How do I make the step into managing people?
Management is a change of job, not a promotion within the old one. The skills that got you here are not the ones being measured now.
- Session length
- 30 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Matched on
- Your field
Three things worth knowing.
Your output is now the team's output. Time spent doing the work yourself is usually time taken from the thing only you can do.
Run consistent one to ones. A predictable thirty minutes every week catches most problems while they are small.
Learn to give feedback early and plainly. Saved-up feedback lands as an ambush.
A sequence that works.
- 01
Hand over your old work
Name what you are letting go of and who now owns it.
- 02
Set a weekly rhythm
One to ones, a team meeting, and a clear picture of priorities.
- 03
Ask each person what they want
Career direction, not just this quarter's tasks.
- 04
Find your own support
A mentor outside your company gives you somewhere to think out loud.
What to avoid.
Staying the best individual contributor instead of managing
Avoiding difficult conversations until review season
Treating everyone the way you like to be treated
Cancelling one to ones when things get busy
The things people ask first.
How do I manage former peers?
Name the change out loud once, then be consistent. Consistency does more than any speech.
Do I have to stop doing the craft?
Mostly, yes. Keep enough to stay credible, not enough to be the bottleneck.
What if I do not enjoy it?
That is useful information, not a failure. Senior individual paths exist in most organisations.
Get this answered for your situation.
A mentor who does the job you are aiming at can tell you which of this applies to you.