Okay,
so you just got promoted or you were hired on as a new manager to a team.
And you're about to jump into your first day,
which you're not entirely sure like what to do and where to start. Well,
this video, my friend is going to be for you. Hey there,
my name is Mak and I'm a leadership and team building coach,
but I work specifically with first-time team managers.
Okay so sometime last year, I can't remember exactly when,
but sometime last year I did a video on exactly this topic where I was,
you know, sharing some tips, um, for your first day as a manager.
And that video on this channel did surprisingly well.
And I think it's because a lot of you out there are looking for some tips or
advice on making your first day as a manager, a success.
And so I was thinking about it and, you know, meditating on it and I thought,
well, I should definitely do another video to, you know,
expand my thoughts on that one. Um, a little bit for you.
As well as give you a little bit more actionable advice that you can use to make
your first day a success. Now,
I know I have a lot of you in my audience that have been managing for some time.
So you're like way past the first day,
but I would love it if you could also get involved in this video and maybe leave
some of your knowledge or insights or things that you've learned in your journey
into management with our first-time leaders in the comment section below.
Because I know that that will probably mean the world to them,
that you're able to share some of,
some of the learnings that you've learned over your, you know,
your time as a manager.
So if you want to leave that in the comment section below,
I'm sure that would be super helpful. Okay,
so let's get started into this content. Shall we? Okay. So first things first,
I need you to hear something very important, which is that you,
my friend were chosen for this role for a reason. Listen,
I know that you are probably feeling a wide range of emotions right now, right?
Probably anywhere from excitement to feeling like a total imposter,
which is maybe why you were compelled to search this very topic today.
But I need you to know that you were chosen for this role for a reason,
and that you are more than capable of doing this tough thing otherwise known
as leadership and management. You know,
oftentimes when I work with clients,
a lot of them do suffer with some imposter syndrome and self doubt.
And I often have to remind them of this very fact,
before we head down any road of coaching.
Because the truth of the matter is you were not chosen by mistake for this role,
just like they weren't right. And this is what I tell them all the time,
which is why I'm telling you. You were not chosen for this role by mistake.
And someone didn't make this decision without thought.
It was all made very thoughtfully to put you in this position. You know,
because at the end of the day,
all businesses need to make decisions in the best interest of their bottom
line. Now, yes,
we have some wonderful businesses and companies out there that care more
just their bottom line, of course. But at the end of the day,
they need to make decisions with their bottom line in mind, right?
It's just like my business. Yes,
I care very much about supporting as many of you as possible out there.
But at the same time,
I need to make sure that I am making wise decisions in my business because it
does affect my revenue, which affects my ability to serve more and more people.
All this, to say that, you know, whoever puts you in this position,
whether it be a senior leader, senior leader, or a senior executive,
they didn't make it without thought. They truly believe that you can do this.
So all that there is left now is for you to truly believe that
you are worthy because you are. You are so worthy.
And so I wanted to start out here first with reminding you of this,
because if you don't believe this about yourself,
then your first day is going to reflect that.
And you'll probably make some poor decisions, um, because of that.
So I want you to remember that you were chosen for this role for a reason.
And that you can absolutely do this because you are worthy of the promotion that
you've been given. Okay.
So now that we've gotten like the mindset piece out of the way,
I want to talk to you about something else that is equally as important,
which is pre-planning your transition into management with
your manager. You know, it's like most things in life,
whatever we choose to pay attention to will have a higher success rate than the
things that we kind of just leave up to chance or by accident.
And so this is no different, right?
If you haven't had that conversation with your manager about how things are
going to be announced or how things are going to be communicated with your team,
then I want you to circle back and have that conversation and lay out a well
laid out plan for your transition.
Now here's the reason why this is so important,
even though you're going to be tempted to skip it.
Here's the reason why this is so important.
So usually in my coaching sessions with my clients,
when I'm talking about change management,
I introduce them to this model here that you're looking at,
which is the four zones of change. Now, of course,
I don't have time to go into this in this video or in a 10 minute video in
general,
but I'm just going to just introduce this to you just very lightly so that you
kind of understand why a transition plan is so important. So typically speaking,
when it comes to change, there are four zones. So zone one is when you know,
things are kind of plugging along, right?
So this is like status quo and then zone two is disruption or
some sort of pattern disrupt where things are changing, right?
Something has changed.
So you being promoted or brought in as a new manager to this team is
literally causing a pattern disrupt.
Even if they're excited about you being promoted,
it's still a pattern disrupt on the team.
And the way that this disruption in this zone is handled can
literally effect zone three, which is adoption.
And it will definitely affect zone four, which is performance.
This is why we want to make sure that ahead of time,
you've planned out with your manager,
exactly how things are going to be announced and communicated. Now,
for me on my team, right, as a senior leader,
I took ownership of announcing whenever I was promoting a leader on my team.
Which means it's going to actually have to be your manager that does that
announcement and is able to explain the why behind their decision.
Because what it does is it helps everyone, you know,
come together and understand why a certain decision has been made.
And it just shows that they are behind you as a leader,
which builds that respect from the very beginning with the team. So I want you,
like I said, if you haven't had this discussion with your manager cycle back,
say, Hey, I realize that tomorrow is supposed to be my first day.
But I have a couple concerns about how this is going to be communicated with the
team, because I don't want to pattern disrupt. I want this to be successful.
And you know, you might hesitate at first, but I'll tell you this.
