Good Management Skills are Necessary for New Manager Success

Last month you were a top performing employee in your company—this month you’re a manager. Like so many new managers, you’ve probably discovered that what made you a successful employee doesn’t necessarily make you a successful or effective manager. I see some common mistakes with people who are new to a managerial role. Here are three I’ve seen most often.  

Common Mistakes

Mistake #1: The company doesn’t give the new manager the skills necessary to do the job. Somebody who has been in a technical position and gets promoted into a manager or team leadership role needs to develop some good management skills.

When companies don’t give new managers an opportunity to learn good management skills, that new manager will fall back into his or her comfort zones. And the comfort zone is usually the technical skills because that’s what has made him/her successful up to this point. The new manager focuses more on the work than on the people who are helping get the work done (the employees). Without good management skills, the new manager may ignore or mishandle the people-part of the job and end up with bigger problems. 

Mistake #2: The manager doesn’t separate friendship and work. Another mistake made by new managers is continuing to be friends with their former peers and allowing that friendship to cloud management actions and decisions.

For example, the new manager and former peer may still go out partying on the weekends or maybe they’ll continue to babysit each other’s children. What happens is the friendship now makes it difficult for the manager to address work issues objectively. 

Good managers make the split. They separate themselves from personal issues and focus on getting work done. 

I once worked with a manager who was in the position I just mentioned (being friends with one of her former peers). The former peer used to go to the now-manager’s house and wash her car and help her take care of her landscaping. 

The manager paid the former peer extra to do these personal tasks for her, but when it came down to managing the person’s work and counseling him when he wasn’t doing well, she found it very difficult because their personal relationship got in the way. 

Mistake #3: The manager becomes a “lone ranger.” One final mistake I often see is when new managers only pay attention to their own team, or their own department, and they don’t take the big picture into account. They fail to see how their group/department fits into what the company is trying to achieve as a whole.  

For example, a manager decided to have his team work on an improvement for handling a recurring customer problem. They came up with a great solution, but it caused new problems for other areas of the company and cost more money, which didn’t support the company’s goal of reducing operational expenses. 

In my next Insight, I’ll give some steps to take if you want to make sure all of your managers have good management skills.  

I see some common mistakes employers make with employees who are new to a managerial role. Here are three I’ve seen most often.