Taking on your first team...
Discussion
Hi All,
Obviously there will be some people on here who are managers/team leaders, but at some point you had to move onto the dark side and take your first post as a manager so I'm intrigued to know;
1. Do you regret it?
2. Good points
3. Bad points
I'm about to embark on my first team leader role as it's always been a career aspiration of mine but interesting to know first hand.
Cheers
Obviously there will be some people on here who are managers/team leaders, but at some point you had to move onto the dark side and take your first post as a manager so I'm intrigued to know;
1. Do you regret it?
2. Good points
3. Bad points
I'm about to embark on my first team leader role as it's always been a career aspiration of mine but interesting to know first hand.
Cheers
I would say most people find it hard to move into management. I'd also say that if you aspire to 'be a manager' then ugh, how awful for you.....that'll soon pass 
A good CEO I worked with often said how much he'd enjoy the job more if it wasn't for all the people management side of it.....
I personally moved to team leader initially before then running larger and larger teams and while there are many positives of being a manager, I am still much happier without line manager responsibility if I can help it....and I would say that in general, I am quite good at it and have led many a happy well performing team over the years.....
Tips from me:
In the first role, it is easy to annoy your team through either 'trying too hard' or 'not doing enough'. It is a fine line to walk and I would guess nearly all new managers would say it is hard after the first 6 months or so (if they were being honest). and I would guess most fail by trying too hard.
Ask your team for regular feedback.
As team leader (that 1st role), my approach was to see myself simultaneously as a s
t umbrella (protecting the team) and a praise filter (anything good was the team that did it).
Don't be afraid to delegate. The management responsibility is now your job, that means the stuff you used to do needs to get done by someone else. If you don't successfully do this, you will fail.
If you are a player manager, think each week, how much time do you play, how much do you manage. People gravitate to do the stuff they enjoy most and neglect the other bit. Make sure you get the balance right. (comes back to delegate)
Never take any personal credit for things that were done by the team. It will damage your credibility up and down.
All people are different, (and not like you). I initially got frustrated with team members that seemed to care about things differently to me / the company. You have to accept that not everyone has the same motivations and work to understand their point of view.
A good CEO I worked with often said how much he'd enjoy the job more if it wasn't for all the people management side of it.....
I personally moved to team leader initially before then running larger and larger teams and while there are many positives of being a manager, I am still much happier without line manager responsibility if I can help it....and I would say that in general, I am quite good at it and have led many a happy well performing team over the years.....
Tips from me:
In the first role, it is easy to annoy your team through either 'trying too hard' or 'not doing enough'. It is a fine line to walk and I would guess nearly all new managers would say it is hard after the first 6 months or so (if they were being honest). and I would guess most fail by trying too hard.
Ask your team for regular feedback.
As team leader (that 1st role), my approach was to see myself simultaneously as a s
t umbrella (protecting the team) and a praise filter (anything good was the team that did it). Don't be afraid to delegate. The management responsibility is now your job, that means the stuff you used to do needs to get done by someone else. If you don't successfully do this, you will fail.
If you are a player manager, think each week, how much time do you play, how much do you manage. People gravitate to do the stuff they enjoy most and neglect the other bit. Make sure you get the balance right. (comes back to delegate)
Never take any personal credit for things that were done by the team. It will damage your credibility up and down.
All people are different, (and not like you). I initially got frustrated with team members that seemed to care about things differently to me / the company. You have to accept that not everyone has the same motivations and work to understand their point of view.
Edited by fat80b on Wednesday 18th November 11:38
fat80b said:
I would say most people find it hard to move into management. I'd also say that if you aspire to 'be a manager' then ugh, how awful for you.....that'll soon pass
A good CEO I worked with often said how much he'd enjoy the job more if it wasn't for all the people management side of it.....
I personally moved to team leader initially before then running larger and larger teams and while there are many positives of being a manager, I am still much happier without line manager responsibility if I can help it....and I would say that in general, I am quite good at it and have led many a happy well performing team over the years.....
