Tips for Transitioning from Individual Contributor to Manager

Want to get into leadership? It's a VERY different job than you do now. I've promoted dozens of people into leadership and here are the 5️⃣ things I make sure they agree to before I offer them the job. 1️⃣ Acknowledge the jobs are different → what made you a successful rep or IC (individual contributor) will NOT make you a successful leader. 💡 A great headstart into leadership is to begin to explore what those differences are. How can you begin to develop leadership skills before you need them? 2️⃣ Reverse where you index → most people index on either relationship or process. Leaders need to be proficient in both. Process people can be rough and short. Those strong in relationships can lack the teachable "how to" process provides bc of their magic people skills. 💡 Identify where your strength is and begin to understand your weakness. Where can you lean into your weakness in your current role? If you need more process, study the ones you have and start to manage yourself in them first. If you lean to process already, how can you take that extra beat to build deeper relationships now? 3️⃣ Don't super rep → the most common mistake of new leaders is making their team admins that "bring their manager" on a call to do the real work. This leads to reps reliant on their manager to get results, rather than developing self-sufficiency. 💡 You can start to "manage" now by leveraging your current resources better, e.g. more effective syncs with your SDR, better prep for you SE, more guided responses for support pros. Be a leader with the team you already have as an IC! 4️⃣ Choose good ideas over "my" ideas → new leaders are ready to change the world...even if it means repeating mistakes unnecessarily. When your idea always wins or you have strong inner conflict accepting someone else's idea bc you are worried about getting credit, you kill the momentum of your new role. 💡 When's the last time you sought out feedback on an idea you had? I'm sure you are like "ALWAYS!," but when did you change what you were doing? Try that. Get used to choosing good ideas that aren't yours! 5️⃣ Be a learner → Just bc you are leader doesn't mean you know it all or are expected to have every answer. Instead, find your wells of knowledge and draw from them daily. 💡 The best way to learn is to teach. Find something the team you are on needs, go learn it, then give it as a gift to your teammates. There's nothing better than helping someone be successful - that's leadership...and something you can do right now.

I'm delighted to share my newest piece for Newsweek-out today-on how to successfully navigate the transition from individual contributor to people leader. Too often, stellar individual contributors are promoted into people leadership roles without adequate training, development, support, or recognition that the skills that make people talented individual contributors are distinct from those that make them successful people leaders. Here, I share high-impact strategies that dramatically accelerate success for new people leaders: 🎯Recognize that you're moving into a new professional role and identity. Understanding the differences between successful individual contributor and people leadership skills is an important first step, as is learning to work on a more strategic versus tactical level. 🎯Develop your leadership values, voice, and vision. Understanding what guides you as a leader will help you better prioritize the day-to-day actions and ways of working that help you embody the kind of leader you aspire to be. 🎯Prioritize relationship building within and beyond your team. New people leaders often make the mistake of prioritizing day-to-day work over building relationships. But relationship building and creating alignment is central to success as a leader. 🎯Be strategic about how you and your team invest your time, energy, and resources. Learning to move from time management to priority management is a high-impact investment. Setting aside a weekly planning meeting to prioritize your and your team's work and defaulting to 85% rather than 100% effort will help you and your team deliver the highest impact results while protecting against burnout. 🎯Invest in and prioritize your own professional development and growth. Carving out regular time to deepen your skills as a people leader on an on-going basis will help you continue to develop your leadership skills and support your success as you grow into your new role. Recognizing that your own ongoing professional development is foundational to your success rather than taking a when-I-can-squeeze-it-in approach is critical. And, whether you're feeling confident, excited, overwhelmed, uncertain, anxious, or any of the other very common and normal mix of emotions, don't forget to make time to celebrate this significant career milestone! #LeadershipDevelopment #LeadershipCoaching #NewManager #NewManagers #WorkSmarterNotHarder #CareerAdvice

