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5 Actions for First Week Success As a New Manager – 1st Time Manager Tips · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Start quickly and successfully by implementing five actions for first week's success as a new manager.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good first week and you set the stage for your ongoing success.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: You feel a lot more confident in yourself, and your team will be a lot happier and more confident in you too.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: These same actions will be just as important for your success as a new manager through your first 90 days, six months and a year.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was promoted 13 times in my career all the way to board director level.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was internally promoted into my first manager role.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Changing perceptions of bosses and colleagues is harder than creating good perceptions from a blank slate.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: There are many things to get right to be successful as a new manager.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Those that succeed quickly as a new manager take specific actions from the start.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Five actions for first week success as a new manager are firstly, focus on the new 20%, not the old 80%.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, understand the goals and expectations for your team.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Third, start with a team-focused attitude.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, don't make changes too soon.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And fifth, focus on building the right relationships.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: For each of these, I share a lot of tips on how to put these actions into practice quickly and successfully.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I still use these principles every time I start a new management role because they work so well.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: The first action for success as a new manager is to focus on the new 20%, not the old 80%.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: As a new manager, you'll still be doing a lot of your old job before you were promoted.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Your old job should be firmly in your comfort zone.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: After all, you would have been good at it to have been promoted.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: You now have an additional new job, being a manager of a team.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: They'll probably take up around 20% of your time to start with.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: As you get promoted into and through middle management and senior management ranks, the management part of your role increases a lot.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, managing others is a smaller part of your role and a very important part.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: A great and very true quote from General Electric's famous former CEO Jack Welsh.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Start planning, firstly, what problems you can solve to help make your team more productive.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, think about how you can teach and mentor team members in what's made you successful so they become better at their job.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Third, how are you going to consciously create clear goals and expectations to provide your team direction, confidence and psychological safety?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, what steps are you going to take to develop and protect trust?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: That is, your team members trusting you to treat them fairly, to be consistent and to follow the same rules that you set for them, as well as do your part to create team success.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And fifth, how are you going to protect your team so they can do the best job they can without unreasonable distractions, changes of direction, low value requests, interruptions, etc.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Don't allow yourself to stay in your comfort zone.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Push yourself to focus on what being a manager requires and work on how you're going to help your team be better and do better.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: These are critical actions for first week's success as a new manager and every week into the future.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides resources and courses for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: I have included links to additional resources in the podcast description to help you be more successful faster in a new management role.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: So do take a look at these.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: The second action for success as a new manager is understand the goals and expectations for your team.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: It is hard, if not impossible, to be successful in your new role if you don't know what success looks like in the eyes of your boss and other managers.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: In my experience, very few bosses provide clear defined goals on day one of a management role.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Work with your boss to get to clear defined goals for you and your team.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Some great preparation steps to do prior to discussing goals and expectations with your new boss are firstly to map out who your team stakeholders are, you know, those that provide your team with information and work, and who your team provides information and work to.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, think about the needs of each of the main team stakeholders.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And third, understand how your team creates value for the business.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: For example, a core goal of sales and marketing is to increase revenue.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: How would your team be expected to increase revenue if you are in marketing?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Understand how your team creates value so you can meet your boss and have three plus ideas say about the types of goals that you should have.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: In the first week, book in a one-on-one meeting with your boss to specifically discuss setting goals and expectations for the team and you.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I suggest you firstly ask your boss about what goals they would like your team to achieve in what time frames.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to add your ideas into the discussion.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, discuss with your boss how progress and success will be measured.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Aim to include numerical targets within your goals.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Third, go through the resources available and the gaps in those resources to enable your team to achieve those goals.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, ask your boss the steps they would like you to take to achieve the goals being discussed.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And fifth, finish the conversation by asking your boss for time to think about the goals and how you're going to achieve them before you accept the goals as finalized.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can then leave this meeting with a better idea of what your boss wants from you and hopefully a handful of detailed specific goals that you can work towards.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: A great way to validate your goals is to discuss them with your team and plan out in some detail the activities and projects you need to undertake to achieve your goals.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Do your best to only sign up to goals that you believe are possible and realistic to achieve.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: How you view your importance and your role relative to your team is a very big deal to be successful.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let me explain.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: You've worked really hard to become a manager and should be proud of your achievements.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: You now have more influence, impact, authority and power than your team members.