All newly appointed managers experience fears and expectations. It doesn’t matter if it’s their first management position or the next one in a string of them; these things will be shared by all. They’ll also be felt by those around them, whether colleagues, subordinates, or supervisors.

It’s important that you’re aware of what they are so that you won’t be caught unawares. You see, it’s the surprise that can wrong-foot you. If you don’t what to expect, then when these things come upon you, they will cause you to make bad decisions.

Ignorance of them can also lure you into a false sense of security that can make you feel capable of filling positions that are beyond where it is safe or prudent for you to go. The once famous, but now forgotten, Peter Principle tells us that people rise to their level of incompetence. If you want to remain competent, then you need to be wise enough to know when it’s time to stop pushing to the next level up the hierarchy; to recognize when enough is enough.

Managers

All newly-appointed managers have personal expectations. These are based on their strengths – what they know they can do well already. And depending on their enthusiasm, chances are that they will also want to make a positive difference in their organization and change the lives of those with whom they have contact. They’ll want to develop their subordinates, support their peers, and please their supervisors.

Subordinates

Subordinates will see the newly-appointed manager in a different light. For one thing, they won’t know what that person’s strengths are unless they’ve known that person from a previous job or by reputation. Their hope will be that he / she will improve the job for them, provide them with opportunities for personal and professional development, recognize their own strengths and promote them, and reward them for their efforts. Their hopes are based on the idea that their previous manager either didn’t do those things or didn’t do them to the extent that they would have liked.

Peers

Peers have really only one expectation. It’s that you will help them to achieve theirs. If they want to maintain the status quo, then you won’t rock their boat. If they need new ideas, then you’ll be filled with them. The risk is that you’ll be brimming with ideas and be confronted with a group of people who want to leave things as they are.

Supervisors

Supervisors hope that the newly-appointed manager will meet the organization’s objectives.

Remember: these are the positive things that new managers will feel.

There are some negative things, however, that managers, subordinates, peers and supervisors are afraid of.

Managers

Some new managers are afraid of the responsibilities that come with the new job because of how they got the job in the first place. They may have bluffed (that means they lied on their CV and got away with it) their way through the hiring process and, now that they have the job, they realize just how far over their heads they really are.

It could be that they were able to cover weaknesses they knew they had, and which now turn out to be more like liabilities. This gives them that feeling that if they had known before they interviewed for the job what they know now, they wouldn’t have bothered to apply.

Subordinates

Subordinates may see the new manager as a threat. Organizations rarely bring in someone who is completely new. Usually he or she is a clone of the previous person. That means that the best that subordinates can hope for is more of the same. If the new manager is trying to make a name for him- or herself, then matters could be even worse than what they were.

That new person could simply become the new office politician, too, who finesses everyone else to his or her own ends.

Peers

Peers hope that they will be able to get along with the new person; that the new manager will fit in.

You’ve probably witnessed this yourself. You have a team in place. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been together for a week or a year. Then a new person joins them. That person could have more expertise than the rest of them put together, and everyone could know that; but the fact that that person is new puts everyone else on their guard, at least for a little while. The newly-appointed manager will be like that with his or her peers. Everyone will be watching to see if he / she pulls his or her weight. Some may even be rooting for failure so that the “intruder” will be kicked out.

Supervisors

Supervisors nearly always have some reservations about anyone new that they appoint. That’s because they rarely get what they consider to be the ideal candidate. Instead, they settle for the lesser of evils. It means that at the back of their minds, they’re wondering if this person will deliver within the time allotted. Will this person make them look good, or bad? Will this person help them succeed, or call their judgement into question?

What should you do?

If you’re a newly appointed manager, what should you do to alleviate your own expectations and fears?

You must recognize that however high your standards, you won’t be perfect. There will always be a tension between seeking to grow and achieving all that you set out to do. In fact, you can use it as a kind of yardstick. If you ever get to the point where you feel that you no longer want to grow or that you’ve done all you can, then you’ll know that it’s time to move on.

But you also need to acknowledge that what you feel is perfectly normal. It’s not unique to you. It is lonely at the top, and the farther up you go, the lonelier it gets. That all by itself can make you feel that no one else has felt the way you do; but they have, so find some other people at a similar level inside or outside of your industry who you can talk to and with whom you can share your concerns.

You  should also ask yourself what can you do to make your peers, subordinates, and supervisors more comfortable with you. The main thing is to reduce any feelings that they have of being threatened by your presence. You don’t want them to feel worse about their work because you’re there. By virtue of your position, you will be able to make changes, but if you come in “all guns blazing” from the beginning, you’ll create a lot of antagonism before you accomplish anything.

Gain their trust first before you try to do anything else.

If you’d like to discuss matters further on effectively training managers, contact us today.