Tips for Transitioning from Individual Contributor to Manager

Want to get into leadership? It's a VERY different job than you do now. I've promoted dozens of people into leadership and here are the 5️⃣ things I make sure they agree to before I offer them the job. 1️⃣ Acknowledge the jobs are different → what made you a successful rep or IC (individual contributor) will NOT make you a successful leader. 💡 A great headstart into leadership is to begin to explore what those differences are. How can you begin to develop leadership skills before you need them? 2️⃣ Reverse where you index → most people index on either relationship or process. Leaders need to be proficient in both. Process people can be rough and short. Those strong in relationships can lack the teachable "how to" process provides bc of their magic people skills. 💡 Identify where your strength is and begin to understand your weakness. Where can you lean into your weakness in your current role? If you need more process, study the ones you have and start to manage yourself in them first. If you lean to process already, how can you take that extra beat to build deeper relationships now? 3️⃣ Don't super rep → the most common mistake of new leaders is making their team admins that "bring their manager" on a call to do the real work. This leads to reps reliant on their manager to get results, rather than developing self-sufficiency. 💡 You can start to "manage" now by leveraging your current resources better, e.g. more effective syncs with your SDR, better prep for you SE, more guided responses for support pros. Be a leader with the team you already have as an IC! 4️⃣ Choose good ideas over "my" ideas → new leaders are ready to change the world...even if it means repeating mistakes unnecessarily. When your idea always wins or you have strong inner conflict accepting someone else's idea bc you are worried about getting credit, you kill the momentum of your new role. 💡 When's the last time you sought out feedback on an idea you had? I'm sure you are like "ALWAYS!," but when did you change what you were doing? Try that. Get used to choosing good ideas that aren't yours! 5️⃣ Be a learner → Just bc you are leader doesn't mean you know it all or are expected to have every answer. Instead, find your wells of knowledge and draw from them daily. 💡 The best way to learn is to teach. Find something the team you are on needs, go learn it, then give it as a gift to your teammates. There's nothing better than helping someone be successful - that's leadership...and something you can do right now.

I didn't just wake up as a project manager I became one over time. It wasn't handed to me and didn't happen overnight. It was a journey, full of: → Intentional steps → Learning curves → Moments of growth Making the leap from individual contributor to PM can feel like a canyon. Here are the 5 steps I took to land successfully: ☝ I learned to speak the language Not just of project management, but leadership as well. You need to understand and speak business priorities, stakeholder needs, and team dynamics. Make it a point to shore up knowledge of budgets, timelines, and strategy. Ask questions, seek out mentors, and consume resources to assist. ✌ I volunteered for stretch assignments (and challenging ones) Take on opportunities outside of your role's duties. It'll challenge you, give you hands-on experience, and push you to grow. They also help build key PM skills like organization, communication, and delivery. 🤟 I focused on building relationships You can't just focus on tasks, you need to relate to and connect people. Prioritize building trust with colleagues. Be reliable, empathetic, and open to collaboration. Make an effort inside and outside of your organization to learn from peers, especially in different departments. These relationships are gold for buy-in, support, and opportunity. 🖖 I became obsessed with clarity and process Projects thrive when structure is implemented and organized. Hone your skills by implementing systems and tools to organize and track work. Eventually, you can apply these to the work of others. Become known as the "chaos coordinator" and watch your reputation elevate you. 🖐 I asked for the opportunity I made it known to my bosses early on what I wanted to do. I came with a blueprint for how to do it and asked for support and opportunity. I sought feedback on how to get better and continue to hone my skills. I looked for mentors, built a network, and snagged diverse opportunities. All because I showed initiative, followed through, and shined when it mattered. Becoming a PM isn't an overnight thing. It's also certainly not a straight line. But with intentional steps and a willingness to grow, you can make the same move I did. Project contributor to leader. PS: what's one step you're taking to make your next career move happen? 🤙

I'm delighted to share my newest piece for Newsweek-out today-on how to successfully navigate the transition from individual contributor to people leader. Too often, stellar individual contributors are promoted into people leadership roles without adequate training, development, support, or recognition that the skills that make people talented individual contributors are distinct from those that make them successful people leaders. Here, I share high-impact strategies that dramatically accelerate success for new people leaders: 🎯Recognize that you're moving into a new professional role and identity. Understanding the differences between successful individual contributor and people leadership skills is an important first step, as is learning to work on a more strategic versus tactical level. 🎯Develop your leadership values, voice, and vision. Understanding what guides you as a leader will help you better prioritize the day-to-day actions and ways of working that help you embody the kind of leader you aspire to be. 🎯Prioritize relationship building within and beyond your team. New people leaders often make the mistake of prioritizing day-to-day work over building relationships. But relationship building and creating alignment is central to success as a leader. 🎯Be strategic about how you and your team invest your time, energy, and resources. Learning to move from time management to priority management is a high-impact investment. Setting aside a weekly planning meeting to prioritize your and your team's work and defaulting to 85% rather than 100% effort will help you and your team deliver the highest impact results while protecting against burnout. 🎯Invest in and prioritize your own professional development and growth. Carving out regular time to deepen your skills as a people leader on an on-going basis will help you continue to develop your leadership skills and support your success as you grow into your new role. Recognizing that your own ongoing professional development is foundational to your success rather than taking a when-I-can-squeeze-it-in approach is critical. And, whether you're feeling confident, excited, overwhelmed, uncertain, anxious, or any of the other very common and normal mix of emotions, don't forget to make time to celebrate this significant career milestone! #LeadershipDevelopment #LeadershipCoaching #NewManager #NewManagers #WorkSmarterNotHarder #CareerAdvice