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: It can be tempting to think of yourself as more important than your team members.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you do, your viewpoint will come out in how you speak, how you act, the decisions you make, etc.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Very few team members like, trust, respect or appreciate managers who regularly communicate I am better than you.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Start with an I am better than you mindset, and creating team success will be an awful lot harder.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Believe you are an equal member of the team with a different role to do, not more or less important.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Know your team are essential to enable you to do a good job.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Your success now comes through your team.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Without a team, there is no need for a manager.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: They and you need each other.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Be humble, be respectful, value your team members.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Another very important mindset to adopt is putting the team first.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Put your team before any individual on your team, including yourself.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Focus on team first and your attitude will come through when you speak, in your decisions, actions and behaviours.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Your team will know that you are there for them, even when it costs you personally.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Trust, loyalty, appreciation, respect.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Gain these from your team and your job as a manager becomes so much easier.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: A willing team will enable you to be a lot more effective as a manager.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Start with a team-focused mindset where you value your team and put your team first, a vital mindset to be successful in any team management role.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, for success as a new manager, don't make changes too soon.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: There is a lot of psychological pressure on anyone starting as a new manager to impress, to make their mark, to show their boss and team hiring or promoting them was the right choice.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Many new managers rush to make changes too soon as a result.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: They make changes that cause more problems than they solve, or introduce changes for change's sake, which annoys their team, or change that actually damages team performance.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Don't rush to make changes.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do rush to learn and understand.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Find out what is really happening in your team by spending time with your team members.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Ask a lot of questions, listen.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Ask your team to show you rather than tell you about what they do.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: When you understand the problems the team faces, the restrictions they work with, the goals you need to achieve with the team, the interdependencies with other teams, and the impact of different potential improvements.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Then you're in a position to make changes that improve the situation for the team or help increase the chances of achieving team goals or increase the output of the team.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Rush to learn and understand.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: With good knowledge and understanding, the changes that you do make will create much more impressive results and outcomes, which in turn will reflect very well on you.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Be confident, learn and understand before making changes.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: The fifth action for success as a new manager is focus on building the right relationships.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: In your first week as a new manager, the most important relationships to focus on building are relationships with firstly your boss and then secondly each of your team members.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Secondary are building relationships with stakeholders to your team, senior managers and potentially leadership team members.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: In your first week, I suggest you firstly book in one-on-one meetings with your boss and each of your team members you have.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, take one or two of your team members at a time out for a coffee or lunch to get them to know them in a more informal setting.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And third, spend more time at your team members' desks than yours.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: In your one-on-one meetings with your team members, your job is to learn more about them.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the areas I ask about are firstly what job they do.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, what they think about their job, where it fits in, who relies on the team members and what their output is.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Third, what they think we should keep doing, what we should change and what we should stop doing.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, their hobbies and interests outside of work.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: What do they spend their spare time on?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And fifth, what are their ambitions, both professionally and personally.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: During these meetings, it is also really important that you share similar information about yourself to your team members.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Be a person with interests, hopes and dreams to them as well as their manager.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: In your meetings with your boss, the key things to find out in addition to what we've just been through are what they expect from you.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, how they want to work and interact with you, including their communication preferences.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Third, what you can do to help them reach their goals, i.e.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: supporting their success.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And fourth, what are some of their challenges that they're working on right now.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: When you know what your boss wants, you can then work at delivering this.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Helping and supporting your boss is a vital action to be proactive at and work hard at.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: In the first few months, focus most of your relationship building efforts on your boss and team.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: These are always going to be your most important relationships.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then you can put more of your time into strengthening relationships with team stakeholders and senior managers.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: In summary, your mindset, attitude, and actions in your first week as a new manager will be big factors in building your confidence and being successful.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is always easier to work hard at taking the right actions compared to trying to recover from a slow or shaky start.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: The five actions for first week's success as a new manager are firstly, focus on the new 20%, not the old 80%.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, understand the goals and expectations for your team.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Third, start with a team-focused attitude.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, don't make changes too soon.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And fifth, focus on building the right relationships.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to take a look at the additional resources available in the podcast description.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on five actions for first week's success as a new manager, please email me at support at enhance.