Tips for a lead role for the first time
Discussion
There was a recent thread about advice you'd give to someone who is starting work for the first time. Excellent thread which I even learnt from (having worked 4 years, although that's not long).
To put a spin on this, if you are going into a senior role (e.g. a development lead position in IT or a an infrastructure engineer lead in IT) for the first time, what tips would you have?
Thanks
To put a spin on this, if you are going into a senior role (e.g. a development lead position in IT or a an infrastructure engineer lead in IT) for the first time, what tips would you have?
Thanks
- Set expectations and keep them.
- Deal in facts not hearsay.
- Always know what your direct reports are working on, show an interest and put time aside for them.
- Put yourself in others shoes.
- Communicate, especially with other seniors and help them out without point scoring, it works wonders. IT is such a back stabbing industry.
- Deal in facts not hearsay.
- Always know what your direct reports are working on, show an interest and put time aside for them.
- Put yourself in others shoes.
- Communicate, especially with other seniors and help them out without point scoring, it works wonders. IT is such a back stabbing industry.
When I did a project management secondment:
Be nice to everyone. Try to accommodate their needs as much as possible and if it is not possible, explain why not.
Communicate what is going on regularly.
When I became a manager:
Be nice to everyone in your team
Make allowances - if they need to leave early due to family problems, the rest of the team can pick up the slack.
Be nice to everyone. Try to accommodate their needs as much as possible and if it is not possible, explain why not.
Communicate what is going on regularly.
When I became a manager:
Be nice to everyone in your team
Make allowances - if they need to leave early due to family problems, the rest of the team can pick up the slack.
Just a few off the top of my head. Some are probably relevant irrespective of being in a lead role:
Treat people with respect. Don't forget where you came from. Try and keep at the very least civil with everyone. You will never know who and where favours need to be called in.
No matter how busy you are, try and stop what you are doing and really listen to people. Show that no matter who is speaking to you, you will give them the courtesy of your full attention.
If you have staff, make regular, guaranteed time for them. I book 30 minutes every fortnight for my direct reports. The deal is we can talk about whatever we want. Football/films/music.... or even god forbid, work. Its important to try and understand what is going on in their lives to manage any issues. That poor performance and bad time keeping might be because something horrendous is going on in their life.
Don't be afraid to say you don't know the answer. Involve others in working out the answer to problems. Teach people what you know, it will help you more than you know.
Delegate. Have confidence that others can do what you can do. If they can't quite do it, a bit of coaching doesn't hurt. Its a great skill to develop.
Let people make mistakes.... yes, I did say that. People need to learn. Obviously don't let them do something totally stupid, but I guess what I am really saying is don't micromanage. Have faith. Just because it isn't done your way doesn't mean its the wrong way.
Don't be disappointed when people who work for you might end up being better than you. This is ok. As you become a manager you can't realistically always know everything about anything. Your role in the team now is to maximise what your team can do.
Set dates for when you want work done for if you are delegating. Make sure this is agreed.
If you call or chair a meeting, set up an agenda. There is nothing worse than a talking shop with no agreed actions. After meetings, don't be afraid to write up the agreed way forward. Send it to all those who attended so clarity is there on what is happening.
If you have team meetings, make sure it isn't just you talking constantly. Do things like letting people talk to the team about work they are taking a lead on, and ensure everyone has had a chance to input by doing a round table at the end.
That seems like an OK list I guess?
Treat people with respect. Don't forget where you came from. Try and keep at the very least civil with everyone. You will never know who and where favours need to be called in.
No matter how busy you are, try and stop what you are doing and really listen to people. Show that no matter who is speaking to you, you will give them the courtesy of your full attention.
If you have staff, make regular, guaranteed time for them. I book 30 minutes every fortnight for my direct reports. The deal is we can talk about whatever we want. Football/films/music.... or even god forbid, work. Its important to try and understand what is going on in their lives to manage any issues. That poor performance and bad time keeping might be because something horrendous is going on in their life.
Don't be afraid to say you don't know the answer. Involve others in working out the answer to problems. Teach people what you know, it will help you more than you know.
Delegate. Have confidence that others can do what you can do. If they can't quite do it, a bit of coaching doesn't hurt. Its a great skill to develop.
Let people make mistakes.... yes, I did say that. People need to learn. Obviously don't let them do something totally stupid, but I guess what I am really saying is don't micromanage. Have faith. Just because it isn't done your way doesn't mean its the wrong way.
Don't be disappointed when people who work for you might end up being better than you. This is ok. As you become a manager you can't realistically always know everything about anything. Your role in the team now is to maximise what your team can do.
Set dates for when you want work done for if you are delegating. Make sure this is agreed.
If you call or chair a meeting, set up an agenda. There is nothing worse than a talking shop with no agreed actions. After meetings, don't be afraid to write up the agreed way forward. Send it to all those who attended so clarity is there on what is happening.
If you have team meetings, make sure it isn't just you talking constantly. Do things like letting people talk to the team about work they are taking a lead on, and ensure everyone has had a chance to input by doing a round table at the end.
That seems like an OK list I guess?
If you are serious about moving on to supervisory or management led roles then why not learn some of those skills and gain some qualifications? https://www.i-l-m.com/
t).Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff