Becoming a manager for the first time is both a great accomplishment and a great challenge.
Many companies — especially startups — struggle to balance growth and professional development for their employees. But for your team to continue to grow and thrive, you need your new managers to step up. Without extensive, formal training programs, the People Operations team is often tasked with getting new managers up to speed.
The team's success depends on its managers. Gallup estimates that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores.
“For anyone who's managing people, including manager training, even if they have leadership experience. Leaders model expected behavior, always.” Jessica Reeder, All-Remote Integrated Marketing Campaign Manager, GitLab
Relationships give our lives meaning. Even at work, we can’t escape relationships and the different types of personalities that come along with them. As a leader, you manage important and fragile relationships built on trust. Let's dive in and take a look at what makes a great leader, how to set your team up for success, and tips and tricks on managing different relationships and personalities on your team.
The responsibilities and projects will depend from manager to manager, company to company. Your managers are the ambassadors of your company culture and values. They should understand the core behaviors you want to nurture across your teams.
What about the employees who find themselves in a leadership role for the first time? The best way to empower them is to set up a first-time manager trajectory: a process where your first-time manager learns the ins-and-outs of what it means to lead a team in your organization.
The best way for your teams to learn is by sharing knowledge, internal resources, and feedback. With Gather, you can set up the path for your first-time manager to ensure they don't miss a single step toward becoming a great leader.
The mentor of your first-time manager trainee will play a crucial role here. They are the ones that can help with providing the knowledge, experience, and support your first-time manager is going to need.
With direct messages on Slack, you can connect and guide them through the process without difficult spreadsheet tracking.
Everyone makes mistakes when starting out. That's how we learn! The best way your first-time manager can learn is by receiving feedback from their team directly. By scheduling regular feedback sessions, first-time managers can connect with their team.
Sending them a quick message is all it takes to nudge them to hold a feedback session! First-time managers will schedule a feedback session, be the owners of their feedback process, and won't need to worry about them missing the deadline thanks to regular reminders.
Encouragement, preparation, and communication are the keys to success. Consider sending your first-time manager a good luck note on the first day.
Gather is a great tool for reminding you of the little celebratory moments that help connect the dots. Plus they are an instant mood boost!
You can set up reminders for the start of the learning process or training completion.
Or you can remind the managers to schedule regular check-ins or to send a few words of encouragement.
P.S. At Gather, we’re helping People Operations teams make managers and leaders more proactive around important moments for employees.
