Being a manager brings with it a number of big challenges. On one hand you still have a fair bit to do personally but now you are expected to manage others too. While there are many things that can contribute to your success, I believe that there are 6 pillars that are core to your success.
Pillar 1: Manage Expectations
Your boss has expectations of you which in itself is not unreasonable. As a manager you need to manage these expectations. Part of that is about communicating and avoiding nasty surprises. Sometimes a little bit of advance notice can make a big difference to how people perceive you.
Pillar 2: Be A Great Delegator
Conceptually managers understand that delegating is a good thing. Despite this many resist delegating. It might quite simply be driven by fear. Perhaps they delude themselves into believing they can do it all on their own. The reality is that delegating effectively is key to your success as a manager.
Pillar 3: Bring Out The Best In Others
Every person you manage has something of value to contribute. The trouble is managers often fail to take the time to discover the strengths of their people. Knowing this is core to bringing out the best in others.
Pillar 4: Run Efficient Processes
So often when things are not working, managers add more and more process to compensate and fix problems. Stand back, get clear on what an efficient process would look like and find ways of making the changes happen.
Pillar 5: Manage Your Budget
Managers need to get comfortable at delivering what is expected with the resources available to them. That means staying on top of income and expenditure generated or spent, income or expenditure expected or committed and income targets to be achieved and funds still available to spend.
Pillar 6: Make Time For Managing
Managing people and processes is a core part of your role. Make sure that you are committing a significant portion of your working hours to managing rather than trying to slot it in once you have done everything.