Tips from me:
In the first role, it is easy to annoy your team through either 'trying too hard' or 'not doing enough'. It is a fine line to walk and I would guess nearly all new managers would say it is hard after the first 6 months or so (if they were being honest). and I would guess most fail by trying too hard.
Ask your team for regular feedback.
As team leader (that 1st role), my approach was to see myself simultaneously as a st umbrella (protecting the team) and a praise filter (anything good was the team that did it).
Don't be afraid to delegate. The management responsibility is now your job, that means the stuff you used to do needs to get done by someone else. If you don't successfully do this, you will fail.
If you are a player manager, think each week, how much time do you play, how much do you manage. People gravitate to do the stuff they enjoy most and neglect the other bit. Make sure you get the balance right.
Never take any personal credit for things that were done by the team. It will damage your credibility up and down.
All people are different, (and not like you). I initially got frustrated with team members that seemed to care about things differently to me / the company. You have to accept that not everyone has the same motivations and work to understand their point of view.
All good stuff.A good CEO I worked with often said how much he'd enjoy the job more if it wasn't for all the people management side of it.....
I personally moved to team leader initially before then running larger and larger teams and while there are many positives of being a manager, I am still much happier without line manager responsibility if I can help it....and I would say that in general, I am quite good at it and have led many a happy well performing team over the years.....
Tips from me:
In the first role, it is easy to annoy your team through either 'trying too hard' or 'not doing enough'. It is a fine line to walk and I would guess nearly all new managers would say it is hard after the first 6 months or so (if they were being honest). and I would guess most fail by trying too hard.
Ask your team for regular feedback.
As team leader (that 1st role), my approach was to see myself simultaneously as a s
t umbrella (protecting the team) and a praise filter (anything good was the team that did it). Don't be afraid to delegate. The management responsibility is now your job, that means the stuff you used to do needs to get done by someone else. If you don't successfully do this, you will fail.
If you are a player manager, think each week, how much time do you play, how much do you manage. People gravitate to do the stuff they enjoy most and neglect the other bit. Make sure you get the balance right.
Never take any personal credit for things that were done by the team. It will damage your credibility up and down.
All people are different, (and not like you). I initially got frustrated with team members that seemed to care about things differently to me / the company. You have to accept that not everyone has the same motivations and work to understand their point of view.
Learn what motivates each member of the team, if they are motivated life will be far easier. Some are motivated by challenge, others will curl up and die if challenged.
Encourage your successor, one day you will move on and if there is someone ready to take over it will be far easier.
Always be fair, and approachable.
Muck in when needed.
My view was pretty simple: Treat the team how you would hope to be treated. This meant for example that when a chap's mother was taken to hospital, I told him to leave the office now and go see her. I also told him if I don't see him tomorrow that will be fine and if he could update me when he gets the chance that would be great. This contrasted with my boss when my missus was blue lighted to hospital who helpfully said I was required to stay "just in case I was needed" until 6pm......
If people turned up 5-15 minutes late, I didn't care. If people wanted/needed to leave a little early, I didn't care.
What this meant was when the s**t really, really hit the fan one day, three people stayed with me until 10pm in the office without complaint to fix it...
So, treat people well. Also defend them if they are in the right but someone has complained about them. Do no witch hunt with a view to punishment but with a view to trying to ensure the same mistake doesn't happen next time.
In short, just don't be an ar*e.......
If people turned up 5-15 minutes late, I didn't care. If people wanted/needed to leave a little early, I didn't care.
What this meant was when the s**t really, really hit the fan one day, three people stayed with me until 10pm in the office without complaint to fix it...
So, treat people well. Also defend them if they are in the right but someone has complained about them. Do no witch hunt with a view to punishment but with a view to trying to ensure the same mistake doesn't happen next time.
In short, just don't be an ar*e.......
Some thoughts from my experience.
I did a technical role but had good management skills and made the jump to manager a few years ago. I loved it at first but it soon became apparent that even a small team of professionals on good salaries ended up becoming really frustrating to manage. You become a glorified creche supervisor at times. I found I was dealing with petty niggles that grown adults should be able to talk about and sort out directly. Farting in the office, smokers using the workshop as a walk through to the shelter outside, etc. It's draining.
