My experience as a new manager
By Brian Kreissl
Back when I first started working at Carswell, I was in the midst of creating a job posting for a product writer to help launch our former online HR service, Consult Carswell, when I asked my boss at the time: “Who will this person report to?” He just smiled and said, “You, of course. Who did you think?”
I was rather taken aback at the time. While I had always hoped to eventually move into a management position at some point in my career, I didn’t think I would be managing anyone quite so soon. In spite of the fact my title was managing editor, I just assumed I would be managing content as opposed to actually managing people.
While I thought it was a great opportunity, I was a little apprehensive about managing people for the first time. Yet I actually ended up managing a team of three people (four if you count a summer student), and the people I managed were all qualified HR practitioners and lawyers.
Feeling like a bit of a fraud
In many ways, it was the classic situation of imposter syndrome, where in spite of the fact I was successful in my role, I still felt like a bit of a fraud in managing my team to begin with. I sometimes questioned whether I was qualified to lead these people and if my HR and legal knowledge was good enough.
But then I started to realize a few things that boosted my confidence. I learned very quickly that I actually didn’t have to know absolutely everything about HR and employment law to do my job well — although I sure learned a lot very quickly about both areas while continuing to leverage my existing knowledge and skills. And I could actually hold my own in most respects with both the lawyers and the HR professionals.
I also realized I was selected for the role not only because of my legal and HR knowledge, but also because of my writing and editing skills, ability to research information and background working on technology projects. While each of my team members had more knowledge than me in certain areas, I was hired for my ability to combine all of those areas. My former boss actually said he had never seen a situation where a person was a better fit for a role.
However, in spite of the fact I had the professional and technical aspects of my role down pat, I still had quite a bit to learn about management and leadership. That simply required more experience actually managing people.
Lessons learned about management and leadership
A few of the lessons I learned about management and leadership over the years were as follows:
- Always consider the feelings of your team members first – before your own.
- Be willing to stick up for your team when necessary.
- Learn to delegate and accept that others will approach tasks differently; don’t micromanage or try to do everything yourself.
- Don’t be afraid to provide constructive feedback – even if you know the person won’t take it well. On the other hand, be willing to show praise and appreciation when it’s deserved.
- Speak up when your team needs additional tools or resources.
- Be realistic with deadlines and deliverables; be willing to give pushback to others where necessary.
- Be honest and transparent with your team, but always try to remain as positive and upbeat as possible.
- Share information and involve team members in decision making wherever possible.
- Leverage people’s strengths as much as possible rather than trying to get a square peg to fit into a round hole.
- Recognize that people need to feel empowered and confident before they will be proactive and take initiative.
To a certain extent, my advice to new leaders is, “Fake it till you make it.” While it’s a good idea to learn as much as possible about management and leadership from books and courses, there is no substitute for actual leadership experience.
New leaders often feel a little bit unsure of themselves. They just have to go through the motions for a while until it feels right.
HR professionals can help by creating robust leadership development programs within their organizations. In particular, such programs need to help new leaders recognize and deal with imposter syndrome so they can quickly become more confident and decisive leaders.
