Career By Design

Starting a new job as a manager can be exciting but also nerve-wracking. As someone who was recently promoted to a management role, I could use some advice from more experienced leaders out there.

What are some keys to success when transitioning from being an individual contributor to leading a team? How do you establish credibility and earn the respect of your direct reports? What tactics have you found useful for delegating responsibilities and empowering your employees? How do you balance being accessible and approachable with maintaining professional boundaries?

I'm very motivated to get up to speed quickly and be an effective manager. Are there any common pitfalls I should watch out for? What skills should I focus on developing in my first few months? Any guidance you can provide as I navigate this career change would be greatly appreciated!

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[Lydie] [Uwantege] [CEng, P.E., M.ASCE]
Civil Engineer
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Congratulations on your promotion. A few basic suggestions which could certainly be expanded on by others with more experience than me. 

Schedule time for occasional 1 on 1 meetings with your staff - frequency of these will depend on how many people you manage directly. Use the time to ask how things are going and what they need, and also ask about bigger picture stuff such as what they want out of their current positions and what it is you can do to help them reach it. 

Also, try to be consistent and repetitive about your expectations for the team. That way, if someone starts to not meet their metrics, you have an easy way to start the conversation about improvement with them - this can always be started by "as a team, you know our goals are always x y and z. What are some things I can do to help you reach those goals?"

This will take some trial and error to figure out what works for each staff member. I am speaking from experience. Good luck.