Transitioning to Management
CEO and founder of MMI Communication, Mike works
one-on-one with senior leaders at Fortune 500 companies and major non-profit
organizations.
Loraine Kasprzak’ s conversation with Mike:
1. What skills and qualities are
required to be a good manager, and how do they differ from being a good
engineer?
Engineers are highly skilled
professionals who have developed their skills over years of experience,
studying, and practice. It’s not unusual for someone who’s a really good
engineer to be moved into a managerial role. But the technical skills aren’t
what you need as a manager. As a manager, it’s more about how do you get others
to get things done, rather than doing them yourself. It’s knowing how to
identify and manage specific jobs or tasks and have the right people working on
the details of those jobs. Many people don’t recognize that this is
significantly different from what an engineer typically does.
Engineers are detail oriented and
know how to go from root cause to solution, so as an engineer you may think: of
course I have the right solution, everyone should see it as quickly as I do.
But you need to go from this mindset to allowing others to contribute – you
need to be able to ask for advice, solicit input, challenge and allowing others
to challenge.
Part of your role as manager is to
engage, to allow your team to contribute to a solution. Your job as a manager
is to nurture talent. You do this by empowering others.
You also face a predicament when you
start with a group of engineering peers, and then become their manager. It
could be that you were well liked as a peer, but now you need to distance
yourself and become the manager. Having this distance is important.
One of the first questions you need
to ask yourself in the new managerial role: am I willing to look my former
peers in the eye and give them feedback? Perhaps you will even need to tell
them they’re no longer needed in that role. This takes some soul searching.
2. How does someone know when the
move to manager is right for them – what key questions should they be asking
themselves?
Taking on the managerial role
shouldn’t be just about the money and promotion – although these are important
too. Ask yourself that if besides wanting the new job title, do you want to be
responsible for other people’s well being? Ask yourself, “am I willing to take
this on, do I really understand what it means to take on the responsibilities
of a manager?”
One piece of advice I give new
managers is to get a management mentor. Find out from them what it takes to be
a good manager. You may think you know what it takes, and you may have even
read about it, but until you’re in the role, a mentor can help you understand
what is really involved.
A mentor can also help you navigate
through those unknowns of your new responsibilities once you’re in the job –
and there will be many, especially when there’s line of people outside your
door and you’re on the hot seat.
3. What does the manager’s boss
really want from them?
On the task side, the boss wants
results. He or she doesn’t want – or have time for – detailed explanations. It’s
not about what you know. It’s how you communicate in ways that are important to
the listener, in this case, your boss. You need to communicate clearly and
concisely – summarize the key points quickly, in a minute or two. Leave the
binders out in the hallway and come in with the 5 sentence summary.
As a manager, your job is to meet
the boss’ expectations. You’ve got to make your boss look good and support him
or her. The boss wants you as the manager to be able to provide the right
information so that the boss can clearly explain to upper management.
4. What other advice would you give
to someone who has decided to make the transition to management?
Before you take on the job, write
down your observations about what you’d like to accomplish in your first 3–6
months. Before you start is really when you have time to think and put together
reasonable expectations.
Once you start, your 30 days should
include meeting with your direct reports and finding out what’s important to
them. You’ll be under pressure to deliver results, but you must make the time
to do this so that you can begin to build trust with your people. Make a
conscious effort to do this, even if it’s just 15 minutes a day.
Identify the strengths of your team
– who are leaders, where are the weaknesses, and where are the opportunities
for them to get better? Which members of the team should be moving on because
they’re not a good fit?
Articulate what is most important
and find ways to motivate your people. When you enter into the job, you’ve got
a group. Your job is to make them a seamless and highly functioning team. To
get to this level, you have to be clear with your people on your expectations.
You have to put measurements in
place and measure regularly – give feedback and measure regularly. Hold your
people accountable regularly.
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