How to Transition from Contributor to Manager
A practical starting point for redefining success as a new manager.
A promotion into management for many individuals is often considered as a career milestone. Because as a individual contributor you have worked hard, built expertise, delivered results and earned the confidence of the management and team members around you.
Becoming a manager is not simply a reward for doing good work, it is a change in the work itself.
As an individual contributor, the value is often visible in what you deliver. Like,
- the project completed,
- the problem you have solved,
- the customers you have supported,
- or the quality of work you have showcased.
You have built the credibility by being dependable, capable and willing to learn and take ownership.
When you move to a manager position, those strengths still matter, however they are not the only ones to succeed.
Your success depends less on what you independently complete and more on what your team is able to achieve. That transition in most of the cases feels uncomfortable.
Why The Transition Feels Difficult?
After promotion, many managers continue to work as the individual contributors, added with more meetings, more responsibility and more people relying on them.
New Managers,
- Take over unfinished work because it feels faster, and sometimes because they do not yet trust their team members.
- Solve problems before the team has time to think.
- Approve every small decision to ensure the outcome will be correct.
- Stay close to every detail to maintain quality.
These are understandable. But over time, it will create a dangerous pattern.
- You become the person your team waits for
- Work slows down when you are not available
- Team members hesitate in making decisions
- You start working long hours
As a manager you are not expected to carry out every task, you are expected to create the conditions for the team to succeed.
Your new scorecard
As a new manager, understand that how your success is measured differently.
When you were an individual contributor, your success would have measured using following questions.
- What did you complete this week?
- What problems did you solve?
- Did you deliver high-quality work?
Now, as a manager, your success will be measured using much broader questions mentioned below.
- Did your team undertand what to achieve?
- Does your team members have the clarity and support to move forward?
- Did you remove the blockers rather than becoming one?
- Did you help someone to solve a problem instead of solving it for them?
- Did you help grow someone in their knowledge or skill by providing support?
- Did the team deliver high-quality work?
This does not mean you stop caring about the outcome, you have to start seeing the results through a wider lens. Your work or success comes from the confidence, clarity, and capability of the team members you manage.
Four Quick Shifts To Practice
You don't need to make major changes immediately, rather start with below mentioned small choices.
- Pause before solving
When team members approach you with problems, do not give the solution immediately. Start asking questions, "what have you tried?" or "what do you think is the best next step?".
You may still need to help them to get to the solution, but before that give them the opportunity to think before you give the final solution.
- Be clear when handing over work
Before assigning any task to team members, clarify the outcome, why it is important, who owns it, when it is due for completion, and what the status update cadence.
A clear handover will create confidence, and it prevents unnecessary follow-ups as the work progresses.
- Let one decision made by team members
Choose one low-risk decision that a team member can make without waiting for your approval or review. Inform the team members about the boundaries and trust them to make a decision.
This is how new managers can build judgement about how the team can stop depending on you for every answer or decision.
- Help one team member to grow
Pick any one team member, have a conversation about what support needed to achieve that has been assigned. It could be clarity, a challenge, feedback, support or simply more trust.
Management is not only about making team members to deliver work, it is also about helping them becoming more capable.
Don't Stop Using and Building Your Expertise
Just because you are expected to make your team members to delivers, it does not mean that you must distant from the work or pretend you don't know the answers.
Your experience and expertise still matter and you should continue to improve it.
The most important skill new managers must learn is when to step in and when to step back.
The team will need your expertise when,
- there is high risk
- the situation is new to the team
- decisions has consequences
The best thing you can do as a new manager is to allow the team members to think, act, learn and take responsibilities.
A good managers balance support with trust. The manager continues to remain accountable for the outcome while provide help to team members to become more capable by making them to own the work.
Reflection
If you are a new manager and want to transition out of individual contributor mindset, then answer the questions below honestly.
- Are you still measuring success by your independent output?
- Are your taking over work from team members?
- Are you making all decisions or reviewing all decisions made by the team members?
- You don't know who needs clarity, support or trust from you?
- You don't know the one action you can take for the team to succeed without you?
If the answer is YES to majority of the question, then you are still working as an individual contributor.
The transition to management role will not happen in one day. It will happen gradually through the choices you make every day.
That is how you start transitioning from doing great work yourself to helping your team members do great work through clarity, support and trust.
Happy management!
Additional Reading
Read about a case for simpler management.
Free Udemy Course How New Managers Can Succeed In Management Role.
