Some Advice for New Managers

Congratulations! You have just been promoted to manager—all the long hours have paid off. Well done! Now what? We thought it wise to share some advice for new managers.

In most organizations, people get promoted into management positions because they are good engineers or sales people or accountants. Then, they are left to their own devices to learn management “on the job” with little or no support, tools, or training. They are expected to learn a whole new competency on their own! That’s  pretty crazy when you consider the affect that quality of management has on an organization’s success.

Management responsibilities typically include:

1. Allocating Resources
2. Subject Matter Expertise
3. Task Management
4. Setting Goals
5. Reviewing and Improving Performance
6. Leadership
7. Talent Strategy

In order to reach management level, you have most likely shown that you are well-capable of the first three on the list. The other four are the game changers. These factors are the difference between an average manager and a great one—and the difference between an average organization and an exceptional one.

It’s not possible to cover these topics in a single article in any meaningful way, so I am just going to point out that the value of getting them right is HUGE. Organizations that have a system in place for goal setting, performance reviews, leadership, and talent strategy outperform organizations that don’t by a massive margin. In their book, The Differentiated Workforce, Becker, Huselid, and Beatty calculate that organizations with what they call a “High Performance Work System” in place earn, on average, $90,586 greater revenue per employee than organizations that don’t. There are very few other things you can do in your organization to create that kind of value.

Finally, if you would like to learn more about how WorkCompass and our performance management software can benefit your team. Please get in touch and request a demo.