3 Simple Practices to Succeed as a New Manager

Earlier this month, I spoke to a 20-something Estimating Manager. She excelled as an estimator and quickly got put into a leadership role, but now that she’s managing people, she is feeling lost. And it’s causing her a lot of anxiety because she is constantly wondering things like: 

• Am I doing this right? 

• Do people want to follow me? 

• How do I get people to buy in to my ideas? 

• Am I holding them accountable in the right ways? Should I be tougher? 

• How do I make sure we keep getting results now that I have so much more responsibility? 

I really felt for her because I know what she’s going through isn’t easy! But I told her that there is some good news: there are a few foundational principles you can practice to reduce anxiety and be a better leader, even if you’ve never done it before. And I’d like to share these 3 principles with you so that you can start building your leadership skills today. I promise they will make a difference. 

Care about your people

Leadership isn’t complicated.

For example, bad leaders are selfish. They focus on their own ego and blame their team for problems and mistakes. Which means that they spend very little time thinking about their people, their goals, and the challenges they’re facing. 

Conversely, great leaders spend most of their time working to make sure their people have what they need to succeed. It’s not because they are special. It’s as simple as actually caring about the people they lead. 

So, if you want to be great, start by cultivating a deep care for your people. A really good way to start is with 3 questions I love: 

1. What makes you feel appreciated? 
   

2. What are your hopes and dreams? 
   

3. If I have coaching for you that may help you reach your hopes and dreams, do you have any advice for me on how to give it to you? 
   

Then, whatever the answers, make sure you do your best to message them in a way that demonstrates you listened! That’s how you start building a foundation of care that the rest of your leadership skills will be built on top of. 

Be yourself

I’ve noticed that new leaders put an unnecessary pressure on themselves to be perfect. Instead of giving themselves grace, they are extremely anxious about doing everything “right”. But leadership isn’t about doing it “right”, it’s about doing it in a way that is right for you.

So, the message here is simple: 

• Don’t try to be perfect 

• Do be yourself 
  

I find that this starts by being extremely self-aware about your strengths and weaknesses. You can’t hide from either, because your people will recognize them in your first week of working together. So, don’t try to. Instead, admit your shortcomings, your fears, and what you’re working on. It’s actually really inspiring when a leader is humble and knows they need to improve.

Do your best 

I learned early in my leadership journey that you can’t make everyone happy. I specifically remember one person who would give me a hard time no matter what I did. I had 0 respect for the guy, but for some reason, his opinion of me would make me anxious!

Luckily, a mentor helped me realize that that was a bad definition of success. And that instead, I needed to be able to look at myself and feel good about the effort I put in.

Today, I define this as “doing your best”. If you did your best, then you won. Even if you screwed up and made a mistake, at least you did your best. You can learn from the mistake and build on it. But you have to do your best.

If you’ve never led, just do your best. You’re not going to nail everything, but you can keep iterating and getting better. Just keep doing your best. 

Spark Notes:

• Transitioning into leadership can bring anxiety and self-doubt, especially when facing new responsibilities and challenges.

• Effective leadership starts with genuinely caring for your team, prioritizing their needs, and fostering their success.

• Authenticity in leadership is key; focus on being true to yourself and embracing your strengths and weaknesses.

• Success in leadership isn’t about pleasing everyone but about consistently putting in your best effort and learning from mistakes.

• Building a strong leadership foundation requires a commitment to care, authenticity, and continuous growth.