It's a quiet afternoon at work when you get a phone call from your boss, asking you to come up to her office for a quick chat.
Could it be? You ask yourself... Am I finally getting a promotion??
You've been waiting for this. You've put in hours of work, smiled through thousands of late nights, and taken on extra work in an effort to prove your mettle. So when she utters those glorious words -- "I'm promoting you to manager" -- you think you might actually die of happiness. You feel like you're on top of the world as you spend the next few days fantasizing about your fancy new raise and title, not to mention an office with real walls and an actual door.
Within the first hour of your new role, one of your employees asks you to make a decision on an urgent client request.
Your excitement has officially evaporated.
You look around for someone who's authorized to make the judgment call, and then you realize... that someone is you.
And then you panic.
This sort of fear or perfection paralysis explains why 60% of new managers underperform during their first two years on the job. Needless to say, no newly promoted manager works for a decrease in output and work performance, so how is this data so real? Are new managers just not ready for the challenges that await them? According to one Harvard professor, the problem lies in the fact that many employees who get promoted to managerial positions get there by doing great work and generating value for the company.
What's so wrong with that, you ask?
Being a manager is about so much more than just producing stellar results on your own. You've already proven you can do that. It's about teamwork, trust, and professional leadership, and those traits can't develop if you're treating your new role simply as a higher-profile version of your last one.
In other words, your stellar performance as an employee is no indicator for your management capabilities.
Here are a five best practices to get you started:
- Develop a professional persona. This is a biggie for new managers, especially those tasked with overseeing older employees. It's understandable that these managers want to be liked, but it's disempowering to lead with that persona. The social self is the natural default setting: As children, we were fiercely taught the importance of likeability, and have been taught from a young age to seek approval. This identity has been refined and reinforced, and can be incredibly damaging when it shows up in the workplace. Ask yourself: "Do I want to be liked or respected?" Sometimes you can score both, but there are many times as a new manager that you will have to pick one. The ability to draw a distinction between your social self and professional self enables you to maintain an intentional career path with boundaries that support you.Creating a new workplace persona may feel unnatural, but making an intentional choice about who you want to be as a professional is more powerful than a natural default setting.
The "manager" title may feel like a heavy hat to wear, but don't be intimidated by it. Rather than questioning your capabilities, focus on maintaining a positive mindset and honoring the professional identity you have created for yourself. Look for opportunities to build relationships, take responsibility for your team, and never let a bad day -- or several bad days -- deter you from your vision.
The managers who succeed are those who wake up day after day committed to moving beyond their comfort zone, despite the fear they feel in doing so.
It's this simple: successful people are willing to do what other people aren't.