Your First Three Months

Common Challenges and Advantages

New managers often feel overwhelmed by the volume of new information they need to absorb. However, what turns out to be easier varies, with some benefiting from prior relationships or helpful peers.

Paths to Management

There are four typical paths to becoming a manager:

  • Apprentice: Promoted within the team.
  • Pioneer: Founding member of a new group.
  • New Boss: Managing an established team, with past management experience.
  • Successor: Taking over for a departing manager.

The Apprentice

Advantages

  • Guidance from Manager: Close mentorship and guidance from your own manager.
  • Familiarity: Existing knowledge of team dynamics and processes allows for a quicker ramp-up.

Watch Outs

  • Awkward Dynamics: Transitioning relationships from peer to manager.
  • Balancing IC Work and Management: The need to reduce individual contributor responsibilities as team size grows.

The Pioneer

Advantages

  • Role Definition Knowledge: Deep understanding of the role due to being the first.
  • Team Building: Ability to shape the team and its culture deliberately.

Watch Outs

  • Lack of Support: Often alone in the role without peers in the same function.
  • Balancing IC Work and Management: Handling management responsibilities while continuing IC tasks.

The New Boss

Advantages

  • Grace Period: Initial period where mistakes are forgiven, and colleagues are willing to help.
  • Blank Slate: Opportunity to reset identity and establish new relationships.

Watch Outs

  • Adjusting to New Norms: Need to learn the team's dynamics before asserting oneself.
  • Building Relationships: Starting from scratch in establishing trust with the team.

The Successor

Watch Outs

  • Awkward Dynamics: Similar challenges to the apprentice in managing former peers.
  • Increased Responsibility: Adjusting to the full scope of a former manager’s role.
  • Pressure to Conform: Avoid feeling pressured to replicate the former manager’s style; focus on being yourself.

Conclusion

The first three months are an intense period of adaptation and learning. Comfort and mastery may take much longer, but investing time in understanding team dynamics, building relationships, and balancing responsibilities is crucial for success. The following chapters will delve into specific aspects of a manager’s job to aid in this transition.