
Also some simple things I’ve experienced from good managers and bad managers
Good: publicly praise people for good work; (positive reinforcement >>> negative reinforcement)
Good: be transparent about changes that may impact the team
Good: stand up for/defend your team (even if you’ll lose the battle)
Bad: setting unobtainable/unrealistic goals (think about the goals from a day to day basis vs quarterly to make sure they’re realistic)
Bad: being more concerned with your goals than your team’s success (if your team members hit their goals, your success will come naturally and your success will be more fulfilling)
Bad: sabotaging team members looking to change teams/roles/be promoted (yes, you may be losing a valuable team member in the short-term but people within the organization will notice your former team members excelling and link them back to your strength as a manager)
It's normal to feel that way. Remember, not all of us were born with extraordinary leadership skills. But we can definitely learn in the process. You can do it.
Model yourself after your past bosses. Use the traits you liked from them. Also, read up on management skills. Harvard Business Review has lots of free resources and their daily newsletter is quite helpful.
My friend, the key question here is if being a manager is what you really want for your career. Moving up the ladder in the same org is a typical path and also a typical mistake.
Unless you have a vocation for it, you can always look for other options.
I think so! I do love having 1:1s with my team, and I get such joy out of seeing them grow in their career. I struggle with the leading larger team calls, and group settings.