When I was a new manager, (blimey, so long ago now) I was eager to help. But I thought I had all the answers. And that my job was to tell people those answers. (facepalm)
I also knew I was supposed to “involve” people. Yes, I put that in quotation marks, it represents how I saw it. It was just something I was “supposed to do”.
I didn’t know, and there was no YouTube to tell me, that my role had changed from just doing that tasks really well to supporting my team so that they could do their jobs really well.
So here’s the tip if you want to switch from doing the tasks yourself to enabling others to do the tasks.
Coaching Tip
What you need to do to become a Manager:
Flip that mental switch to let go of your old role.
Again, you got promoted because you were excellent at your job but now you need new skills.
That’s a tough thing to let go of – all the things you were brilliant at. I used to be such a good supply chain planner. But once promoted they needed me to be brilliant at helping others be such good supply chain planners.
How to do it – this Practical Exercise:
Create a bullet list of things that only you can do because of the role you have. i.e.
- Create opportunities for Anna to contribute to key projects.
- Encourage Bjorn to speak up in meetings.
- Ask the team how they plan to tackle the problem and use your questions to help them create insights and creative solutions.
And then start doing those things.
This post is part of my special Coaching Tips Series. This series was inspired by my clients and the core themes in their challenges. When we can apply these tips, we bring a lot of ease into our lives and step into our leadership. Want to talk it through with me? Use a free Experience Coaching session and I’ll help you.