8

Rating ? Qualities ?
Applicable
Engaging
Concrete Examples

Buy book or audiobook

Millennials’ Guide to
Management & Leadership
What No One Ever Told You About How to Excel as a Leader
Jennifer Wisdom • Jennifer Wisdom © 2020 • 342 pages

Management / Middle Management

Human Resources / Learning & Development / Leadership Development
Human Resources / Millennials

Take-Aways
• Stepping into a leadership role requires consideration and preparation.
• To manage a team, learn to manage yourself.
• Be intentional about hiring the right people, creating a positive culture and encouraging open
communication.
• Prepare to tackle negative behavior as you build a successful team.
• Foster great team morale by prioritizing communication.
• Clarify responsibilities, avoid gossip and be wary of backstabbing colleagues.
• Involve your boss in your professional development.
• Try curiosity instead of aggression if you face problems with your boss.
• Being a manager does not mean putting your personal life on hold.
• Know when it’s time to move on, and do it well.

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 Recommendation
Are you looking to step into a leadership role or unsure how to tackle your first few daunting weeks as
a new manager? Or maybe you’re not sure how to approach a difficult boss? In this clear, practical text,
career coach and clinical psychologist Jennifer P. Wisdom offers help with these and other challenges you
might encounter as you pursue a management or leadership position. Wisdom wrote her book as a handy
reference guide for new managers, so you can quickly navigate to the sections that are most relevant for
you to discover a range of options for addressing even the most challenging situations.

Summary

Stepping into a leadership role requires consideration and preparation.

When you’re trying to decide if taking a leadership role is right for you, consider your values and priorities.
Think about how you’ve dealt with difficult situations in the past, and what principles have guided your
decisions. Reflecting on these factors will help you determine the best direction for your career.

“The key is to find work at the intersection of what you like doing and what you’re good
at.”

Being hired for a management role – or moving up to one – often requires groundwork. To prepare,
behave like a leader in your current work environment, regardless of your job title. Acting like a leader might
include focusing on solutions, helping resolve conflicts, boosting team morale, and so on. Consider
engaging in additional training or attending relevant classes. Network in your field and within your
organization – particularly with your senior leaders. Look for cross-departmental projects you could join
that are outside your regular job. Set specific, measurable goals for yourself that challenge you and lead you
toward fulfilling your major life purpose.

To manage a team, learn to manage yourself.

When you start working in a leadership role, remind yourself of the reasons you wanted this promotion.
Consider recruiting a mentor or coach with whom you can discuss your goals. Commit to continuous
learning by listening to podcasts, teaching others, studying online or adding to your reading. Learn to
manage your time and priorities. If you struggle with time management, consider taking a relevant course
or getting advice from your colleagues or a coach on how to stay on top of your to-do lists and prioritize your
tasks effectively.

“In your role as a manager and leader, it’s important to commit to continuous self-
improvement.”

Get to know your team. Learn who the members are as individuals, how they work together, what problems
they face, which leadership style they prefer, and so on. Some managers have top-down, undemocratic
leadership styles; some are hands-off or inclusive. Your style will depend on your personality. Taking
courses can help you discover which leadership style is right for you.

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 Network with colleagues inside your department and throughout your company for valuable
support and information about co-working or other opportunities. Be strategic about building your network.
Map out who is already in your circle, and identify people you would like to add to it. Be careful about setting
boundaries between personal and professional relationships. For example, you may not want to connect
with your work colleagues through your personal social media accounts.

Be intentional about hiring the right people, creating a positive culture and
encouraging open communication.

Building a great team starts with bringing the right people on board. When hiring new staff members, be
clear about your expectations. Do you need someone who can hit the ground running, or would you prefer
someone who might lack experience or technical skills, but who’s willing and quick to learn? Get input from
your existing team and colleagues, and prepare for interviews.

Hire for diversity – not only in terms of ethnicity or gender, but also with regard to opinions, background
and personality. When you’re building a diverse team, train your team members about culturally insensitive
language or behavior, and create opportunities for them to learn. Regularly communicate your vision
and values, and the purpose of the team and organization. Don’t fear hiring someone who is better than you
in some areas.Be quick to acknowledge great work, and celebrate successes – but let your staff learn from
mistakes as well.

“Staff will perform much better and be more satisfied when they are motivated.”

Demonstrate the values you want your team to embrace – for example, openness and
honesty. Provide regular and specific feedback that focuses on solutions or professional development.
Remain aware of your staff members’ developmental needs and provide them with the training and tools
they need to do a great job. Help them see how their work fits within the bigger picture. When delegating
assignments, clearly communicate your timelines, expectations and priorities.

Prepare to tackle negative behavior as you build a successful team.

Assembling a team of people who work well together requires being able to deal with unacceptable
behavior – whether it manifests as repeated tardiness, disrespectful behavior, or incomplete or low-quality
work.

“Discuss difficult items forthrightly, be compassionate, listen and move forward.”

Deal with substandard work by making sure staff members know exactly what’s expected of them,
scheduling check-in meetings and asking people to log how they spend their work time. Reassure them that
they should let you know of any problems as soon as they arise. If someone struggles, assign another staff
member to act as a buddy. Try to find out if personal issues might be affecting a troubled employee’s work.

Don’t tolerate disrespectful behavior – either toward yourself or other team members. If you’re managing
a team of people who are older than you, prepare possible answers or deflections if someone challenges
you about your age. Always speak up if you experience or notice sexual harassment, aggression,

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 racism, homophobia or other forms of prejudice. You and your staff members should know your
organization’s policies and processes for addressing these issues.