If you stop for a second and have that conversation with your manager,
they are going,
you're going to basically solidify that they made the right choice because you
are starting out the gate being a discerning person,
which is extremely important for a manager.
So don't be afraid to cycle back and just say, Hey,
I was thinking about this over the weekend or whatever the case might be.
And I want to make sure we start off on the right foot.
So can we talk please about making sure that we have a proper transition plan?
Okay.
So the next thing that's really gonna determine your success on your first day
as a manager is watching the words that you say. Listen from day one,
people are going to be watching everything you do,
as well as everything you say, and that is not to scare you.
That's just me introducing you into the realities of what it's like sitting in
that seat of a manager. You know,
people are going to be watching you like a Hawk,
and that's just the way it goes, right? When you have a certain authority level,
it comes with a certain amount of responsibility. And so with that, with people,
literally watching everything you do and say,
you have to be very intentional about the things that you do and the words that
you speak. Now, like I said,
this might seem very small,
but it does make a world of a difference in the perceptions that people have.
And if you start out the gate on day one using the wrong language,
then actually you might, you know,
alter or have them have the wrong perception of you.
And so much of management guys is all about expectations and managing
perceptions. And so pulling out of your vocabulary, the words I,
and me,
and instead saying we actually makes all the world of a difference.
And like I said, you might think it's small, but it really sets, uh,
expectations and perceptions. You know, for me,
like I personally have a pet peeve with people using,
direct reports to describe their team members feel free to come for me in the co
mment section below. But I personally don't believe in, in,
in calling my team members direct reports because to me,
these are people on my team and not like actual reports.
I don't even have a report, but you get what I'm saying.
They're not a piece of paper, they're people.
So I prefer to use the term team members.
And what that did for me was it set the tone that I view these people on
my team as collaborators within a group, um, you know,
that are helping the entire team re really reach a goal.
And so it allowed me to create, like I said,
a collaborative environment and a team environment rather than viewing people
that are basically just answering to me and reporting to me.
So I never used those terms within my vocabulary.
Like I completely pulled it out of my,
my vocabulary and it helped me set the culture I want. So all this to say,
or what I'm trying to say to you is I want you to think about maybe the language
that you're using right now,
that if you really think about it might give off the wrong perception.
And I want you to instead choose the words that really align with your
values and the words that you think will give off the perception that
you want to have from the very beginning, because this does matter.
Okay so the fourth thing that is critical to your success on your first day as a
manager is making sure that you are setting up meet and greets with the team,
which obviously means informal chats to listen,
to and get to know your team members. Now, yes,
this is going to be a little bit awkward for those of you that have been
promoted from within,
because on some level you kind of already know your team members.
So it's going to be awkward for you more so than somebody who's coming in brand
new. But either way, like no matter if you were promoted or coming in brand new,
this is a critical step. So do not skip it.
Even if it is a little bit awkward. Do the work because it's,
it's really important for you to really know the people with whom you're going
to be working a lot with and who you're trying to achieve results through.
So don't do not skip this step. And if you have a big team,
so you're not able to get through like the entire team on the first day, um,
just make sure at least that everybody on that team knows
that they are on the schedule to be met with. Okay.
So make sure that that's on the schedule. Now,
if you're having a little bit of difficulty figuring out what exactly you should
say on that first day, then feel free to check out my free guide,
the ultimate guide to being an effective team leader,
because I have two pages of questions on there that might help you,
come up with what, you know,
what you could ask to make it not so awkward between the two of you.
So I will definitely link that for you in the in the description box below.
Lastly and I think I,
might've already mentioned this in my previous five tips for day one video,
but it is just as true now as it was then. So I want to reiterate it.
You want to make sure on that first day that you are listening, okay.
Truly actively listening to what is going on. And what's being said,
and not said.
Because listening is so critical to you being truly effective because active
listeners are the ones that are, are effective.
That's just the truth of the matter. And it's like Stephen Covey says, right,
that most people don't listen with the intent to understand. You know,
now that I'm actually saying that, I feel like I totally butchered that quote.
So I'm actually going to look that up right now, if you don't mind,
because I don't want you walking away with the wrong quote.
Stephen Covey. Okay. So.
Yeah, this one's actually a lot better than what I said.
So what he says here is that most people don't listen with the intent to
understand they listen with the intent to reply.
And I think that's actually a lot more powerful than what I thought,
because what's implied here is that you're actually not listening at all at
all. Right. If you're spending your brain power,
trying to work out what you're going to say, right.
And that's basically what he's saying would that would that response.
But anyways, all this to say,
listening with the intent to understand is really,
really important because then it means that you understand things
before you take it upon yourself to act on things, right?
So I want you to make sure that on that first day,
you've got your listening cap on. I don't know if that's the saying,
but you get what I'm saying. Listen to everything that's being said,
be super attentive because oftentimes, um,
the things that need to be done are heard in the nuance,
but you will completely miss the nuance if you are not actively engaged and
paying attention to it.
So make sure that you've got your ear to the ground and that you're actively
listening to what is being said. All right. So that is pretty much it guys,
in terms of a couple of tips,
actionable tips that you can use to make your first day as a manager a
success.
I feel like this video coupled with my other one will give you a nice rounded
kind of, you know,
thought process of how to make that first day of success.
And so I do hope that you found this video valuable to you.
If you found it valuable, please do give it a thumbs up and subscribe.
So you don't miss out on other content that I share for first-time team managers
on my platform. All right. It was great to be with you today.
I hope you have a fantastic rest of the day.
Do not forget to keep smiling and I'll see you in the next.