101 Tasks Helping New Managers to Survive
People often ask me for my thoughts on becoming a new Manager. My immediate reaction is ‘great, fantastic, go for it, it can be a great and diverse career move’, quickly followed by ‘Do you know what you are letting yourself in for?’
Many years ago, I moved from a technical role to my first management role. Suddenly I was managing a small team, being accountable for their deliveries / service and not just my own, as I was before!
Was I scared / fearful? You bet I was. I was scared of making a mistake, looking stupid, ruining my reputation and not being able to do the job I had just been promoted to. I couldn’t turn to anyone for help, could I. Well you can’t can you! You have just been promoted and you don’t say to your boss ‘Err, I’m not too sure what to do, err, can you help me?’
Don’t get me wrong, great managers will always support their staff to improve, but asking for help / support after just being promoted is a bit of a ‘no-no’.
So what do you do? Public library? Internet? Book shops? There is a huge abundance of information available. Some good, some not so good.
Therefore, based on my 25 years as a manager, here are the top 101 tasks / activities you have to deal with and master some, now you are the new manager:
1. Know how to get on with your boss
2. Who you should build relationships with
3. How to build relationships
4. Find out your teams services / deliverables
5. What issues are your team experiencing
6. What does your customer feedback say about your service
7. Who are your main customers
8. What are the priorities
9. What are the strengths of each member of your new team
10. What is the morale like within the team
11. When did the team last celebrate for a good job being completed
12. What do your new peers think of your team
13. What does your manager expect from you
14. What are the key measures in place to measure your service
15. What is you 3 month / 12 month and 5 year plan
16. Where is the company going
17. Do your staff have individual / team / company objectives
18. How well do you run meetings
19. What meetings are required to manage your team / service
20. How do you need to dress now, as the new manager
21. What are your ambitions / goals
22. Be flexible, courteous and persistent
23. Take accountability for all your teams services / deliveries
24. Ensure you give credit where credit is due, to your staff
25. Take some risks
26. Grow your network
27. Ask lots of questions
28. Believe in yourself
29. How effective are the processes already in place - do they need changing
30. What do your staff want fixed
31. You are going to have to publicly speak - how good are you?
32. What can you improve within your team
33. Which of your services are highly thought of and which aren’t
34. How do you manage your emails
35. Do you have the support of your family / spouse (you may be working longer hours in the first few weeks)
36. What are you going to do to relax / re-energise
37. What is stressing you out and what are you going to do to rectify
38. You must be super self-confident
39. Get yourself a mentor
40. What formal training would be beneficial for you
41. How well do you know the companies products
42. What tools do you need to be more efficient
43. What customer feedback mechanisms are in place
44. Get really efficient with your time management skills
45. Stay fit - exercise
46. Make sure your staff know what to expect from you
47. Make sure your staff know what you expect from them
48. Know the process for dealing with difficult staff
49. Know the latest Personnel rules / guidelines i.e. Age Discrimination act
50. Know how to say thank you
51. Motivate your staff by praising and giving honest feedback
52. Become assertive but not aggressive
53. Ask your new team, what changes they would make to improve the service
54. Remove small obstacles which are stopping your staff providing a great customer service
55. Treat all your staff the same - no preferences for your friends
56. Get on and do it - what ever it is - don’t suffer from procrastination
57. Share new knowledge / ideas gained with your peers and boss
58. Make your boss look great in public (and never do the opposite)
59. Praise your staff in public
60. Be a team player
61. Read your staffs most recent performance review
62. Never burn your bridges
63. Book out an hour a day to give yourself time to think / plan
64. Surround yourself with great supportive people
65. Understand the teams finances
66. Embrace and accept change
67. If information is confidential, treat it that way
68. Develop your staff
69. Listen more than you talk
70. Question things you don’t understand
71. Go for a walk and think
72. Know how to delegate - fast!
73. Be optimistic about your performance
74. Deal with distractions - fast
75. Keep that work / life balance
76. Use your initiative
77. Be open to advice
78. Gather as much information about the job you can
79. Make sure you deliver your promises
80. Hold one-to-one conversations with all your staff, whether they report to you directly or not
81. Be comfortable with communicating the bad news as well as the good
82. Get rid of any thoughts that, just because you are a manager, it gives you the authority and the power to do whatever you feel like
83. Help your employees get rid of obstacles
84. Remember, work is being judged by how well your team performs
85. Put in place a continuous improvement plan
86. Take time to understand the business in which you are operating
87. Walk about and be seen
88. Don’t pretend you know all the answers
89. Don’t take all the credit yourself
90. Don’t expect employees to be perfect
91. Don’t ignore problems - identify and resolve them
92. Create a sense of urgency
93. Question past practices
94. Identify and implement efficiencies
95. Thoroughly research all sides of issues
96. Make decisions - don’t waver
97. Guide others who use your services
98. Take initiative. See what needs to be done, and do it. Don’t wait for tasks to be assigned.
99. Buy coffees / cakes for your staff to show you value them
100. Roll up your sleeves and get your ‘hands dirty’ when necessary
101. Have fun and laugh; don’t take things too seriously
So there you have them - 101 tasks / activities you will have to deal with now you are a Manager.
You will not be able to and won’t be expected to master them all. You will be expected to master a few. Use your natural strengths to decide which ones you are going to master and surround yourself with individuals who are masters in the ones you are not.
Then go and have a fantastic and rewarding career!