On Friday, I proposed a dozen tips for becoming a new middle manager in a new company, from my personal experience.
As a commentator has rightly suggested, many people are promoted within their own organisation to take up management role, and if so does my advice change. Is there anything you should do differently after an internal promotion. Yes, there are some differences with an internal promotion, you don’t start with a clean slate. All your past misdemeanors remain, and new managers have to make the tortuous jump from individual contributor to first-time manager one of the most difficult transitions in a career.
Get off on the right foot with these extra tips for a smooth step up after an internal promotion.
1. Change your Focus
You’ve likely been promoted because you’re great at your job. But the crazy thing about your new position? It’s not about you anymore. In the past, your number one job was to accomplish tasks and with your promotion your number one job is to help other people accomplish the tasks in an outstanding way. This shift is often difficult for first-time managers, but it’s crucial because your performance will now be tied to the performance of your new team. This means if your team fails, you fail. And if they succeed? You can take credit, but you must share it with the rest of the group, too—or they won’t be motivated to do a great job for you in the future. This paradigm shift can be rough and takes time, but most recently-appointed managers come to master it.You learn to work through others, offer guidance and give direction, while finding the right balance between people management and driving your own projects for the business. Taking on a true team-oriented focus will be a huge key to your success.
2. Get Smart
In my experience, career development support drops off once you reach middle management. when you were new there are great internal introductory courses, development courses, skills courses.. but the internal transition to management is often ignored. Its assumed you know as much as you need to until you get to the stage of running a company.
As a new manager you’ll also become responsible fir your own development, and for the development of your team. So, find all of the management tools, resources, and classes that your company offers- even read more on acumen.sg. Some organizations have formal supervisor training, and nearly all have manuals and HR policies. Read them, digest them, and keep them immediately on hand. You also need to learn about each of the people you will be managing. Review their personnel files, including performance reviews and goals. Then, look beyond your company for books, articles, and organizations specifically geared toward your industry or role. Find blogs or websites to consult regularly- like acumen.sg. Continuing to develop yourself as a manager should be an ongoing part of your job.
3. Address inevitable Relationship Shifts
One if the biggest challenges accompanying an internal promotion is the transition of relationships with your old
peers, now you are their boss. And the inevitable desire to remain liked by them. If you are now managing your old team members you must address the shift—immediately. You can’t play favorites with your old desk mate without provoking feelings of distrust and resentment from the rest of your team. And while your former colleague may be happy for you, she may also feel awkward or resentful. Address the change upfront, in order to prevent conflict later on in more stressful situations. Try starting the conversation with “You know that I value our friendship, but as a manager, I need to make sure that everyone on the team views me as being fair and consistent, so our work relationship is going to change.” and in terms of relationships, Respect beats popularity. Of course it’s nice to be liked, it’s even more important as a manager to be respected. Respect takes time to earn and it’s earned on the back of good decisions and proven management experience/expertise. As a new manager you must learn to be part of the team, but also separate from the team, both above (leading, directing effort, assigning tasks, monitoring progress) and below (supporting, training, coaching, encouraging). Tricky bunch of skills to learn and apply.
4. You now need to be on model behaviour
Complaining about the boss by the water cooler? Showing up 15 minutes late to meetings? Sorry, those irresponsible, impulsive days are gone. As a manager, you’ll be looked to as a role model not only by your employees, but also by others in the organization. You can’t expect people to give their best at work if they don’t see you doing it, so be sure you’re always on your A game. This means despite what happened in the past, meeting deadlines, sticking to your word, keeping your personal opinions under wraps, and doing your best to represent your department and organization now become your responsibility.
5. Find a Mentor
You’re going to face situations that aren’t outlined in any company manual. How do you deal with a team member who is under-performing? Or an overachiever who you’d love to promote but can’t because of budget cuts? Where can you find someone to bounce ideas about difficult situations? The good news is that someone else has dealt with all of this before. One of the most important things you can do is find a mentor, someone with whom you can confidentially discuss tricky or uncomfortable situations either inside or outside your organization. It probably wont be your boss, as you’d prefer not to share your doubts and challenges so openly. Find someone else in your organization or industry who can serve in this capacity.
As you can see, internal promotions have a similar challenge to coming in from outside, but have their own dedicated challenges. Learn to overcome these and you’ll quickly become a success. Have your own internal challenges or tips, please share these with our readers.