If you manage people...

[Bernadine]

Give me your best tips for managing people day-to-day.  I just spoke with my supervisor, and while I'm not a supervisor myself, she'd like me to take on more of the responsibilities of managing our team.

Thanks!

[Deleted]

If you don't mind sharing, what do you do and what is your team responsible for?

I manage a team of accountants who are responsible for certain financial reporting analysis each quarter. I make sure they stay on track (have regular staff meetings 2x weekly), manage a calendar of deadlines, jump in to help where needed, and I review all of their work before it's submitted to Corporate. I train them, provide guidance during projects and meetings, and I perform one-on-ones and annual reviews.

What does your supervisor do that maybe you can take off her plate?

[Bernadine]

Mar 9, 2021 8:45:46 GMT -5 @psugrad said:

If you don't mind sharing, what do you do and what is your team responsible for?

I manage a team of accountants who are responsible for certain financial reporting analysis each quarter. I make sure they stay on track (have regular staff meetings 2x weekly), manage a calendar of deadlines, jump in to help where needed, and I review all of their work before it's submitted to Corporate. I train them, provide guidance during projects and meetings, and I perform one-on-ones and annual reviews.

What does your supervisor do that maybe you can take off her plate?

We do HR/administrative type work.

I like your question of what does my supervisor do that I can take off of her plate- that’s a good way of looking at it.

[twilightmv]

Well that's a pretty big question! Communication is always a big one. Make sure people have what they need to do their job, know their priorities short term and long term, and know what's coming and how it will effect them as an individual. Provide feedback in a timely, straightforward manner. Not sure if you are a subject matter expert, but regardless, don't feel like just because you're in charge you need to have all the answers. Be honest when you don't, and don't be afraid to ask people for help or information. 

[tcu2003]

Ditto the suggestion of helping take things off of your supervisor’s plate.

When I was transitioning from an engineer to project manager and now to a team leader, one of things I started taking over was scheduling and workload for a few engineers that worked mostly on my projects. When those engineers got slow or too busy, they came to me first. If I couldn’t fix the problem myself, then I’d get my supervisor’s help, which helped their workload. I also ended up taking on some new hire training, coordination with other departments and teams, and eventually performance reviews.

Communication is also key. Especially if you’re still WFH. We use Microsoft Teams, so in my current role, I am IMing the program and project managers (and often impromptu Teams video calls) daily, and doing 1:1 scheduled check-ins weekly or every other week. For some designers, they’re doing the same with my program/project managers, and then I also check in with them, but less frequently.

[laterz]

askamanager.com has soooooo many great resources and advice!

[ohgillian]

Mar 9, 2021 10:27:45 GMT -5 laterz said:

askamanager.com has soooooo many great resources and advice!

500% this. I am not even a manager, and I feel like this site has helped me so much at work. I read it religiously. And as of last week, I'm training a new staff person and the things I"ve learned here have also helped me for that. 

[al dente]

Twilightmv had good advice. But I'd also get more clarification from your supervisor. Are you currently equals with all these people? It can be hard going from coworker to management within the same group, and I would want that relationship to start out with clear boundaries not people thinking that you're suddenly overstepping your coworker boundaries (or that they weren't given the opportunity for promotion).

[goldengirlz]

This is a pretty broad question!

But piggybacking on what al dente said, some of the missteps from my early days as a new manager could be blamed on situations where there was blurring of the line between “manager” and “peer/work friend.” Like oversharing, for example. Remember that everything you say will land differently as a manger.

It’s also worth reading about the best way to deliver feedback because it’s often the hardest (but most important) part of the job.

[Doggy Mommy]

This may be different because I'm in education, but one of the most important but also one of the hardest things is that people always want to know the why behind a decision. The hard part about that is that sometimes you can't tell them that because of laws and rules and HR stuff. If they don't completely trust you, then they question why you made such a "dumb" decision, so it also comes down to having a strong trusting relationship with employees. If they do trust you, they're more likely to assume that you had valid reasons behind the decision.

[TR]

Mar 9, 2021 13:29:37 GMT -5 al dente said:

Twilightmv had good advice. But I'd also get more clarification from your supervisor. Are you currently equals with all these people? It can be hard going from coworker to management within the same group, and I would want that relationship to start out with clear boundaries not people thinking that you're suddenly overstepping your coworker boundaries (or that they weren't given the opportunity for promotion).

This is what I was going to bring up. It is SO tricky making this move, your current supervisor's actions will be really important. They need to make it clear that this is your new role, exactly what you're responsible for supervising/managing, etc. to the rest of the team. And needs to back you up if any of them challenge you.

[definitelyO]

I have a regular cadence of touch base meetings individually and then with the team as a whole. Communication goes a long way - sharing what you can when you can makes the team feel involved and that you understand they also need knowledge at different levels.

I'm a pretty hands off manager and push my team to come to me with solutions/recommendations. I try to set expectations up front on projects/deliverables and then work with them to make sure they succeed. When they come to me with a "what should I do?" question - I push back - "what actions do you recommend" to help get them in a solutioning mindset - I have found with a lot of more admin type roles they function from check lists and in a box - and to help them grow they need to see how they can have an impact and have opportunities for decisions.

in the beginning I'd ask to be included on most things to get insight into their challenges/opportunities and then back off as you learn and establish a two-way trust.

[krystee]

She needs to clearly communicate to the team what she has made you accountable for once it’s decided what that is. If it looks like you, a peer, are just taking this on because you want to or have decided you get to, that won’t land well.

I would say reviewing work, running certain meetings or managing projects would be the best ways to get management-level work. Things like 1:1s and evaluations are things she should maintain.