When I started leading a high-powered recruiting team, I had the traits of the TYRANT leaders I now call out. Here's why: Despite my degrees, certificates, and ongoing professional development, nothing prepared me to transition into leading. I still had an individual contributor (IC) mindset, which unintentionally led me to compete with my very capable team. At the time, I engaged in behaviors like: Taking over projects instead of developing my team. Working long hours, thinking it showed commitment. Making unilateral decisions vs collaborating. Giving orders instead of providing clarity and context. Hoarding information instead of communicating transparently. Prioritizing my metrics over team goals. A month in, my boss at the time sat down with me and told me to own my transition and to stop taking over work when someone asked for help. (she's one of the best Leader's I've ever had) To transform my mindset, I sought out a few internal sponsors and observed how they managed their teams. I also asked my team for feedback on where I could do better. Once I made the changes: mindset and action, I began demonstrating new leadership behaviors: Coaching my team and developing their problem-solving skills. ↳Created an authorization matrix to empower them to make decisions. Promoting work-life balance through prioritization and delegation. ↳I stopped working on vacation to set a better example. Making collaborative decisions to increase buy-in. ↳They worked on the reqs, so I asked for their ideas and where I could implement them. Painting a vision and equipping the team to get there themselves. ↳I translated the organization's vision down to how it affected our team goals. Openly communicating to build trust and transparency. ↳I promoted democratic decision-making and explained when it needed to be autocratic. Aligning on and championing team goals over my individual metrics. ↳I held weekly reviews where I celebrated their success because it was OUR success. Here's what I want you to take from this: 1. Develop your team's skills rather than trying to be the expert. 2. Delegate decisions to increase buy-in and leverage diverse perspectives. 3. Openly share information rather than hoarding knowledge and insight. 4. Recognize and elevate your team's contributions rather than taking individual credit. #aLITTLEadvice #leadership

Sorry, you can’t be a manager. You’ve never managed people before. 👆This is the inevitable chicken & egg situation first-time manager candidates run into. It’s not totally unfair, and it’s not impossible to overcome. Here are the three things to focus on if you’re trying to make the jump from IC to manager. 🤝 Mentorship and coaching. Find people to help and mentor. They can be people inside or outside your company. Don’t just show up to a 30-min session every week to check a box. Work intentionally with them the way you would if they were a direct report. Understand and fix performance issues, create growth plans, practice your therapy skills. When you’re interviewing for an official management spot, you’ll have specific stories to tell around what you did for others and the impact you had on them. 🤔 Develop a managerial philosophy. Being a great individual contributor does not guarantee you’ll be a great manager. They are completely different skill sets. You need to understand the difference and study different approaches to management. Talk to people you admire, read the books they recommend, and create a composite POV on how you’d manage. In an interview, be ready to speak about the curriculum you put yourself through. And, be able to succinctly articulate the pillars of your philosophy. ✍️ Process creation and documentation. This is not the most glamorous work, but it’s absolutely essential. And, it’s something you can start doing immediately. What are the things you do that make you great in your role? Write them down. What about other people on the team? Learn their processes and write those down, too. This is how success scales, which is a key part of effective management. Bring your reams of documentation to your interview. Show how you’ve helped translate and spread success across your team (or external mentors). ––– Prove to yourself that you enjoy the *actual* work of being a manager. And prove to the hiring committee that you’re taking it seriously. As with all worthwhile things, there are no shortcuts. #revenue #career

I’ve been promoted 11 times in 20 years at 6 companies Here’s how I did it: 1. Eliminate entitled expectations and patiently play the long game 2. Be truly exceptional in your current role - don’t underestimate how long it takes to achieve mastery 3. Clarify and communicate your long term career goals including your ideal next step  - it is not up to your manager or anyone else to do this for you 4. Demonstrate you can do the next role by taking on key responsibilities of that position - you don’t need to ask permission to solve important business problems 5. Make your manager’s life easier, become indispensable to them and seize learning opportunities to take projects off their plate 6. Lead by example by exuding optimism, assuming positive intent and helping others, especially through challenging times 7. Don’t complain and only talk about problems, design and implement solutions that drive real results 8. Act like an owner and don’t let your current job description hold you back from doing what is required for the business to be successful  9. Respond to inevitable disappointment gracefully and don’t give up  10. Choose the company and evaluate the hiring manager wisely - a great company and an invested manager are two key ingredients to create the conditions for career advancement My biggest lesson 20 years into my career: The promotions are great but don't feel as good as you think they will - focus on the journey and the process, that's the good stuff #personaldevelopment

