After years of blood, sweat, tears, and too much caffeine, you have finally earned yourself a management role.
So why aren’t you happier about this?
Well, turns out not all managers are living the high life in their personal offices with their own door. According to business publishers Berrett-Koehler, about 43% of managers are comfortable in their jobs and only a third (about 32%) claim they like managing.
A common issue in the workplace is when an employee is promoted to a management role, not because they have shown leadership qualities, but because they need to be rewarded and retained as high performers. These kind of new managers are so used to working with their own specialized talent that they don’t have the skill set to automatically become a strong manager in their workplace.
There are many reasons why one doesn’t like the idea of being a manager. They could be extremely introverted, shy, and quiet and now they feel they must be aggressive, pushy, and loud.
Now it seems some companies aren’t blind to this issue and try to solve this challenge by putting two people together to balance each other’s skills, such as a strategist and a leader of people. However, this approach oftentimes does not have the desired outcome, and can be costly for the organization.
As an alternative, training and development can help new managers figure out just the type of leader they would like to be. They need to find what personally works for them and become comfortable and confident in supervising direct reports who were formerly peers.
Leaders acquire the ability to influence through a variety of methods. Just because you have an introverted personality does not mean you can’t successfully lead a group of diverse people. In fact, the sooner you feel comfortable as a manager, the quicker you and your team will start producing better results.
For new managers, self-awareness can help you to understand when to go with your “gut” reaction rather than relying completely on analytical techniques. Humans can’t be unemotional; emotions are a part of our everyday experience.
Here are some tips to get you on the right track:
When you start to build some sort of rapport with your team, you might surprise yourself and actually enjoy being a manager.