Welcome to Management

It’s your first day in your new management position. As you’re still marveling at having your own four walls, here comes a knock at your door.

It’s your subordinate Sarah, who was your peer just last week. And as she walks in, you notice she’s been crying. Without warning, she blurts out: My husband cheated on me.

The first questions that flash through your mind are: Why is she telling me this? What in the world have Sarah’s marital woes got to do with me?

The key message here is: Being a great manager has nothing to do with how well you performed in your old job.

When the author was met with a heartbroken teammate in his first week as a manager, he realized that he had no idea what being a leader meant. As you’re about to find out, the fact that someone is qualified to land a management role doesn’t mean he’s equipped to actually perform the job.

It’s a well-known management problem – called the Peter Principle. It states that in a hierarchy, people tend to climb the ranks until they reach the point that they’re no longer competent. In corporations, that looks like employees going from one promotion to another before arriving in a role they no longer excel at, at which point they stagnate and stop moving.

With the typical organization doing a poor job of preparing first-time managers, this ceiling is, unfortunately, all too common. No matter how amazing you were at your previous job, becoming the boss demands a whole new set of skills.

For one, as a leader, you need to drive not only yourself but also every individual on your team toward success. That includes being responsible for the team member whose divorce will ultimately affect her performance and morale at work.

While the author didn’t acquire the necessary skills for effective leadership overnight, there are practical tools you can embrace, just as he did. In the next blinks, you’ll learn the skills you need to become a manager who motivates people to greatness. But before you can help others grow, first you must be able to lead yourself.