Foster great team morale by prioritizing communication.

Many organizations now offer remote work and flexible working hours, or have global teams. If your
team is dispersed, building a positive culture is of particular importance in keeping workers engaged and
performing well. Make sure your staff members can communicate easily with you and with one another.
Consider ways to help your team members connect socially, as well as professionally – for example, by
raising money together for a charity or entering a team challenge.

“If you could press a red button and the person would disappear from your team…would
you do it?”

Tackle low staff morale by talking to your employees regularly and asking for their feedback. If certain
people on your team drain its morale, challenge them individually about their attitude. In some cases,
encouraging them to leave the team might benefit everyone.

Clarify responsibilities, avoid gossip and be wary of backstabbing colleagues.

If you feel you’re contributing more than one of your colleagues, put your responsibilities and deadlines
in writing. If things don’t change, involve your boss. Clarifying responsibilities before a project starts
and keeping tabs on who is doing what can help if you’re dealing with colleagues who are prone to taking
credit for other people’s work. Make sure you understand the difference between gossip and good strategic
information, and walk away when colleagues speak negatively about someone else.

“Understanding” [a backstabber’s] motives may help you understand how to counter

them and protect yourself.

Try to understand people’s motives – for example, a colleague might stab you in the back because he or she
sees you as a threat. While openly talking about problems usually works, in the case of backstabbing, steer
clear of that person, and share as little information as possible.

Involve your boss in your professional development.

Your professional development is your responsibility, but your boss can offer helpful support. Consider
asking for mentoring – either from your boss or someone he or she recommends. A good boss should give
you feedback on your performance. Ask for clarification if the feedback is vague, and ask for your boss’s
opinion on how you might improve.

“Learning how to respond well to feedback from your boss can help you improve how
you give feedback to others.”

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 If you think you deserve a raise, find out how your company usually gives raises. For example, many
companies conduct annual performance and salary reviews. Learn how much the company pays other
people in roles similar to yours. Write down your achievements, and prepare to talk about them when you
meet with your boss. Keep your boss informed regularly about your accomplishments, not only during a
performance review or a conversation about salaries.

To ensure sound communication, find out how your boss likes to receive information and in how much
detail. Never let possible or pending problems come as a surprise to your boss. If you have sensitive
information to share, do it face-to-face.

Try curiosity instead of aggression if you face problems with your boss.

Having a boss who isn’t supportive can prevent you from doing your job well. Find someone who has
worked successfully with your boss, and ask him or her for advice. If your boss shows favoritism, consider
asking him or her about it directly. Keep to the facts, and don’t let emotions rule the conversation. Showing
curiosity rather than outrage over a seeming inequality can be helpful – for example, you could ask your boss
why your colleague is usually selected for business trips instead of you.

“You’re not responsible for fixing your boss.”

If you have a concern about the fairness of your salary, talk to the people in your HR department or, if they
can’t help, to a lawyer. If you’re on the receiving end of bullying or publicly demeaning comments from your
boss, first, have a conversation with him or her. Try not to react when bullying takes place; take time to
evaluate the situation and discuss it with someone you trust. Having one or two colleagues stand up for you
when your boss demeans you sends a strong signal that intimidating behavior is not acceptable. If you see a
pattern of bullying or inappropriate remarks, seek guidance from HR or someone in a position above your
boss.

Being a manager does not mean putting your personal life on hold.

Having a successful career shouldn’t mean giving up on your family or leisure time. However, if you want
to rise to the level of CEO, be aware that your work-life balance in such a position will differ, significantly,
from what it will be if you stay in middle-management. Consider what matters to you and what adjustments
you might need to make to your goals or priorities. Those targets will change over time, anyway, so regularly
review your work-life balance.

“Work-life balance is a constant process of reassessing and adjusting from month to

month, season to season, and after life changes.”

To stay focused and healthy, take sufficient downtime. Don’t strive for perfection. Prioritize sleep and
exercise. Bow out of unnecessary meetings, and identify areas in your schedule that you could manage more
efficiently. If your boss’s expectations of you seem unrealistic, talk to someone you trust at work. Identify
and ask for the training and resources you need. Don’t fall into the trap of working so hard that you make
things happen with little or no resources –this will give your higher-ups the impression that they can saddle
you with nearly-impossible, under-resourced projects.

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 Know when it’s time to move on, and do it well.

The day may come when you need to move on from your present position or company or even your
current career. Consider your next step with care. Do you need to take on a new role immediately for
financial reasons or adjust your expenses to allow for retraining? Keep your resume up-to-date, research
companies where you might enjoy working, talk to people in jobs that interest you, and remember that the
best option might not necessarily be the most rational or logical.

“Updating your resume will remind you of your value and experiences, and will make
you more prepared if you end up needing to look for work.”

Reach out to people who’ve made radical career changes, and learn what small steps you can take to start the
process. Once you decide to move on, consider how you’re going to tell your team about your decision, and
make sure that whatever you say doesn’t reflect negatively on your organization, boss or colleagues. Identify
what projects and tasks you need to finish before you leave, and start handing over responsibilities. Be aware
that leaving a job and a team can be an emotional transition, so be sure you’ve got support outside of work.

About the Author

Career coach and clinical psychologist Jennifer P. Wisdom is a managing principal of Jennifer Wisdom
Consulting.

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http://getab.li/41718

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