[MunnabhaiMBBS]

Hello all,

Been promoted to a managerial role recently. Will be managing a team of about 15-20 resources from now on.

Need to finalize the people management strategy at earliest. Mine is an employee centric organization. Each of us will have a different management style but peoples' reactions to change management will tend to remain constant.

Am sure many of us have gone through the similar phase in life. Lets all share experiences, tips & tricks for efficient transition from a non-managerial role to a managerial one.

Lets make the most of this platform by learning from senior, experienced and successful TBHPians.

Thanks in advance.

[hybridpetrol]

On a related note, any lead type of role requires lot of effective ways to get more work done in less time. i.e Quickly delegating tasks, following up on such tasks, finding time to complete own tasks, co-ordinating with customers, keeping up with requests from customers and not missing any etc., while also having time for ourselves for lunch, breakfast, dinner along with the family time of our own.

I agree that it is purely time management - but let us get to the basic. How do we effectively manage time to stay sane?

[hserus]

Learn to delegate.

Don't be afraid to roll up your sleeves and pitch in - don't task employees to do anything you wouldn't do yourself

Treat your team as human beings rather than resources.

Go to bat for them - get them what they need to work productively

Pay attention to their career growth

Maintain professional distance though - especially if you're promoted from their ranks as an equal / peer to lead them. You will absolutely, from time to time, have to order them to do something they may not like, or give them a less than optimal appraisal at times.

Some of this may conflict with the directions you get from "upstairs" in the typical IT company where employees are treated like "resources" - especially in places where the HR head is someone with an ops or finance rather than HR background, all too common.

People aren't resources, coal is a resource. They are human beings. Try to balance that with the constraint of being a good human being and it just might work out well.

All the best.

[nibedk]

Originally Posted by MunnabhaiMBBS

Hello all,

Been promoted to a managerial role recently. Will be managing a team of about 15-20 resources from now on.

Need to finalize the people management strategy at earliest. Mine is an employee centric organization. Each of us will have a different management style but peoples' reactions to change management will tend to remain constant.

Am sure many of us have gone through the similar phase in life. Lets all share experiences, tips & tricks for efficient transition from a non-managerial role to a managerial one.

Lets make the most of this platform by learning from senior, experienced and successful TBHPians.

Thanks in advance.

Mate welcome to the big bad world of management.

I lead a team of around 25-30 people currently. It took me years of hard toil to get into a managerial position. Not that I wasn't deserving but it was rather a case of working with managers and not leaders.

Some personal issues and freak injuries pushed me back in the pecking order as I had to change locations and then units within the company itself. Right from being a consistent top performer I was relegated to being a average one and even came close to losing my job.

I had been a very sincere student through out who knew how to use his resources well to get the desired outcome. I continued the same way through my engineering as well as the first few years as a professional. I consider myself as a person with above average intelligence who somehow manages to use his limited skills effectively enough to consistently deliver results beyond his own capability. Till 3 years back I used be proud of all my educational and career achievements. Not anymore.

The last three years changed my perception towards life completely. From being someone who almost lost his job to back being a top performer it has been a roller coaster of a ride. Losing someone dear during that time didn't help either and I had almost quit till I decided to take a leap of faith. As they say when you have nothing to lose you usually end up winning. One fine day I just decided if I really have to quit I would rather do it with my pride intact.

Got to work with some great people who were humans first and managers later. They would rather lead than manage. In a years time career was back on track. I treat this as my biggest achievement in life and would take courage and learning from this failure in my life. This episode bought the child in me back and taught me to be humble and humane be it good or bad times.

The lesson I learnt was an important one. Lead from the front and managing is a piece of cake. I would rather be a leader than a manager. I am working towards it and it is going to be a long journey no doubt. At the end we all are humans, treat everyone as one and people will respect. Else all one ends up as is a MANAGER. We all should strive to a good human being first and then a leader. Irrespective of whether you are a manager or hold any other position you are bound to succeed.

[Sawyer]

The simplest and the best leadership advice I ever received/saw in action:
"Follow me"
Works in the army, works on the sports field, works in every team leadership situation.
The other great thing to remember is the golden rule:
"Do unto others as you would have others do to you."
If you can do these two well, the rest is just detail.

[MunnabhaiMBBS]

Really happy to see the way this thread is shaping up with everyone contributing priceless experiences. Thanks hybridpetrol, Suresh, nibedk,Sawyer for tips.

Leading from front, Treating staff as humans than resources, Delegation are very important takeaways.

How you guys have managed to cope up with troublemakers in the team?

There will be someone who will provoke others not to listen to seniors, will convince others to give not so good rating to managers and so on..

[hserus]

There is always someone - but well, is it a "professional troublemaker" which is rare, this isn't a trade union atmosphere usually, or do you **or your company** genuinely have issues?

For example if management forces you to give bad ratings to a % of your team because of curve fitting - surely the people who get that will be disappointed. You need to be diplomatic about things that aren't within your control, try to make it up to the team members if possible.

