Hill classic

14 June 2022
12:43

Claim: Becoming a leader is filled with continuous learning and self-development .

As firms become leaner and more dynamic, the journey of becoming a new manager gets harder and
harder all the time.

Linda Hill followed 19 new managers around for her research.

She found that:

 New managers face overwhelming confusion

 They are disoriented
 They feel that the task is too big to be handled by just one person.

Why is learning difficult?

 The skills and methods require to succeed as a boss are quite different from the skills and
methods require to succeed as a subordinate.

As a star subordinate, success depends on:

 Personal expertise
 Individual actions

Managers are responsible for:

 Setting
 And implementing an agenda for the whole team

Learning how to be a great boss advances with trial and error.

 They learn in mistake making moments

Misconceptions about being an boss

Managers wield significant authority?

 Instead of gaining new authority

New managers

 Feel constrained
 Bosses, peers and others make relentless and often conflicting demands on them

Give up the myth of authority and Instead identify and build effective relationships
Authority comes with a position?

 New managers do have some power

Mistakenly, they believe their power

 Is based on formal authority

 Comes from the position

Give up the myth that authority comes with the job for the reality that you need to earn the
people's respect and trust

 Demonstrate character and competence

 Listen more than you talk

Managers must control their staff?

 They often rely too much on their formal authority

 If people are not committed they won't take the initiative
 And if staff don't take the initiative, the manager can't delegate effectively

Give up the myth that managers must control their staff for the reality that you must share if you
want to influence the staff.

 Create a culture of inquiry

 Empower, not order, subordinates to be committed

Managers must forge individual relationships?

 Managers must build trust and mutual expectations with many people
 New managers attend to individual performance

Give up the myth for managing the team members for the reality of managing the entire team

 Supervising individuals is not the same as leading a team

 Every decision about individuals affects the team

Managers must ensure that things run smoothy?

 Making sure an operation operates smoothly is difficult

 New managers are responsible for recommending and initiating change
Give up the myth of maintaining status quo for the reality of generating change whenever it will
improve operations

 Both within and outside their areas of responsibility

Should a new manager seek help?

 Making mistakes is an important part of learning process

 But it is not fun
 Few managers ask for help

New managers must be creative in the way to ask for support

 Develop a good relationship with your boss

 Don’t' just ask what you should do
 Instead come prepared with some ideas on how you would handle the situation that you
and your boss will end up in a constructive discussion.