Related Posts
McKinsey & Company Hi everyone. Hope all is well.
Recently took the McKinsey & Company game (not sure if I have an interview yet but preparing nonetheless). It’s an entry level business analyst position and an entry level digital position and was wondering if anyone wanted to case prep with me. I’m willing to work on anyones time zone. (I’m located in Sydney, Australia).
More Posts
Mentor
Visual Storyteller
How’s everyone doing?
Additional Posts in Organisation & People Management
Bowl Leader
Bowl Leader
Bowl Leader
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
I always avoided wanting to manage a team, until my department opened a management position. I realized that nobody else at the company was as knowledgeable about the workflow as I was, so that gave me the confidence to know I was ready. If you can self reflect and truly believe that you are a subject matter expert in your role, and have received good feedback from your peers (who you would then possibly manage), I think that’s a good sign!
I approached my Director to let her know I’d be applying for the role, interviewed, got the position and the rest is history! I hope this helps, best of luck to you!
Overall the transition was smooth, but I did experience some challenges. My top pieces of advice would be: 1) set individual goals with everyone on your team, and use their input to determine what those goals are. This will help you help assign out tasks to them that are in line with their development focus. This also helps ensure that you’re delegating tasks and not overwhelming yourself with work. 2) check in with your team often. I have a team of 5 and we have weekly one on one meeting as well as a weekly team huddle. I’ve found this will help make sure they are in the same page as you and you can use those meetings to get important status updates and 3) whenever possible, provide feedback in the moment. It can be tedious, but it’ll save you hours of headaches down the road since you won’t have to course correct as often once your team knows what you expect.
I realized I was doing it anyway. I was senior in my role and naturally fell into a mentorship role. Once I realized how much of an impact that made and how much I enjoyed it, I made the natural transition. It was easy for me because if you can lead WITHOUT authority, leading with it is cake.
Leadership tip: just ask your Direct Reports what they need for you in a coach. Ask them what their goals are and make sure they know you want to help them get there. Let them lead; you’re just their safety net.