Are some people natural managers? I suppose so, but most people need to be trained to manage well. One of the mistakes I see many companies make is promoting someone to manage a team, but not supporting them by giving them the training they need to be successful. 

I have had clients call me in a panic when they are promoted to manage the team they were formerly a member of. How do you manage people who were previously your peers? How do you gain their respect when they know you are new? How do you set expectations around performance?

Sure, you could suggest a new manager read some books, but you would be well served to provide them with training as well. And maybe even find someone to mentor them. 

I had a new sales manager every quarter in one sales role. Initially, the VP of Sales promoted the top salesperson and assumed they would know what to do as a sales manager. They did not. Selling to customers is very different from managing salespeople. They didn’t make it 90 days. 

As an employee, breaking in a new manager is stressful. You need to gain their respect and establish your expertise. You need to learn what your new manager’s expectations are and what their preferred communication channels are. You need to know what level of detail they want. 

Inexperienced (or just plain bad) managers can negatively impact employee engagement, which is very low right now on a global level. Check out this LinkedIn post: 

As you can see, “Even a short burst of management training cuts active disengagement in half.” Making the investment in training managers can be a huge help in counteracting employee disengagement.

I am not an expert in management training, but here are some things new managers should learn to do:

  • Set clear expectations. Make sure everyone on your team understands what you expect from them. Share this information verbally and in writing. 
  • Listen first and fix it later. Good managers ask questions and listen to what happened and why. After you have all the facts, you can identify what went wrong and how to fix it. (And, hopefully, stop it from happening again.) 
  • Have your team’s back. Good managers protect their people as much as they can. They do not shame or blame, especially not publicly. Yes, difficult conversations may need to happen, but they should happen in private. 
  • Treat people with respect. Your team and all employees should feel psychologically safe at work. Everyone should be treated with respect. There is no excuse for bullying in the workplace, although many of us have experienced that, sadly. 

I think managers would also benefit from learning conflict-resolution techniques. There will be contentious situations from time to time. Knowing how to diffuse tense situations will definitely come in handy at some point. 

Set your new managers up for success by giving them the tools and the support they need to do their job. 

Photo by SEO Galaxy on Unsplash