Be Yourself

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 623.

Understand and Negotiate the Right Management Contract

In other words, if you don't think the job you've been promoted into is possible, either don't take it or renegotiate the scope of the job. This is hard for ambitious managers to do. When asked if they can be effective in a new management position, most managers feel pressure to answer "yes" with confidence and self-assurance, even if they have doubts. Accepting a position that is virtually impossible to be successful in does not help the company you work for and it certainly doesn't help you. Better to make sure the job is one that is both attainable and doable, albeit ambitious.

The reverse may also be true: the scope of a management assignment may be too limited and the newly appointed manager may need to re-negotiate a position with a bigger scope.

In either case, the universally successful management practice is to consider an assignment as a "contract". Each contract needs to have clearly defined success and failure criteria assigned to it so that the manager can measure their own success and to adjust the scope of the assignment to ensure its success.

A common mistake of newly appointed managers is to assume that they are expected to act differently now that they manage others. While there is some truth to this notion in terms of behavior, successful middle managers find it is important to continue to be the same person they were before the promotion. Develop a management style that fits with who you are as a person; don't try and behave like someone else. If your natural approach is fun-loving and less serious, find ways to manage that way. If you are more serious and impersonal in the ways you interact with others, don't assume you have to change personalities to be successful. Managers are promoted based on the judgment of others, and that judgment is based on what was seen in you before you were promoted. If you attempt to completely change your approach or style, you are less likely to be successful.