| December 2006 |
| By Justin Stanley |
A couple of years ago, I was offered my first shot at management. I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the idea of supervising other people, having held various positions with “Senior” or “Level II” in the title. Our IT manager was moving up the ladder, leaving a sizable vacuum behind and, as the Systems Administrator and most senior IT staffer left, I was the logical successor. I clearly remember the day he called me into his office, closed the door, and offered me the job. And I remember how I chickened out.
The person who did take the job wasn’t cut out for the role, a fact that became painfully obvious to everyone involved within weeks. He lacked both the technological and personal skills needed to manage an IT department effectively, and his low self-esteem and micromanaging style made him despised by employees who actually liked him when they were coworkers. He stepped down after a year, and when they offered me the position a second time, I jumped at it.
So what was different? Even though I still had the same doubts about the position and my abilities, I somehow felt more prepared this time around. I’d spent twelve long months working for a manager who seemed to do everything wrong after working two years under a manager who excelled in the position. I had the opportunity to observe the mistakes the second manager made and knew exactly how to avoid them. Once in the new position, I quickly learned a few other lessons that had evaded my predecessor.
The most important part of the transition into management comes before you actually start collecting the paychecks. It’s imperative that you take a long look at yourself and figure out exactly why you want the job. For example, in my company, the management position paid considerably more than the Systems Administrator role. Even with a newborn daughter, a new mortgage, and sizable student loan payments, the increased salary still wasn’t enough to motivate me the first time the job was offered. I knew that the thrill of the larger paychecks would only last so long, but moving into a position with more stress and longer hours would hurt my family in the long run. As they say, money isn’t everything.
After you accept the offer, you’ll enter the honeymoon period. You’ll be excited about the new opportunity and you’ll work your tail off learning the ins and outs of your new position. It’s rewarding work and you’ll enjoy it despite the extra hours and the often enormous stress that comes with big changes. People will cut you a lot of slack, knowing that you’re new to the added responsibilities. Take advantage of it while you can. You’ve got a lot to do.
If you aren’t honest with yourself about the amount of work at hand, you simply won’t be prepared. For example, as the manager, you’ll not only need to know your own new position inside and out, but you’ll need to be intimately familiar with the job functions of all those who work for you. After all, you’ll be responsible for their job performance and reviews, and you’ll be the first person they go to when they have questions. If you don’t have the answers, you lose credibility. It’s even worse for IT managers, who also have to find the time to stay abreast of the latest technologies, applications, and operating systems to do the job right.
The hardest part for me was the move from coworker to manager. I had great relationships with my coworkers before moving into the new role, but things necessarily changed when those same people started reporting to me. I tried to maintain the “buddy” relationships, but that didn’t work. People aren’t satisfied following a leader if they don’t see that person as somehow superior to themselves. When they see you as a peer instead of a leader, they lose respect and are more likely to push back when you make a decision they don’t like. While I definitely don’t think it’s necessary to be as strict as the military when it comes to fraternization in a corporate environment, some amount of separation will unfortunately be required.
Even with all the work, I’m confident that I made the right decision when I accepted the offer the second time around. I still miss the hands on technical work I was able to do every day as the sys admin, but I’ve learned to find new challenges that keep the work interesting. If you know what to expect and recognize your reasons for doing so, moving into management could be the best career move you can make.
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