Congratulations! You’ve earned a new sales or marketing management position. It may feel rewarding and daunting at the same time. Spending most of your days solving people problems rather than actually executing the work you’re used to can be a challenging adjustment. The team at First Round Review (firstround.com) combed through past articles on advice for first-time managers and came up with these highlights:
- Respect workers’ outside lives – Carlie Guthrie, a San Francisco-based human resources professional, says there are common reasons why good workers leave. One is that managers don’t respect the fact that their workers have outside lives. “People who love their job and the company will work all the time anyway,” she says. “If you’ve hired good fits, you’ll see this happen.”
- Focus – Focus is a critical skill for any new manager, says Fidi Simo, vice president of product for all of Facebook’s video, news and advertising efforts. Her knack for focus became apparent when she needed to manage her team remotely while on five months of bed rest during her pregnancy. By cutting out anything nonessential she was able to focus on the most strategic priorities, not only for the product team, but for herself. “We have the luxury of working in an industry where there are endless opportunities and low-hanging fruit lying everywhere,” she says. “It’s extremely tempting to do it all. But ‘doing it all’ is as impossible as it is impractical, particularly when you’re building products. It’s not just people who can lose focus — products can too.”
- Think short and long – Jessica McKellar, an engineer who made the transition into management, says “There are two things you should always be thinking about: People’s day-to-day and their year-to-year.” Imagine every individual is traveling on both of these tracks at the same time. As a leader, you can shape their experience on both to help them find a trajectory that meets their goals and your needs.
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