Going back into management
As of this month I'll be a line manager again after a bit of a break. As a bit of a refresher to myself, I thought it would be helpful to reflect on what I did well and what I would do differently the second time around.
Start as you mean to go on
My previous role was the first time that I had line managed people and I learnt a tonne from it. I went into the role with a plan in my head around implementing a servant leadership approach. It was broadly positive, but it meant that I boxed myself in a bit. Going in to a situation with a methodology in mind is the ideological equivalent of “to a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Aligning yourself too close with any theory can be problematic. Think Ferris Bueller.
Ferris Bueller saying “Isms in my opinion are not good”
Complexity
Every person is different. Of the 3 people I initially managed, one person and I clicked. Their strengths complemented where I needed development, and my management style was what they needed from me. When reflecting in coaching last year, we talked about relational approaches being within my comfort zone. The others needed something different from me, which I didn't get my head around until much later when we had settled patterns and interactions. This time I'm looking to get some helpful processes in place early doors to mitigate some of my weaknesses. I want to take some of the emotion out of conversations. I'm looking to link our one to one conversations with the middle manager meetings, so that we all have clear expectations and clarity around what's expected.
Helpful challenge
When managing one of my colleagues, I ended up moving between “overly directive” and “overly nice.” I had to counter-balance each approach when the fallout inevitably happened. This time I'm aiming to avoid that pendulum swing. I'm going for the sweet spot of the Social Discipline Window, the helpful challenge. I'll be keeping that in mind throughout my conversations, looking to create adult to adult conversations and spaces.
Avoiding the hospital pass
As a middle manager, there were lots of things that were out of my control. When these cropped up, I would tend to pass them on to my manager, who at least in theory was in a position to do something about them. In retrospect, this meant that I sent some hospital passes their way.
Peer to peer conversations really helped me think about how I might better deal with these conversations. A colleague told me that when they got similar requests, they would go back to the staff member to say that they needed clear evidence that an approach was required before they would take it to senior management. This put the responsibility back on the individual to develop the work, retained agency in the space, and also gave them time to have wider conversations around the issue too.
Here we go again
So I'll soon be back in a line management role, which will give us a clear direction of travel around quality assurance, learning resources and user experience. I'm looking forward to the challenge this time. This post has been exactly what I wanted to get out my blogging this year – an opportunity to reflect on my learning. I'm sure there will be more of these posts as my line management develops!