I’m a New Manager. Now What?

Every new manager has that moment. After the promotion or new hire into a management role, they’re responsible for leading their team in accomplishing company goals. And they ask themselves, “Now what?”

The reality is, managers have one job – to find and train their replacement.

When managers are focused on their job, they hire the best talent, train for success, coach for high performance, and retain employees. They can take a vacation or attend a conference with confidence, knowing that the department isn’t going to fall apart. Managers who are focused on their one job can participate in that super-secret special project that will get the attention of senior leadership. They can do cool stuff that will enhance their skills and knowledge.

Managers who focus on finding and training their replacement aren’t dispensable. They’re promotable.

Organizations that want managers who will hire, train, and retain the best talent need to set those managers up for success. The way they do that is with onboarding.

Think about it – companies currently provide onboarding to new hire employees. Why not onboard new managers?

Onboarding a new manager isn’t the same as management or leadership development. Those programs offer skills that employees can use immediately like communication skills, decision-making, and problem-solving. A manager onboarding program includes skills that managers need the minute they become a manager such as workforce management and employment law. There’s a place for all of these programs.

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Creating a new manager onboarding program doesn’t need to be expensive or time-consuming. In fact, I have a resource that can help. My second book, “Manager Onboarding: 5 Steps for Setting New Leaders Up for Success” is a practical guide for designing and implementing a manager onboarding program. The book is being launched during the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference and Expo in Washington, D.C. next week.

To celebrate the launch, SHRM is offering a pre-conference sale in the SHRM Store. Get 20% off using the code SP2016. I hope you’ll take a moment to check it out.

Managers are an important part of our organizational success. We need to give them the tools to meet their goals. Starting with Day One onboarding.

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