Why is it so hard to make the transition from individual contributor to manager?  First, the definition of success drastically changes. There’s a shift from “me” to “we.” Instead of cranking out work as an individual, there’s a shift to empowering collective success as a team. For a lot of new leaders, this challenges their self-worth. They don’t always feel like they are contributing in huge value-add ways to the company because it’s not how they’ve previously contributed. Second, the actual work being done changes drastically. Managers tend to spend way more time in meetings than they did as an individual contributor. It’s because you’re spending time with people trying to clear roadblocks and accelerate their individual success. You need a completely different skillset as a manager than you do as an IC. So what can we do to make this transition easier? 1️⃣ Document processes and expectations for new managers. What are the things you expect from all managers in your organization? Are they responsible for 1-on-1s, approving PTO or timecards, giving feedback, or having career conversations? If they are, make sure there’s a central place where they can go to see everything that's expected of them. It should also include best practices and templates for each item. Last, make sure to link any systems they might need to use. (I love a tool like Trainual for this!) 2️⃣ Help provide resources so they can get real skill development to thrive as managers. Most commonly, these are things like: - Self-awareness - Delegation - Building trust - Decision making - Managing Conflict - Delivering Feedback - Setting Expectations I’ll link a super cool resource that anyone seeing this can use inside their organizations. It outlines some of these skills and how to get more development on each of them. I’m super grateful to have partnered with Trainual to make a resource like this free and open to anybody to use! Overall, let’s set up new leaders for success by clearly outlining expectations, giving them tools and resources, and helping them gain the new skills they’ll need in a new manager role. I want to know from you, LinkedIn: What do you think is so hard about this transition? And how can we make it easier?

Here are the top things I wish I would have known when transitioning from an individual contributor to a manager for the first time - 1/ Get comfortable with the fact that you cannot look at a revenue board to see where you stand in the month. It was great as an IC to know how you are doing by simply looking at your sales for the month/quarter/year. You always knew where you stood. As a manager, you still have revenue goals and targets, but you will always be tasked with more than simply your number. This comes down to recruiting, hiring, coaching, training, building, scaling, etc. 2/ Overcome the mental hurdle that you are not in direct control of your paycheck. As an IC, if you pass your quota and get a huge paycheck, its due to your work. If you fail to hit your quota, its due to your work. As a manager, you can work your a** off and still not hit your quota and make less money than your OTE. Get comfortable with this. 3/ You no longer have direct control over your time. Sure, you can make calendar blocks (and you must)... But know that if something comes up for one of your reps, thats on you to help. This includes being on customer calls, helping with problems, solving issues, leadership meetings etc. Have to learn to make the switch from selfish to unselfish in your time. 4/ You don't need to be liked. This was the toughest one for me to learn. You naturally want everyone to like you. But as their leader, you don't need your reps to like you. You just need them to respect you. Hope this helps all of you trying to transition up. It's a grind but worth every second.

You've probably heard the advice "Dress for the job you want". I'd like to add a different spin on that advice:   "Think for the job you want"   Whether you're aspiring future leader or a current leader looking to move up to a higher level position, it's important to practice and demonstrate strategic thinking skills.   So how do you develop and practice the ability to think further out and move from the tactical to the strategic? Here are a few thoughts:   💡-Intentionally think about longer timelines. As you move up through different levels of leadership, the time horizon of your focus must move further out, too. While an individual contributor may need to focus on doing the best job possible today or this week, a manager should be looking at the entire year and planning for next year. Directors should be looking 3-5 years out to make sure their teams are well positioned for the future. This trend continues up the ladder. 💡-Focus on team impacts rather than the mechanics of the work. As new challenges and opportunities, intentionally shift your mindset from "how should I do this task?", to "how do we ensure our teams have what they need to succeed at this task?" 💡-Consider outside perspectives. Whatever problem you are trying to solve, it's very likely that other companies have faced something similar. Ask your network. What did they do? What worked? What didn't? How was their situation different or similar to yours? What lessons did they learn that can apply to your current challenge? 💡-Keep at it. Just like any other skill, the ability to think strategically improves with practice. As new challenges present themselves, push yourself to think about it from a higher level. Ask yourself, "What would I want to know if I ran the company?". Because who knows, someday you might.   What other tips do you have to expand strategic thinking skills? Please share your thoughts in the comments.   Ring the bell (🔔) on my profile to see more content about continuous learning, leadership, mentoring, data, data visualization, and technology. #Leadership #StrategicThinking #Mentoring #Coaching #FutureLeaders   https://lnkd.in/gfPk4Tux

