The New Manager Guide

Thoughts, stories and ideas.

I work with people. It’s not uncommon to run across folks that still use the language of “resources” when talking about people or teams. I think this language emphasizes the wrong philosophy. Resources is a “nice” term when you don’t have to care about feelings, people, life, problems,

Most managers have to learn how to do their job while actually doing their job. This is equivalent to asking pilots to figure out how to fly while taking off, flying, and landing the plane. Unfortunately, every person on the team is along for the ride while their manager learns

There are many business-specific details, but you’ll need people and teams to help accomplish your goals. Here’s a sample of what you should consider in your staffing plan: * How many folks of a given skill set and experience do you need? * Where do you need them? * How are you going

Headcount is the number of people you have on staff or are hiring. For example: * “What’s your headcount?” means how many people you have on your team. * “How much headcount do you have left to hire?” - this is the number of positions left to fill, not your total headcount

Find the thing that excites your people. Know your folk’s hobbies and interests. It’s easy to think that hobbies don’t have a place at work, but that’s short-sighted. We had a hardcore cyclist - he talked about cycling, knew all the excellent bike paths to and from the office, and

Mentorship is essential to any environment and can be an extremely effective tool for you and your team. Everyone talks about mentorship, but few explain how it benefits managers, their teams, and your delivery.

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