It finally happened. You're the boss. After cutting your teeth in an industry for years, the powers that be have given you an opportunity to prove you've got the leadership skills to match your deep technical knowledge. The promotion is yours; the raise is in the bank. All that's left is for you to step up to the plate.
Yet you can't get this recurring thought out of your head:
You weren't formally trained as a manager; it's only a matter of time before you're found out.
This everlasting anxiety makes it clear the honeymoon is over; the confetti long since settled to the floor. Harsh realities have since taken shape:
But perhaps more than anything else...
You don't want to become the boss you hated.
At last, you'll take control of your management responsibilities and set your team (and yourself) up for success.
Yet you can't get this recurring thought out of your head:
You weren't formally trained as a manager; it's only a matter of time before you're found out.
This everlasting anxiety makes it clear the honeymoon is over; the confetti long since settled to the floor. Harsh realities have since taken shape:
- You keep wanting to do things yourself when you have a perfectly good team that's willing and able.
- Your team doesn't deliver as fast as you did.
- The other middle managers you have to work with are showing their true colors: they're inept, they're inefficient or (worst of all), they have no intention of working with you.
- You thought management would release you from budgetary limitations, yet your budget continues to shrink.
- When team dysfunction rears up, you find you weren't exactly as prepared for resolution conflict as you might have thought.
- Stakeholders contradict themselves, infuriating your team and complicating your execution.
But perhaps more than anything else...
What are your options? Read books, join forums, go back to business school (a 4 year degree). Are these even tenable?
Well, books are a-plenty...full of broad, vague platitudes that can't get you from A to B. The right forums are far and few between; it's easier to ask an anonymous public how to fix a JavaScript error than it is on how to handle an employee with an alcohol addiction that is also the linchpin to your team's operations. And a 4-year business degree? Great idea, but you need answers now (and aren't looking to get into more debt).
There is one other option.
The Accidental Boss is a brand new resource for managers both novice and experienced that are looking for new ways to expand their toolkit. You'll get tactical, hands-on approaches to problems that manifest in ways you never saw coming, with tutorials and lessons on:
- Shadow IT - How to implement technical solutions with limited/no budget, outside of approved corporate channels while still complying with corporate policy.
- Diplomacy (aka "Playing The Game") - how to do it, why IT nerds continually shun it, what it will get you, and when to cash that social capital in.
- Process - Waterfall? Agile? Scrum? Kanban? All well and good, but how about the specific steps to establish a routine that accelerates your team's production without forcing them to work overtime.
- Trust / Loyalty - What expectations are appropriate to set in the workplace, both of your team, and of yourself.
- "Walking The Line" - The changing landscape (work/life balance, working remotely, diversity/representation, sub 40 hr weeks) flies in the face of your corporate overlords (more work, faster turnarounds, open office plans), and we'll provide strategies on how to balance (and satisfy) both.
At last, you'll take control of your management responsibilities and set your team (and yourself) up for success.
Sign up for The Accidental Boss mailing list below, and we'll get you started with:
- Weekly updates on tips, techniques and strategies.
- Early bird alerts on new blog posts, as well as upcoming tutorials or lessons (and maybe even some secret goodies to go along with them!)
Don't be a Lumbergh. Let's get this ship turned around.