A promotion has a dark side. When you're promoted, you usually receive better compensation and an increased sense of power to accomplish tasks. But very few speak openly about the need to prove ourselves in the new role. About the almost impossible expectations of you to make a difference. About how lonely it is. And about how we have lost some of the control we had in our previous role. The reality is that we're now even further away from those who do the job. The real-time data stream is slower. All this creates stress, feeling overwhelmed, and constant struggle. Sadly, we can't rely solely on our technical expertise anymore; we have to trust more and more people to do the right thing. Trust = giving away control. And that is hard. In his book, Dadi Perlmutter says, "Leaders need a different mindset - mastering the art of asking questions, rather than giving answers." In one of my coaching sessions with a newly appointed VP, we explored one aspect of the transition. "What do you need from others to reduce your need to control?" The answers vary from one leader to another, but they all have one thing in common - I need to feel safe. I don't want to fail. So here are three quick tips to make the transition up the corporate ladder easier: 1. Assuming you'll work the same hours as before (yes, I know what you're going to say), ask yourself: "What do I need to do more, and what do I need to stop doing?" 2. Create a support group for at least the first six months: mentors, friends, a coach, peers, your boss, etc. Don't try to figure this out on your own. 3. Set a habit of renewal, like sport, Yoga, meditation, and DYI projects in your garage. Whatever helps you think clearly while you're creative and active. Many of your problems will be solved there. You'll feel more energetic and capable of addressing the big challenges ahead. How did you overcome the challenges of a new promotion? *** If you're struggling in your new role and need help, don't try to figure it out alone. Contact me.

"It's a challenge to ensure everything is perfect, and sometimes I want to do it all alone". This is a very common situation with newly promoted first-time managers. Every first-time manager encounters this daunting feeling of responsibility and the desire to excel in every aspect of their role. The transition from an individual contributor to a leadership position can be overwhelming, but it's crucial to remember that this is a typical problem experienced by many new managers. Acknowledging this challenge is the first step towards growth and development. As experienced managers know, our performance is not measured solely by our individual achievements. Instead, it revolves around the success of the teams we lead. The true measure of our leadership lies in empowering and supporting our team members to achieve exceptional results collectively. 📊 Manager Output = Team Performance + Leadership Support 🌟 💼 Let's take Anahit, a new manager responsible for a marketing team. Instead of evaluating her performance based on her individual contributions, we assess the team's performance under her leadership. Anahit's role includes guiding the team, providing resources, and fostering collaboration. As a result, the team has successfully launched two successful campaigns, gaining higher engagement and brand recognition. Anahit's leadership support has been instrumental in these achievements, showcasing her effective management skills. 💡 To further illustrate this concept, let's consider Armen, a first-time manager overseeing a software development team. Armen recognizes that his team members have varying levels of experience and expertise. By understanding their task-relevant maturity, Armen tailors his management approach accordingly. For more experienced team members, he provides autonomy and trust in their decision-making, while for those still developing their skills, he offers more guidance and support. The result is a well-balanced and motivated team that consistently delivers high-quality projects. 🌱 There are couple of things that we can do to support our new managers: 1️⃣ Focus on empowering and nurturing your team members' growth and potential. 2️⃣ Foster a culture where diverse ideas are celebrated, and teamwork is at the core. 3️⃣ As experienced leaders, offer mentorship and guidance to help new managers flourish in their roles. 4️⃣ Emphasize the importance of continuous improvement rather than seeking perfection. 5️⃣ Recognize and celebrate collective achievements, reinforcing the value of teamwork. In conclusion, being a first-time manager comes with its share of challenges, but by focusing on team success, embracing growth, and providing the right support, we can empower new managers to thrive in their roles. #Leadership #Management #FirstTimeManagers #TeamSuccess #PerformanceManagement #GrowthMindset #Empowerment #HighOutputManagement