What do you wish you knew before becoming a people manager?

julietaheri·Nov 09, 2021

I'd love to understand what everyone wished they knew before becoming a people manager. This question was recently asked across a professional networking group, and the answers were fascinating - would love to know what the thoughts from this group are! Some of the themes from the networking group:

- how critical yet important early crucial conversations are - and how to learn how to have them

- learning how to manage effectively across different personalities on the team

- what is expected performance wise while ramping if this is an internal promotion into leadership

tanvishah·Nov 10, 2021

All the above and is there work life balance in a people manager role?

mprat·Nov 10, 2021

* Concrete expectations of the role. Especially important if you're reporting to the same boss as when you were an IC, there might be some mismatch (i.e. they expect you to do both your IC and manager role, which is obviously untenable)* Strategies for delegation / ramping down your previous responsibilities to ramp up into your new ones (per bullet point 1)* Internal resources / trainings / materials on management. Reading through these and taking all the internal courses will give you a good indication of the "informal" expectations and culture of management as your employer, in contrast to bullet point 1 which are the "formal" expectations

naomidevore·Nov 10, 2021

Understanding the edges of where I can push for change with direct reports. Can I tell them to take some comp time in a rough week without getting signoff? What kind of metrics should I track so we can argue for their promotions? Things along those lines.