Managing
The most useful first-time manager tips are about one shift: your job is no longer to do the best work, but to get the best work out of other people. In practice: hold one-to-ones from week one, listen for a month before changing anything, agree with your own manager what success looks like, delegate outcomes rather than tasks, have the first difficult conversation early, and ask your team for feedback on your management before they have to volunteer it.
Most people become managers because they were good at the job. That is the trap. The habits that made you a strong individual contributor (doing it yourself, knowing the answer, being the fastest) are exactly the ones that make a new manager struggle. Linda Hill, who followed new managers through their first year for her book Becoming a Manager, found that most started with a picture of the job built around authority and control, and discovered it was really about building trust and working through people they could not simply instruct.
| Your old job | Your new job | |
|---|---|---|
| You are judged on | Your own output | Your team's output, and whether they are growing |
| A good day looks like | You finished something hard | Someone else finished something hard and you helped |
| Your time goes on | Doing the work | Conversations, decisions and removing obstacles |
| Feedback arrives | Often, on your work | Rarely, and late, on your management |
| Satisfaction comes from | Mastery | Watching other people get better |
The last two rows catch people out. Nobody tells a new manager they are doing well, and the satisfaction of craft is replaced by something slower. Expect the first three months to feel less productive than your best months as a contributor. That feeling is normal, and it is not a sign you are failing.
A weekly or fortnightly half hour with each person, which they own and you protect. It is the single habit that prevents most new-manager problems, because it is where you hear about trouble early. The first one is for listening; the questions below are a good start. See how to run effective one-on-ones for the format.
You will spot things you want to fix on day two. Write them down and wait. Some will turn out to have reasons you could not see, and the team will trust your changes far more if you have visibly listened first.
Ask directly: What would make you say, in six months, that this went well? What decisions are mine, and which do you want to be consulted on? Most early friction between new managers and their bosses comes from decision rights nobody spelled out.
When something is urgent, the fastest route is to do it yourself. Do it once and the team learns that hard problems go back to you. Ask who could do this, with some help? before how do I solve this?
Write the client update is a task. Make sure the client knows where the project stands and is not surprised on Friday is an outcome, and it leaves room for judgement. Match how much freedom you give to how experienced the person is with that kind of work, as the situational leadership model describes. More in how to delegate effectively.
There will be a performance issue or a behaviour problem you inherit. New managers wait, hoping it resolves, and it never does. A clear, kind conversation in month one is far easier than the same conversation in month six, when the whole team has watched you avoid it. See how to have difficult conversations at work.
End every meeting with what was decided, who owns it and by when. New managers often think they are being collaborative by leaving things open; the team experiences it as indecision.
Specific, within a week, about behaviour and its effect. The SBI model is enough to start with. Praise counts too, as long as it is specific enough to repeat. When you want the whole team giving each other feedback, not just you, see how to build a feedback culture.
Your team will not volunteer it, because you now control their work. Ask a specific question in one-to-ones: What is one thing I do that slows you down? Thank them, and change something.
A peer manager, a mentor or a coach: someone outside your reporting line who you can tell I do not know what to do here. New managers who try to look certain to everyone make their worst decisions alone.
Michael Watkins' The First 90 Days made the ninety-day transition plan standard for senior leaders. It works just as well for a first-time manager, scaled down:
| Phase | Focus | Do | By the end you have |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Listen and learn | First one-to-one with everyone; meet your key stakeholders; read the last quarter's work; agree success with your manager | A list of what is working, what is not, and what people want from you |
| Days 31 to 60 | Set up the rhythm | Regular one-to-ones and a team meeting that ends in decisions; one or two small fixes the team asked for; your first delegation of something that matters | A team that knows how you work, and a visible early win |
| Days 61 to 90 | Set direction | Agree team goals for the next quarter; have the difficult conversation you have been putting off; ask the team for feedback on your first ninety days | Shared goals, one hard conversation done, and honest feedback on you |
At the ninety-day mark, take stock honestly. The free new manager readiness check asks twelve questions across one-to-ones, delegation, decisions and difficult conversations, and its written report names the one to work on in your next ninety days. It is most useful if you take it now and again at day ninety.
I am not going to change much for the first month. I want to understand how things work and what gets in your way. I will meet each of you individually this week. Here is how I like to work, and here is what I will need from you. Keep it short, and say what you do not know yet.
Name it, once, early, and privately: This is a bit strange for both of us. I value working with you and I want that to continue. Some things will be different: I will have to make calls you may not agree with, and I would rather you tell me than not. Then do not overcorrect. Becoming distant is as damaging as pretending nothing changed.
None of these is a character flaw. They are what capable people do by default when they have been rewarded for individual excellence. Spotting which one is yours is most of the fix.
Tour De Force runs this as live, experiential training for teams worldwide, online and in person. Talk to us, or play The Weekly Challenge from our gamified learning apps to see the method in ten minutes.
Questions
Three things: regular one-to-ones with every team member, clear agreement with your own manager about what success looks like and which decisions are yours, and making the shift from doing the work to helping others do it. Most other new-manager problems come from neglecting one of these.
Spend the first 30 days listening: one-to-ones with everyone and conversations with stakeholders. Use days 31 to 60 to set up regular rhythms and deliver one or two small fixes the team asked for. Use days 61 to 90 to agree goals, have the difficult conversation you have been putting off, and ask the team for feedback on your management.
For most people it is letting go of doing the work themselves, and having difficult conversations with people they used to work alongside. Both feel uncomfortable because the skills that made someone a strong individual contributor do not help with either.
Acknowledge the change privately and early, say what you value about the relationship, and be honest that you will sometimes make calls they disagree with. Then treat everyone consistently. Becoming distant damages trust as much as pretending nothing has changed.
Readiness shows up in specific behaviours: running useful one-to-ones, delegating real outcomes, making decisions stick and having hard conversations early. The free Tour De Force new manager readiness check scores these in twelve questions and names the one to work on first.
Keep reading
Twelve questions on one-to-ones, delegation, decisions and the conversations new managers put off.
GuideThe format, the questions and the habits that make them worth the time.
GuideHand over outcomes, not tasks, without losing control of the result.
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