Succeeding as a New Manager Takes More Than Hard Work

Succeeding as a New Manager
Succeeding as a new manager is a new ball game.  Experienced leaders and followers tell us over and over again that succeeding as a new manager is not just about doing your work well.  It is about making your value and the value of your team visible to your key internal and external stakeholders.

Is Your Value Visible?
You cannot assume that the powers-that-be are noticing that you are producing superior results. You have to be proactive and play the “game.” You need to promote yourself as an influencer and leader rather than hide in a corner. You have to network with people who can help you advance.

You Need to Manage Your Manager
Think about the people in your office who have been passed over. Some with good reason, no doubt, but plenty who were conscientious, hardworking, compatible, and intelligent. What were they missing?

Survey feedback tells us that they often did not take charge of their careers. They just hoped someone would notice them, but no one did so they continued on doing the same old, same old and liking it less and less.  Yes, you may have to step out of your comfort zone to toot your own horn. But think of the payoff!

4 Tips About How Succeeding as a New Manager Takes More Than Hard Work
Here are four new manager training tips on how to begin:

1.  Make Sure Your Boss Knows How to Best Support You
Schedule an appointment with your manager. Be crystal clear about how your team directly contribute both their success and the success of the company as a whole.  Then outline exactly what you need from them to improve yourself and your team.  For example, ask for their support in learning new leadership skills and handling new responsibilities.

2.  Network and Collaborate Beyond Your Department.
Be creative about ways you can work with others across functional boundaries. Go to marketing with a new idea. Give sales a warm lead. Check in with operations so you have a better idea of how they work and how your roles overlap.  Learn what makes the company tick, help others to succeed, and make new connections across the company.

3.  Improve Your Communication Skills
Learn how to understand others, interact with confidence, and persuasively present your point of view. Learn the body language of self-confidence so you appear like someone who deserves more responsibility. Learn about the different communication styles so you can connect in a more effective way. Learn how to empathize with others so you can understand what problems they face and can be supportive and understanding.

4.  Be Strategic in Managing Your Career
Exercise your influence where it counts most. Observe who seems to carry the most weight in decision-making. Get to know what makes them tick – not in a manipulative way but in a way that allows you to better understand the politics of the situation around you.

The Bottom Line
Working hard and doing good work is only part of the answer to corporate success. Making sure that your value is connected to what matters most and is getting noticed in the right way is the other part.  This can be done without sucking up to those in power.  Just to the right things for the right reasons.

If you want proven research-backed tools for managers, Download our Free New Manager Toolkit Now