The people behind our growth

It’s a challenge that managers face transitioning from an individual contributor who performs well to a leader who must continue working on current responsibilities and lead others. Numerous first-time managers feel that no one understands what they’re going through.

The numbers confirm the challenges managers face, right! Here come the numbers to support this statement.

• Almost 20% of first-time managers or leaders are incapable of performing well, as per their subordinates.
• Near about 26% of first-time managers or leaders initially felt they were not fit to lead others to begin.
• 60% say they never received any formal training when they stepped into their first leadership role.

No wonder why nearly 50% of managers in companies are rated as inefficient!

Although new can sometimes be intimidating! This word “new” also implies that you can grow professionally and personally. If you’re feeling the pains of the imposter complex, that’s normal. But, keep in mind that you earned this promotion with your hard work and dedication to your job role.

Being ahead of the team for the first time in life is a significant transformation, and with the change, there come numerous challenges that managers face. Handling the challenges that managers usually face will eventually help you learn and develop. Be persistent! That is a big part of the leadership role, and real leadership is management.

Most Common Challenges & Ways to Overcome Them

Managing People and Showing Authority

The challenges new managers face while transitting from being a co-worker to a superior. They need to maintain a healthy relationship with the task force to get the work done. Sometimes new skills need to be acquired to overcome the challenges manager face are managing, influencing, and communicating with employees who are not in their direct authority line.

Leading Team Achievement

First-time leaders must provide guidance and leadership to their team when expectations and directions are not clear. Newly added skills must include the capability of advising the team members and monitor the team’s work to stay coordinated and meet deadlines, the ability to build a team, and the power of maintaining or improving the team’s chemistry. And these skills help to overcome the challenges managers face almost every day.

Developing Managerial and Personal effectiveness

 First-time managers must first learn to be a leader while being a multi-tasking employee.  New skills must include stress management, relationship management, time management, leadership, and industry-specific expertise.

Handling Internal Stakeholders and Work Culture

First-time managers must learn to convey their upper-level management ideas, including speaking on behalf of their department or subordinates. New skills must include gaining an understanding of the business’s corporate structure, its culture, gaining visibility with upper management, and politics; and also navigating organizational transformation for themselves and their team. These sets of skills help immensely to overcome the challenges managers face.

Managing performance and accountability

First-time managers have to overcome common challenges managers face and the discomfort with providing the subordinates with feedback about their weak performance. New skills to defeat the challenges managers face must include holding associates responsible for their actions; and efficiently dealing with employees who lack talent, knowledge, or experience.

Motivating Others

First-time managers need to be capable of encouraging direct and non-direct reports. New skills to include overcoming the usual challenges managers face are the ability to motivate their subordinates to complete the assigned task; to inspire others to surpass expectations; to learn what motivates others, and to be able to encourage without financial incentives.

Coaching, Developing, and Mentoring the Team

New managers are currently in the position to develop subordinate’s skills, knowledge, and capabilities. New skills to defeat the challenges managers face must include coaching and mentoring team members on their career development.

Managing conflicts

Newly promoted leaders must proactively solve any dispute between team members. The skills needed to handle these situations are recognizing and addressing petty issues before they change into more significant conflicts, mitigating conflict once it happens, and dealing with confrontation or resistance from group team members can reduce the challenges managers face.

Communicating with Others

One of the challenges managers face is interacting with people across all organization levels, including superiors, team members, and peers in other departments. New skills must include keeping communication lines open, understanding how to communicate to achieve the best results, and efficiently communicating goals and expectations with subordinates and superiors alike.

Doing More with Less

New managers have to maintain their increased workload with a shortage of essential resources; this is one of the challenges managers regularly face, including budgeting and staffing concerns.

Working with Various Kind of Employees

The managers must be capable of working effectively with and lead employees who have diverse opinions, skills/abilities, and personalities. These skills to include while overcoming this challenge that the managers face often is the capability to adapt their behavior based on how various people work.

In Conclusion

Because of these challenges managers face, they often struggle to transition from individual contributor to a leader who must lead others to do their work and continue to do their work responsively. This identity shift is the biggest challenge all new managers face. Still, when supervisors understand the challenges managers face, they are better equipped to support and help their first-time managers succeed and overcome the usual challenges managers face.