How To Transition From Being a Peer to an Effective Manager

Firstly, congratulations on your new role! Moving into leadership is an intimidating prospect for many newly promoted managers due to prior friendships and histories with the team members you now lead. Let’s go over how to transition from being a peer to an effective manager without hiccups.

Balance Leading and Doing

Many new leaders who move up internally struggle to balance their new role of leading with the old habits of doing. After all, you know what the team’s daily expectations are and exactly how to help your teammates through their workflow. Some of the best managers stay in the fray and act as a helping hand throughout the workflow.

That said, it’s crucial that you balance the urge to take care of tasks yourself with the responsibilities of leading. If you take every difficult job off your teammates, you find yourself swamped with the most difficult work and unable to lead effectively. Give yourself permission to offer help and provide solutions, as well as permission to delegate and organize.

Put Communication Skills Into Practice

Communication is a key part of the transition from being a peer to an effective manager. In some ways, how you speak to your co-workers now must change, as becoming too casual or too strict can lead to miscommunications with subordinates. Even how you arrange a new office space, from the placement of your nameplate to any awards you display, communicates a message to your team. Whether you are an open-door policy kind of leader or a more structured sort, it’s crucial that you discover a communication style that fits your team’s needs and your own management methods.

A good place to start off is with a small group or one-on-one meetings early in your position. These meetings are a fantastic opportunity to gain feedback and share expectations with your peers. Input is one of the most valuable tools for any leader, and your peers likely have great suggestions already, as they know how you worked in your previous role.

Build New Connections Without Losing Old Ones

Moving from one team to another inevitably changes the people you see each day and how you interact with each individual. As you enter a management role, don’t hesitate to develop new connections with other members of management. These connections are vital to preventing silo mentality between teams and departments and improving overall workflow.

When possible, it’s also great to do what you can to maintain your previous connections with your peers. While you may not remain as present in their day-to-day work, maintaining a positive, active connection improves communication channels.

Internal promotions might put you in a complicated position, but ultimately, your new role provides you an opportunity to better advocate for your peers and make an impact for your company and clients!