Not as easy as it looks: Lessons for new managers
Make the transition to management painless
For many people, a managerial position might seem part of a normal career progression: moving from a position of receiving orders to one giving orders. However, telling people what to do is not the same as getting them to do it. In fact, sometimes telling people what to do is something to be avoided.
Managing is not about giving orders so much as it is about getting people to work independently and cohesively for the common good. It’s doubtful that there are those who set out to be bad managers, but the reality is that the road to good management is rife with detours and problems. Many well-intentioned new managers have found that the job is not easy.
Henry Wolford, owner of Wolford & Associates, a management consultant firm in Irvine, CA, explains a manager’s primary function. "Your No. 1 role as a manager is to help your people succeed. The definition of a manager is someone who gets work done through the efforts of others. If you try to do everything yourself, you will achieve as much as one person can. But if you can help team members achieve as much as they can, your success multiplies by their numbers."
Managing employees is made even more difficult when someone enters the field from a position where he or she held a great deal of personal autonomy, such as home care nursing, or when an individual really doesn’t enjoy management-oriented tasks.
"Not everyone is suited to being a manager. Some people are excellent technicians, and they love being in the trenches," notes Wolford. "I really have to admire people who say, No. That job is not for me.’"
Deciding who is ready to become a manager, or for that matter who should ever become one, is not an easy job. Wolford says he has found a way of at least initially screening those who may be ready for a management position. He says the key to being a successful manager is understanding that when you make a decision, you’re not making it for just yourself but for everyone in the company — as well as their families. "If you make a bad decision, it affects their lives." He says that if a person is not willing to take on this extended responsibility, he or she is not ready to be a manager.
For those who feel up to the task, there are some general management commandments to help them stay on track. According to Wolford, first-time managers should "sit down and develop basic guidelines for how they will do this job. List your criteria and then try to live to that standard. Winging it is not such a good idea."
One of the easiest pitfalls for a manager is using information as a power tool. "It is usually used [in that way by] someone who is managing from a weak personal position," Wolford notes. Nevertheless, it has a damaging effect on employees. Aside from eroding morale, lording information over employees makes them mistrustful of what a manager is telling them, even when it’s the truth.
He says managers should share information whenever possible. "As a manager, you become privy to more information than before, some of it secret or sensitive. Share what you can with your employees, and when you can’t share information you are asked about, politely and tactfully tell them you will share it as soon as you possibly can."
Wolford also cautions against sharing information with a select few. "Some managers will share with their favorites but not with the others. It really needs to be shared with everyone or with no one."
Another common management trap springs open when it comes time to discipline employees.
New managers and experienced managers alike frequently fail the measured-response test. They’ll ignore bad behavior until the problems get to a size where everyone can see them, he explains. By then, it’s too late. "If you see a small error or behavior, your response, if done immediately, can be a small one. For example, Please don’t do that again. Here’s a better way of solving that problem.’"
Wolford likes to fall back on the "rule of ignoring" when it comes to meting out praise and punishment. "If you ignore a good behavior, you’ll get less of it. If you ignore a bad behavior, you’ll get more of it."
Deliver praise and punishment with equal enthusiasm, he says. "It’s easy to flaunt your authority and new-found power by lashing out at wrongdoers, [but] managing through fear only makes people work carefully and cautiously. By tempering necessary punishment with similar or larger doses of encouragement, your workers become eager and avidly attack their work."
There are times, too, when a new job is made additionally taxing because one friend is put in charge of managing another. How does a manager go about tempering the demands of a new job with the strength of a good friendship?
First, Wolford suggests, "draw a clear line between where being a friend ends and being a manager begins. Your old friends will expect special favors or a sympathetic ear now that you are their boss, but remember that your function as a manager in the workplace supercedes friendship on the job.
He illustrates his point with an example from his own experiences. "When I was a sales manager, I had reps across three states, but there was one who lived in my city. I made it a point that I never went to lunch with that person any more than any of the others."
For those cases where a friendship is already established, he advises that the two parties sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk about how openly displaying their friendship will have an effect on the workplace and other employees. "Let the other person know that by being openly friendly, he or she will be perceived as the boss’ pet. Talk about how the two of you can work together and still remain friends."
This problem is aggravated when the other party is a relative. In this instance, Wolford recommends a proactive stance. "Take the helm and acknowledge right off the bat that this person is a relative. Then tell your employees that you will show them through your actions that you will not be more or less fair to this person than to anyone else. Then do it. They’ll look skeptically at first, but they’ll come around if your deeds confirm what you have said."
Whether friend, relative, or both, Wolford advises that both of you are sure you know the limits. Becoming a manager doesn’t make someone better than their co-workers, just different. "You were not magically transformed with the promotion. You are the same person today as you were yesterday. You simply have a new set of priorities and responsibilities to perform," he adds.
[For more information, contact: Henry Wolford, Owner, Wolford & Associates, 24 W. Yale Loop, P.O. Box 50755, Irvine, CA 92604. Telephone: (949) 551-2991.]
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