HBR's 10 Must Reads for New Managers — Harvard Business Review

nding themselves hemmed in by interdependencies. Instead of feeling free, they feel constrained, especially if they were accustomed to the relative independence of a star performer. They are enmeshed in a web of relationships— not only with subordinates but also with bosses, peers, and others inside and outside the organization, all of whom make relentless and often conficting demands on them. The resulting daily routine is pressured, hectic, and fragmented. “The fact is that you really are not in control of anything,” says one new manager. “The only time I am in control is when I shut my door, and then I feel I am not doing the job I’m supposed to be doing, which is being with the people.” Another new manager observes: “It’s humbling that someone who works for me could get me fred.” The people most likely to make a new manager’s life miserable are those who don’t fall under her formal authority: outside suppliers, for example, or managers in another division. Sally McDonald, a rising star at a chemical company, stepped into a product development position with high hopes, impeccable credentials as an individual performer, a deep appreciation for the company’s culture— and even the supposed wisdom gained in a leadership development course. Three weeks later, she observed grimly: “Becoming a manager is not about becoming a boss. It’s about becoming a hostage. There are many terrorists in this organization that want to kidnap me.” Until they give up the myth of authority for the reality of negotiating interdependencies, new managers will not be able to lead effectively. As we have seen, this goes beyond managing the team of direct reports and requires managing the context within which the team operates. Unless they identify and build efective relationships with the key people the team depends upon, the team will lack the resources necessary to do its job. Even if new managers appreciate the importance of these relationships, they often ignore or neglect them and focus instead on what seems like the more immediate task of leading those closest to them: their subordinates. When they fnally do accept their network

Ultimately new leaders want their people to exhibit high- performance behaviors such as sharing information freely, identifying and dealing with confict swiftly, solving problems creatively, supporting one another, and presenting a unifed face to the outside world once decisions have been made. Leaders can promote these behaviors by focusing on four factors: the team’s composition, its alignment with a shared vision, its operating model, and its integration of new rules and expectations.

This powerful, often underappreciated way of reshaping teams may involve adjusting the scope of existing roles, having people swap jobs, or creating new positions by carving up the work diferently

What will we accomplish? You spell this out in your mission, goals, and key metrics. Why should we do it? Here is where your vision statement and incentives come into play. How will we do it? This includes defning the team’s strategy in relation to the organization’s, as well as sorting out the plans and activities needed for execution. Who will do what? People’s roles and responsibilities must support all of the above

Operating model Reshaping a team also involves rethinking how and when people come together to do the work. This may include increasing or decreasing the number of “core” members, creating subteams, adjusting the types and frequency of meetings, running meetings diferently, and designing new protocols for follow- up

When rethinking meeting frequency and agendas, it helps to understand the three types of meetings that leadership teams typically have— strategic, operational, and learning— so that you can allocate an appropriate amount of time to each

Integration The fnal element of reshaping is integration. This involves establishing ground rules and processes to feed and sustain desired behaviors and serving as a role model for your team members. Of course, the team’s composition

zeroed in on the key elements of trust within leadership teams: • confdence that all team members have the capabilities to do their jobs • transparency in sharing information • belief that commitments will be honored • psychological safety to express divergent opinions without fear of belittlement, criticism, or retribution • security that confdences will be maintained • unity around decisions once people agree to them

feedback about behaviors, not personalities

from Above Most frst- time managers see their relationship with their boss more as one of servitude than of partnership