I also found that everything becomes a time zapper. If someone is off ill, HR calls, forms to fill in and return to work interviews and more forms. Someone needs to come in to do weekend work, authorisation forms, overtime forms, etc. Honestly I take my hat off to anyone who does this stuff full time. I lasted 2 years and jumped to a consultancy role. No team to manage and more money. I don't know how my other half copes as she has to manage a lot more people who are doing more basic roles who don't wan't to be there and are in it just to pay the rent.
Anyway, personally it wasn't for me. I missed doing "real" work and glad I am once again.
Did I regret it. Yes, I had mental health issues with work and a few things that went wrong in my personal life but looking back, I am now happier at work, no longer under so much stress and pressure and I wouldn't be getting the big salary and bonus if I hadn't first moved into management.
Good points... I did learn some new skills and an appreciation that status and climbing the corporate ladder mean absolutely nothing compared to low stress and being happy with a good work life balance. I appreciate my family more than I used to and appreciate that work is just work. something to be forgotten at 5 on the dot. The only unpaid overtime I do these days is if I've forgot to hand in my travel expenses and need to claim back that airport beer ;-)
Anyway, it may sound doom and gloom but this is just my personal experience. Different strokes for different folks and all that.
I did a technical role but had good management skills and made the jump to manager a few years ago. I loved it at first but it soon became apparent that even a small team of professionals on good salaries ended up becoming really frustrating to manage. You become a glorified creche supervisor at times. I found I was dealing with petty niggles that grown adults should be able to talk about and sort out directly. Farting in the office, smokers using the workshop as a walk through to the shelter outside, etc. It's draining.
I also found that everything becomes a time zapper. If someone is off ill, HR calls, forms to fill in and return to work interviews and more forms. Someone needs to come in to do weekend work, authorisation forms, overtime forms, etc. Honestly I take my hat off to anyone who does this stuff full time. I lasted 2 years and jumped to a consultancy role. No team to manage and more money. I don't know how my other half copes as she has to manage a lot more people who are doing more basic roles who don't wan't to be there and are in it just to pay the rent.
Anyway, personally it wasn't for me. I missed doing "real" work and glad I am once again.
Did I regret it. Yes, I had mental health issues with work and a few things that went wrong in my personal life but looking back, I am now happier at work, no longer under so much stress and pressure and I wouldn't be getting the big salary and bonus if I hadn't first moved into management.
Good points... I did learn some new skills and an appreciation that status and climbing the corporate ladder mean absolutely nothing compared to low stress and being happy with a good work life balance. I appreciate my family more than I used to and appreciate that work is just work. something to be forgotten at 5 on the dot. The only unpaid overtime I do these days is if I've forgot to hand in my travel expenses and need to claim back that airport beer ;-)
Anyway, it may sound doom and gloom but this is just my personal experience. Different strokes for different folks and all that.
Edited by toon10 on Wednesday 18th November 14:10
LukeyP_ said:
Hi All,
Obviously there will be some people on here who are managers/team leaders, but at some point you had to move onto the dark side and take your first post as a manager so I'm intrigued to know;
1. Do you regret it?
2. Good points
3. Bad points
I'm about to embark on my first team leader role as it's always been a career aspiration of mine but interesting to know first hand.
Cheers
1. No. Has to be done if you want to move up the poleObviously there will be some people on here who are managers/team leaders, but at some point you had to move onto the dark side and take your first post as a manager so I'm intrigued to know;
1. Do you regret it?
2. Good points
3. Bad points
I'm about to embark on my first team leader role as it's always been a career aspiration of mine but interesting to know first hand.
Cheers
2. More planning and control over your own workload, More "interesting" work. Job satisfaction when it all goes well
3. More stress, longer hours, harder to switch off. I'm a crap delegator so I'm my own worst enemy in some respects.
Are you going to manage a team that you were previously a part of (or are you going in from the outside). The former is always more difficult IMO. Some of your former colleagues won't understand the "change" and some will actively resent it and try to undermine you.
Jasandjules said:
My view was pretty simple: Treat the team how you would hope to be treated. This meant for example that when a chap's mother was taken to hospital, I told him to leave the office now and go see her. I also told him if I don't see him tomorrow that will be fine and if he could update me when he gets the chance that would be great. This contrasted with my boss when my missus was blue lighted to hospital who helpfully said I was required to stay "just in case I was needed" until 6pm......
If people turned up 5-15 minutes late, I didn't care. If people wanted/needed to leave a little early, I didn't care.
What this meant was when the s**t really, really hit the fan one day, three people stayed with me until 10pm in the office without complaint to fix it...
So, treat people well. Also defend them if they are in the right but someone has complained about them. Do no witch hunt with a view to punishment but with a view to trying to ensure the same mistake doesn't happen next time.
In short, just don't be an ar*e.......
Whilst I don't disagree with this, I've found that one of the best pieces of advice I was given was to treat people how they want to be treated.If people turned up 5-15 minutes late, I didn't care. If people wanted/needed to leave a little early, I didn't care.
What this meant was when the s**t really, really hit the fan one day, three people stayed with me until 10pm in the office without complaint to fix it...
So, treat people well. Also defend them if they are in the right but someone has complained about them. Do no witch hunt with a view to punishment but with a view to trying to ensure the same mistake doesn't happen next time.
In short, just don't be an ar*e.......
Most, if not all people, would like common decency as you've mentioned above.
But my biggest learning was to manage people in a way that suits them. Some people are emotional and require an arm around them. Some people want to be left alone to get on with it. Some want a phone call just to chat. Some want a direct approach and so on.
It's your job to learn what makes people tick and manage them accordingly to get the best out of them.
Couple of other points
Be honest and true to your word - no-one likes a liar or a bull-s
tter.If you say you are going to do something, then do it - see above
Be the guy who makes a decision quickly and efficiently, unless the decision isn't yours to make. Procrastination, indecisiveness or shirking are annoying.
Talk to people. Everyone, at all levels. You are no different to anyone else, you just have a different job. Remember that and let them know it too.
Do your job. Don't try and do your job and the guy below's job.
Your job is now less about hands-on action, depending on level and/or your specific role. Your job is to look ahead (either a few days or a few years, depending on your level) and develop the people who work for you, in the same way that you should be developed by your manager.
I don't regret getting into management. I like it. It's not easy, but that's part of the fun. It can be s
tty when things go wrong and there is pressure but when it goes right, the team are happy and we're doing well, it's great.Never let them forget you're their boss. Always try to find a reason to make an example of someone at least once a week. Remind people if they weren't so bad at their job they wouldn't be stuck on a st wage reporting to you. Never ever promote someone who might be as good or better at your job than you. Always keep a close eye on new ideas your team has- ensure you find out about them first and take credit for them with your manager.
t wage reporting to you. Never ever promote someone who might be as good or better at your job than you. Always keep a close eye on new ideas your team has- ensure you find out about them first and take credit for them with your manager. If they want to speak to you about something prioritise it. If they have an issue deal with it. Don't put things off and get back to them later as they will stop coming to you and stop caring about the things they can effect and that you end up responsible for. If you don't know the answer to something be honest and tell them but tell them you will find out.
Theres lots more but management/ leadership in my eyes is about making your team better through your knowledge that got you to your position. Not you working 200% to cover them.
Also get the woman on your side far harder to do than the guys. imo
Theres lots more but management/ leadership in my eyes is about making your team better through your knowledge that got you to your position. Not you working 200% to cover them.
Also get the woman on your side far harder to do than the guys. imo
vulture1 said:
If they want to speak to you about something prioritise it. If they have an issue deal with it. Don't put things off and get back to them later as they will stop coming to you and stop caring about the things they can effect and that you end up responsible for.
Depends on what the issue is, surely.....?LukeyP_ said:
Hi All,
Obviously there will be some people on here who are managers/team leaders, but at some point you had to move onto the dark side and take your first post as a manager so I'm intrigued to know;
1. Do you regret it?
2. Good points
3. Bad points
I'm about to embark on my first team leader role as it's always been a career aspiration of mine but interesting to know first hand.