As for handling actual misbehavior in your team, remember what I said about keeping a professional distance. Like a father with kids, if you have that experience.

If you're wise - you'll be a friend to them but you'll also be clear about the need to occasionally punish them exactly enough when needed (neither more nor less).

That too is part of professionalism. But remember they are not kids they are adults. So calibrate your response appropriately.

Sorry if it sounds vague but that's just how it is.

Oh, when you do have to discipline someone DONT do it in front of the team - take them into a cabin and talk, or take them out privately for a tea break. And keep positive reinforcement in mind, punishment doesn't completely mean leaving them crying in a corner after beating their palms with a ruler.

I used to occasionally work out of temporary seating in an office a few years back where I had the unpleasant situation of sitting one or two seats away from a manager who would put conference calls with her employees on speakerphone (not even headphones) and yell at them about their performance.

Once it got bad enough that I was like "Look, I don't know you and of course they're your reportees, but please go find a manager's cabin and stop yelling at them so much it disturbs my work". That too, was in public in front of various other people sitting nearby, but well, jaisi karni, waisi bharni, and it wasn't like she was from my org, and I'd not be spending the next few years sitting by her once the week was up.

[subraiyr]

Welcome to world of managing people. It is a bit challenging and it is an art. There are lot of scientific theories about how to do it. Johari Windows, Transactional Analysis, FiroB assessments etc which will guide you to find your inner strength and skills and then tell you to hone the positives and flip the negatives around. But at the end of the day, there are a few things that is inherent to being a manager

1. Reduction in control - Till now, you owned the task, project, situation and you had all the freedom to do what you want. You could control the situation. As a manager, you cannot. You have to give control to your reportees and let them do their job. Dont hover around stifling them so much that they break down and chuck it all out. I have seen many newly appointed managers micro managing and then doing the task themselves

2. Trust - Build a team with trust and the pillar of the team. You need to have trust in your reportees to do a good job and then they will trust you for their success. It is a 2 way street and as manager you need to walk through it

3. Communicate - As a newly appointed manager people tend to stop communicating much with their reportees. You need to have a good level of communication with them. That doesnt mean you tell them all that management tells you. Be selective, but at the same time communicate. Appreciate success in public, admonish privately. Talk to your people and help guide them in their career


There is quite a bit more. But i will stop here

Remember, people quit primarily because of their bosses.

Good luck on your new role

[gkveda]

Welcome to managerial layer. To answer your question, I restrict myself to answer only managerial aspects of leadership. Not the technical aspects.

Ask yourself a simple Question.

What do you expect from your Manager?

Start giving all that you expect from your Manager to your team.

The answer seems to be very simple but to practically follow this, it is just next to impossible since the corporate structure exhibits the characteristics of a complex Multi Input, Multi Output, non linear system. There are political angles from upstairs to worsen the behavior

In spite of all the above complexities, if you start exhibiting your natural behavior with courtesy, honesty, I think the team definitely recognizes your honesty and start respecting you.

All the best in your new career

[swiftnfurious]

Congrats on your promotion and welcome to the toughest job in the world (if you ask me). 15-20 is quite a handful and I struggled with 10.

I think I'll share the mistakes I did as a manager so it's a learning for me (and may be you too).

• Keep the relation very professional; you should be more of a manager than a friend
• For trouble makers, never give a lot of space. 1st heads up, 2nd warning & 3rd should be an action
• Reprimand in private, keep your voice low on the floor (That was the biggest feedback to me)
• Keep your manager informed of the problems you face on the people front, don't shy away thinking will he consider you incapable
• DOCUMENT EVERY DISCUSSION of yours with your reportees (1x1s, feedback sessions etc)
• Keep breaks minimal with the team; hangout with your peers rather (in cafe)
• Hold the leash tight on the entry level / juinor candidates. They are almost never mature on a lot of aspects

Certain points I followed

• Be upfront; they need to trust you. Once the trust is lost, you lose
• Avoid any political plots within the team, helps to keep the balance
• Communicate regular & as much as you need
• "Under commit" if possible, when things don't work out, frustrations are minimum
• Make people feel their worth; empower them to take ownership. You'll naturally get to see the high performing ones
• Find their interests & career aspirations & give them directions
• Smile at them when they do the first mistake and be with them when they are on fire.
• Continous feedback on the lower performing candidates, in private.

I had a very tough time with one bad apple within the team (a lady of my age, but 1 rung lower) and it gave me so much pain throughout. Thinking back, the (only) mistake I did was to give a lot more space (lady + family) but she kept stretching the boundaries. Zero integrity, attitude issues, zero leadership / ownership quality, disciplinary issues - you name it, she had it all. Except that she was good in her work, though not as efficient. I always tried to correct her without bringing the problems to the management's notice and finally I had to bite the bullet.


PS : I have very minimal people manager exposure and above are analysis of my own. Others could correct me on right points.