If the company you work for is anything like the companies I have been a part of, nobody teaches you anything about being a manager. You work hard, good at what you do, and then you get promoted to manager. So tomorrow, you come into work and now you manage the department. Full of ideas but do not necessarily have much of a clue what you are really supposed to do besides the day-to-day job of the department.

Well here is your crash course of management 101 so tomorrow when you walk into the office you are at least equipped with the basics of managing other humans!

Talk less and listen more

This is the first thing you need to understand when you step into a management position. You need to make sure you are listening to your team members. You need to pay close attention and listen to them actively so they feel valued and have the opportunity to help you.

Do not compete on ideas

You are the head of that department now so whatever you want is going to be what they will end up doing anyway, you do not need to compete with them on ideas. Make sure you are creating a culture where they will communicate and express their thoughts on subjects. Try to make sure it is not a you vs them, or them vs them. A big part of your job is to facilitate and come up with solutions. Always remember there is more than one way to solve a problem. It is always better for them to come up with your idea than being told your idea.

Help them help you

If you see a team member struggling due to workload or maybe they do not know how to do a certain task. Help them, get involved and support them to accomplish the task. Do not do their work, as this will establish a bad habit, but when they need it make sure to step in and pick up some of their workload to help.

Talk vision

What do you want your department to be? What are some areas you know can improve? Get them together in a room and open up about what you see and where you want to go. Ask them how they view things and where they would like to go. Express to them the things the team can do together to get to where you want to be and how it helps them, you, and the company.

Set expectations

How do you expect them to work and what do you expect them to do? Who is responsible for what and how are the responsible for it? Make sure to communicate your expectations clearly with each team member because without this it is chaos. How can you hold someone accountable if there is no expectation to hold them accountable to?

Accountability

This applies to them and you. Understand that it is your job to hold them accountable and your boss’s job to hold you accountable. I personally make suggestions to my management, but I make it clear that my job is to manage them not their employees. I will not go around a manager to discipline or fire someone as my job is to discipline or fire the manager who reports to me. You need to understand that so make sure to take accountability for your team. If your team makes a mistake it is your fault, and then you take actions with the members of the team if required. Never shift the blame when in front of your superiors, but make sure you correct the mistake. Remember, no matter what the mistake was there is a 99.99% chance there is something you could have personally done to avoid it.

Hope this helps you!