Making the Transition to Manager
© By Dan Bobinski, President of Leadership Development, Inc. and Director at the Center for Workplace Excellence
Getting promoted is a common goal, but perhaps the most difficult promotion is transitioning from line worker to supervisor. Why? Because the skills that made one successful in the rank and file are not the skills one needs for success as a supervisor.
If you were recently promoted- or are looking to get promoted - it's time to learn a whole new skill set.
At the risk of oversimplification, the core of what new supervisors need to learn consists of three basic skill sets:
- Learn to Plan better
- Learn about People
- Learn to communicate Purpose
Learning to plan better
Planning is rarely urgent, so it often gets put on the back burner. New supervisors would rather do the exciting things like put out fires. To a new supervisor, planning takes time that doesn't seem to produce anything. But planning is important. It allows one's mind to see the finished product and consider all the processes needed to get there.
New supervisors must come to realize that, in their new position, the first step in producing means creating an organized, effective, workable plan. It means identifying key action items and important details and then using good time management and delegation skills to get the job done.
With effective planning, emergencies are minimized and manpower is maximized.
Learning about People
As a manager, your resources are your people. A manager must understand the strengths and weaknesses of the people reporting to him. In other words, to be successful, a new manager must become a student of people.
Trying to understand the human personality can be an overwhelming undertaking (psychologists go to school for years). So, for the sake of practical application, I like to boil understanding people down to three basic areas: Head, Hands, and Heart.
Head: How do your people think? What are the differences in how they perceive and process information? Are they more structured or more spontaneous in their decisions?
Hands: How do your people behave? What are their preferred actions when approaching problems, people, pace of the workday, and procedures?
Heart: What drives people? What motivates them? People can be motivated by a variety of things. To assume all are motivated by money is a terrible (and often costly) mistake.
Learning how to appreciate and capitalize on the diverse strengths of your employees allows you to leverage the skills and abilities of your team for maximum productivity.
Learning to communicate Purpose
Purpose – a clear picture of the end result – is often missing from workplace conversations. Too often people get bogged down in the details of everyday tasks and they lose sight of the bigger picture.
An effective manager consistently communicates the big picture. When employees see that what they're doing contributes to a much larger end result, their commitment levels often rise. They engage. They care more. They want their piece of the puzzle to matter.
Bottom line, moving from line worker to manager requires proficiency in a whole new skill set. Learn and master these new skills and you can become just as effective in management as you were in your previous position.
