Rookie managers, like rookie athletes and rookie couples, often times need help, or at least a mentor.
I once started a new job at a company that will remain nameless, but while sifting through some files from a previous manager, found an article from the Harvard Business Review titled Saving Your Rookie Managers From Themselves. Originally, I smirked to myself, thinking it would not be too hard to replace him/her. But after a second I wondered if this manager had searched for this article on Google, or if someone gave this employee a nudge and placed it on his/her desk. My smirking quickly turned to empathy.
It’s Easy to Get a Title as a Manager, it’s Difficult to be a True Leader
I think it’s important to understand that it’s easy to get a Manager’s title, but it’s not so easy to be a Manager, a real leader.
Let’s rewind into how a manager is usually promoted or hired. Often times, it’s based on their work ethic and ability to complete tasks well. Not necessarily their ability or potential to lead people. And more times than not, the newly crowned manager is overwhelmed, because not only do they have to complete tasks and take orders, they now have to give out tasks, create project plans, interview, hire, and potentially fire.
The Google Way: Hire People Smarter Than Yourself
The new manager is expected to go from a task-master to a mini-leader, where it’s seldom about individual achievement, but more about cultivating a team, and enabling them to drive change and success. In How Google Works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg, they promote the idea that Google managers are always on the lookout for people smarter than they are.
You see, if rookie managers do end up in the position where they can hire or lead people, they often look for people who are not as smart or as skilled as they are, for fear their new-hires or recruits will steal their job, or eventually replace them.
Enable Your Team to be Great
But if you think that way, you will always be scared to help mentor your employees, and if that happens, your team or direct boss should see right through it. Teaching is a big component of being a great manager. You can’t keep all trade secrets to yourself, or you won’t enable your team to perform. And without a team that is firing at its full potential, where does that lead you? Probably in a situation where you feel overwhelmed by being a manager, and insecure in your abilities.
Helpful Leadership Books to Get the Rookie Manager in You Inspired
If you’re a rookie manager, my advice to you is to find a mentor, be it at your company or in your field. Or, at the very least, search the many great leadership blogs out there, or read some awesome books like Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, Linchpin by Seth Godin, or Developing the Leader Within You by John Maxwell.
Traits of a Good Leader: Listen, Teach, Help and Be Positive
Remember, if you got promoted or hired as a first-time manager, it was under the premise you were probably an All-Star at one point in your career. Managing a team is not easy, but they look to you as their leader. So be honest with them, trust them, listen to them, respect them, teach them, and maybe most importantly, help them. Those are the skills of a good manager. Those are the skills of a good leader. And don’t forget to be positive. Your comportment – the way you handle and appear to handle situations – goes a long way in gaining the respect of your team. If you appear negative in many situations, your team may use that as an excuse to also be negative. Don’t let it happen.
And rookie managers, take solace in the fact that many experienced managers also sometimes forget the basic, core elements of a being a good manager. So you may not be alone. Strive to continuously improve yourself and your team, and you should be on the right track.
Have you been a rookie manager at one point in your career? How did you handle it?
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