After years of hard work and grilling, you got promoted to the new manager at your organisation. You deserve all the claps from the room! However, as with many new managers, your knowledge of being a manager is theoretical, gained from the experiences of others.
As a newbie in a managerial post, you might be feeling a bit nervous because, until this time, you were an observer, but now you have to lead a team of your own. It is an entirely different scenario.
Don’t panic. That’s the first thing you should learn as a new manager. What else you need to know is curated below. So, relax and start working on yourself to build a robust team!
6 Tips for New Managers
1. Know That Trust is Given Not Earned
As a new manager, the most important thing you must remember is that people get hired because they are experts in their fields with the potential to execute their work. Restraining trust will make them feel you don’t acknowledge their skills and make them resent you.
Remember, trust is a two-way process. It starts with giving, not expecting. Therefore, as a manager, trust your team members for the skills they possess and the results they can bring to the table. When you give your people the liberty to experiment, fail, and learn from their mistakes, they grow.
2. Make Feedback a Culture from the Very Beginning
You can make a completely different and enjoyable work environment by making feedback a culture from the very start. Being a manager does not mean waiting for a 12-month calendar to complete. You should be open to feedback always and anytime!
Set up weekly or two-week one-on-one meetings with every single member of your team to ensure honest and open communication. You can discuss everything related to their work style and how they can progress more efficiently. You can listen to their queries patiently and then find out ways to resolve them mutually.
Also, ask them questions like if your communication style works for them. Is there anything you can change to help them work more efficiently? Find out if there is any communication, processing, or understanding gap and then work on it to fill the gap.
3. Eliminate the Culture of Blame Games
Blame culture is toxic. You don’t have to be a manager to understand this. Blaming others for your faults can weaken your and your team member’s accountability. In place of thoughtful analysis and transparent communication, when you use blame (as your weapon) to interpret an issue, you make yourself a passive victim and encourage your direct reports to do the exact thing.
If something goes wrong in your team, for instance, after missing a deadline, instead of blaming an individual for the same, use a system’s approach to solve the problem. It means you believe in working as a team on any issue, not as individuals. This way, your people will trust you more because they will have the assurance that you have their backs.
4. Create a Structural Work Environment, But Avoid Micromanagement
People like structural working, where everything works in sync and as planned. Everyone has their assigned jobs, and they get guidance and input when they require it. It’s a great way to work as a team and even an organisation. You can also foster a structural work environment for seamless working and outstanding outcomes.
However, creating a structural work environment does not mean pushing very hard on your team members, making them feel agitated. Increasing the number of meetings and emails asking for work updates (too frequently) means you don’t trust your team enough to do a task. This is micromanagement. You want updates every now and then. Avoid micromanaging your team, or be ready to lose some of the best employees only because you were a micromanager!
5. Let Adaptation be Your Panacea
Do you want your team to be highly productive, inspired, creative, and innovative? Learn how to adapt your work style to theirs! In the workplace, everyone has a different work style and ways to stay motivated, productive, creative, and innovative. Being adaptive can be your magic pill to catch up to their zone.
Making a workplace full of enthusiasm and charismatic development needs a strong connection between the workstyles of people working there. Someone has to take the first step to start the drill. Here, it’s your responsibility. As a manager, it’s your job to support your team and encourage them to work brilliantly. So, understand the working style of every individual working on your team. What motivates them the most? When do they feel more creative and innovative? What are their most productive hours? And whatnot! It will help you brainstorm ways to fuel the inspiration your team members expect from you as a manager.
6. Create Team Rituals for Team Bonding
In the hybrid and remote world of work, it’s a big challenge for managers to lead a team you have never met! It means as a manager, you have to find ways to build trust and companionship with people sitting in different locations from different time zones of the world.
However, technology has become more advanced. So, you can create your own ways to get on the same page and foster a welcoming culture on remote or hybrid teams. For example, you can have a Meme-Monday where you can ask everyone to share a meme based on their recent experiences to start the week on a lighter note or start your Friday meetings with the Rose and Thorne agenda, where you can ask them to write a positive (Rose) and a negative (Thorne) experience they have in the last week. It will help you understand your team’s mindset and find ways to make the weekly meeting more interactive.
Conclusion: Don’t be Afraid to Ask for Help
It’s your first time being a manager, so it’s obvious you will have lots of doubts, and it’s completely okay. You can learn from the previous managers how they handled a particular situation and some of their best working styles.
Have a mentor who is superior to you and can guide you. Also, before being a manager, you are a human who does not know everything. And that’s why you have different people with specific skills. So, you can ask them for their advice. Follow Remark, the best job posting site for more such guides.