Cheers
Have you been trained and coached in preparation? If not, which unfortunately is extremely common, then try not to be an accidental manager for too long; embark on some training to arm you with the competencies you will need.Obviously there will be some people on here who are managers/team leaders, but at some point you had to move onto the dark side and take your first post as a manager so I'm intrigued to know;
1. Do you regret it?
2. Good points
3. Bad points
I'm about to embark on my first team leader role as it's always been a career aspiration of mine but interesting to know first hand.
Cheers
If you have been adequately prepared, then continue the learning to ensure you’re as developed as you can be in order to be able to continue to manage successfully.
In answer to your questions:
1. No.
2. Satisfaction from being able to make a difference.
3. Every time I made a mistake!
Good luck!
Countdown said:
vulture1 said:
If they want to speak to you about something prioritise it. If they have an issue deal with it. Don't put things off and get back to them later as they will stop coming to you and stop caring about the things they can effect and that you end up responsible for.
Depends on what the issue is, surely.....?I did a TL role for about a year, in a team I was already in (this is an important consideration, as I already had a level of respect).
I was pretty good at it I think. You have to be fair, approachable, honest and do what you say you will do for your team. It helps if they respect you and you know what you are talking about too.
I enjoyed mentoring the guys and helping them develop, but pretty much everything else makes it not worth it.
Admin, push back from senior management, being available 24/7, egos, bureaucracy, process, red tape - drives you mad.
I pushed for a payrise for one of the guys that was underpaid, what a palaver. We honestly wasted the amount of money being asked for, just debating it.
YMMV, but basically you have to make sure the team are productive, with as few resources as possible, make sure st doesn't hit the fan and stop st from rolling up the management chain.
My line manager was great, but life will be a nightmare if (s)he's a dhead.
I don't regret it, it was a good experience and I gained some valuable skills, but I couldn't do it day in, day out.
For me, the slight pay uplift wasn't worth it. I went contracting on the technical side for more money. I would recommend keeping one hand on the tools incase it's not for you.
I was pretty good at it I think. You have to be fair, approachable, honest and do what you say you will do for your team. It helps if they respect you and you know what you are talking about too.
I enjoyed mentoring the guys and helping them develop, but pretty much everything else makes it not worth it.
Admin, push back from senior management, being available 24/7, egos, bureaucracy, process, red tape - drives you mad.
I pushed for a payrise for one of the guys that was underpaid, what a palaver. We honestly wasted the amount of money being asked for, just debating it.
YMMV, but basically you have to make sure the team are productive, with as few resources as possible, make sure s
t doesn't hit the fan and stop st from rolling up the management chain.My line manager was great, but life will be a nightmare if (s)he's a d
head.I don't regret it, it was a good experience and I gained some valuable skills, but I couldn't do it day in, day out.
For me, the slight pay uplift wasn't worth it. I went contracting on the technical side for more money. I would recommend keeping one hand on the tools incase it's not for you.
Couple of things to remember:
If the outgoing guy was a knob, the assumption amongst the team is that you will be too. It will take time to convince them otherwise.
If the outgoing guy was a gem, the assumption amongst the team is that you won't be. It will take time to convince them otherwise.
Half the team want your job. The other half want another job.
Tips?
Absolutely this:
Be the first in and the last out most of the time.
Communicate.
HTH Good Luck!
If the outgoing guy was a knob, the assumption amongst the team is that you will be too. It will take time to convince them otherwise.
If the outgoing guy was a gem, the assumption amongst the team is that you won't be. It will take time to convince them otherwise.
Half the team want your job. The other half want another job.
Tips?
Absolutely this:
GT03ROB said:
Remember they are not your friends. Don't be the farmer who treats his animals as pets. Be empathetic but don't get emotionally involved.
...if there's after works drinks, go along for one, then go home and leave them to it.Be the first in and the last out most of the time.
Communicate.
HTH Good Luck!
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