How to Prep for Your First-Time Manager Role

Becoming a manager for the first time?

Whether you’re managing a team of one or a team of one hundred, you’ll need the same skills to thrive in your new role.

Stick to these tips for first-time managers to make sure you hit the ground running.

What is the #1 skill that you need as a manager?

There isn’t such a thing as first-time manager training. But if there was, the very first lesson would surely be in the one skill you need above all others to be an effective manager: people skills.

Once you’re a manager, it’s your job to have the awkward conversations, take the lead in one-to-ones, and to resolve conflicts in your team. And it’s on you to inspire your people to do their best work, too.

You have to hold your reports accountable when their work isn’t up to scratch. And you’ll often have to fight your top performers’ corner with your bosses when it comes to landing them a pay rise or promotion (that’s right – you’ll still have to manage your manager).

And that all takes top-notch people skills to get right.  

What should a first-time manager do?

Stepping into your first people manager role soon?

Make sure you take these simple – but not easy – steps to hit the ground running as a first-time manager.

Learn how each of your reports deals with conflict

It’s important to recognise that everyone deals with conflict differently. 

Some people aren’t shy about making their colleagues know exactly how they feel. Others might seem totally content on the surface, and you’ll only find out they were silently suffering after they’ve handed in their resignation.

One of the most effective things you can do to help handle the inevitable conflicts that will inevitably crop up within your team is to build close relationships with each of your reports. That way you’ll quickly spot when things aren’t sitting right with them and simmering tensions start to appear.

There’s no shortcut here – you’ve got to put in the time and effort to get to know your employees and understand their needs and communication style. 

A great starting point is to quiz new staff on this during your onboarding process through a new hire survey. A few questions about how they’d characterize their communication style can go a long way here, especially when you follow this up by taking a genuine interest in who they are as people and what kind of things get under their skin.

Taking the time to do this will pay serious dividends, as it will allow you to spot interpersonal problems around the office early and tackle them straight away before tensions reach boiling point.

Try Assembly today to make tracking and recording how your reports handle conflict easy.

Focus on relationships, not issues

Not all your employees are going to be on the same page about everything. Which means that conflict is always going to be part and parcel of the working experience. 

But your team will have far fewer interpersonal problems if everyone has a strong relationship with one another. 

We’re a lot quicker to forgive and forget a serious misdemeanor by one our nearest and dearest than a small slight from a stranger. That’s just human nature. 

So, do everything you can to foster a positive and supportive company culture, and make sure to give your team ample opportunities to bond.

The most effective way to build goodwill with your reports is to simply make time for them. Set a weekly one-on-one meeting in stone with each of your staff where they can discuss anything at all that’s bothering them – big or small.

When interpersonal conflicts do crop up, keep in mind that it’s far more important that your teammates are all comfortable communicating directly and cooperatively with each other than the specific conflict being resolved. 

So, make sure no bridges are burned during disagreements, no matter how heated they get. Steer the conversation to common ground, and if things reach an impasse, encourage your staff to agree to disagree. 

This will be a lot easier for your team if they know, like, and trust their colleagues. When there’s a shared history and a mutual respect, conflicts over specific issues will be a lot easier to navigate.

Be quick to praise

70% of employees say productivity and morale would improve if managers simply said “thank you” more.

Plus, organizations that double the number of employees that receive recognition for their work on a weekly basis experience a "24 percent improvement in quality, a 27 percent reduction in absenteeism and a 10 percent reduction in shrinkage”, according to a Gallup poll. 

However, the same Gallup poll shows that 65% of employees haven't received any form of recognition for good work in the last year

Take the time to recognise your reports’ efforts in your one-to-ones – as well as outside of them, of course – to help ensure your staff stay happy and productive.

But bear in mind that not all praise is created equal. In fact, over half of employees say they prefer to receive feedback in an immediate one-on-one conversation with their managers. 

And the more specific your praise is, the more meaningful it will be to your staff, as it will show you’re really paying attention to their efforts rather than paying lip service to them. 

Book a demo of Assembly to make recognizing your teammates as easy as possible. 

Learn how to give helpful feedback

It might seem counterintuitive, but your employees will thank you for bringing up areas they can improve on. 

In fact, research suggests that people want corrective feedback even more than praise if it’s provided in a constructive manner. 

However, most managers find it hard to pick their staff up on their flaws. 

Giving employee feedback doesn’t have to be awkward though, especially if you follow these simple steps:

• Don’t spring anything on them. When an employee falls short of your expectations, that should be dealt with straight away – not left until their next one-to-one when the criticism might seem out of the blue. 
• Ground every bit of feedback in an example. Criticism that isn’t founded on something concrete can be interpreted as a matter of opinion by your employee and dismissed. 
• Focus on themes. Pick out patterns in your employees’ behavior and ask them to brainstorm solutions on how they can change it.
• Sandwich criticism in praise. Soften the blow of feedback by making sure to praise the employee either side of it. 

Discuss their career growth

If you fail to support your reports’ career aspirations, they’re liable to leave your team. In fact, 41% of workers have quit a previous job due to the lack of progression opportunities.

So, while you might not want to do this during every one-to-one, but you should be regularly touching on your staff’s career trajectory in your catch ups with them

Having an open dialogue with each of your team members about their career growth and how they feel that’s developing is one of the most effective things you can do to keep your staff engaged in their work and wanting to stick around.

Don’t make the mistake of leaving a candid discussion of your reports’ career aspirations until their annual review. Instead, invite them to let you know how they’d like to grow their career at least once a quarter and then do what you can to make that happen for them.  

Try Assembly to see how easy it can make tracking your reports’ career aspirations so you can help them achieve them.

The final word

Following this first-time manager advice will lay a solid foundation for a happy, engaged, and loyal team that will feel comfortable coming to you with any problem they face. And once that strong foundation is in place you’re bound to find being a first-time manager a lot easier.