When I started leading a high-powered recruiting team, I had the traits of the TYRANT leaders I now call out. Here's why: Despite my degrees, certificates, and ongoing professional development, nothing prepared me to transition into leading. I still had an individual contributor (IC) mindset, which unintentionally led me to compete with my very capable team. At the time, I engaged in behaviors like: Taking over projects instead of developing my team. Working long hours, thinking it showed commitment. Making unilateral decisions vs collaborating. Giving orders instead of providing clarity and context. Hoarding information instead of communicating transparently. Prioritizing my metrics over team goals. A month in, my boss at the time sat down with me and told me to own my transition and to stop taking over work when someone asked for help. (she's one of the best Leader's I've ever had) To transform my mindset, I sought out a few internal sponsors and observed how they managed their teams. I also asked my team for feedback on where I could do better. Once I made the changes: mindset and action, I began demonstrating new leadership behaviors: Coaching my team and developing their problem-solving skills. ↳Created an authorization matrix to empower them to make decisions. Promoting work-life balance through prioritization and delegation. ↳I stopped working on vacation to set a better example. Making collaborative decisions to increase buy-in. ↳They worked on the reqs, so I asked for their ideas and where I could implement them. Painting a vision and equipping the team to get there themselves. ↳I translated the organization's vision down to how it affected our team goals. Openly communicating to build trust and transparency. ↳I promoted democratic decision-making and explained when it needed to be autocratic. Aligning on and championing team goals over my individual metrics. ↳I held weekly reviews where I celebrated their success because it was OUR success. Here's what I want you to take from this: 1. Develop your team's skills rather than trying to be the expert. 2. Delegate decisions to increase buy-in and leverage diverse perspectives. 3. Openly share information rather than hoarding knowledge and insight. 4. Recognize and elevate your team's contributions rather than taking individual credit. #aLITTLEadvice #leadership

I failed silently as a new manager. For months. Never saw it coming until I crashed hard. Here's why this transition breaks most high-performers: 1/ The Management Honeymoon You get the title. The excitement. The responsibility. It feels amazing for about 2 weeks. Then reality hits. 2/ Hero Mode Fails The skills that got you promoted? They're now your biggest liability. You can't do it all yourself anymore. 3/ Breaking Point You're working nights and weekends. Your team is frustrated. You're questioning your abilities. No one wins. Here's what turned it around for me (and can do the same for you): • Realizing management is an entirely different game • Finding mentors instead of suffering alone • Developing brutal self-awareness • Shifting from doing to enabling others The big truth? You have to completely rewire your brain. Stop thinking: "What can I contribute directly?" Start thinking: "How do I create conditions where others thrive?" I shared all of this with Matt Gjertsen on The Leadership Launchpad. We also covered: • Why pretending to have all answers kills your credibility • How delayed feedback destroys trust faster than anything • The fatal flaw in most delegation advice • Building teams people actually want to join Listen to our conversation here: https://lnkd.in/dNncDcQw. What was your most painful management lesson? Drop it in the comments below.

My biggest mistake when I moved from IC to Manager: thinking I could continue operating as an individual contributor. I thought I could: - have my own projects - be a "hands-off" manager - drastically improve my technical skills - not integrate with multiple stakeholders I was a *Shadow Manager*, a manager in title but not in reality. It took me years to get past this mindset. Now I know that the IC-to-Manager pivot requires major shifts. You're shifting into a brand new job and requires you to operate differently. Yes, your technical acumen is still important, but your core skills change. - writing SQL -> writing documents - building models -> building relationships - debugging code -> debugging process failures The earlier you make the shifts, the earlier you'll be successful as a leader.

The moment you step into a leadership role, everything changes. I learned this the hard way... My first year managing a team was a disaster. - I kept solving problems myself - Micromanaged every detail - Wondered why my team seemed frustrated Classic first-time manager mistake: I was still acting like a technical expert, not a leader. Then my mentor asked me a question that changed everything: "Are you building a team that depends on you, or can succeed without you?" That hit hard. A good leaders make their teams believe in them. Great leaders make their teams believe in themselves. These 6 disciplines are what helped me transition from hands-on expert to real leader: 1. Develop a Leader's Mindset Leading a team requires a different mindset than working as an individual contributor. 2. Holding Regular 1-on-1s This is where you increase engagement of team members, deepen your understand of their issues, and help your team solve problems on their own. 3. Set Up Your Team for Success Be clear about goals, delegate ownership, and give the right level of support so your team can win. 4. Build a Feedback Culture Give feedback to build your team’s confidence and competence. And seek feedback to sharpen your own skills. 5. Lead Through Change Change is hard. Help your team adapt and move faster by guiding them through uncertainty. 6. Managing Your Energy (not just time) Use weekly planning to focus on most important priorities, and strengthen your ability to be an effective leader by taking care of yourself. - - - - The technical skills that got you promoted won't make you a great leader. But leadership is a skill—and like any skill, it can be learned. I just published a detailed guide breaking down these 6 disciplines (with real examples) for 5,500+ project managers in this week’s newsletter. Want to build a high-performing team that succeeds with or without you? Get the complete field guide here: https://lnkd.in/gctTJxh5 💡 Which discipline resonates most with you? ♻️ Share this with a manager who needs it

Why is it so hard to make the transition from individual contributor to manager?  First, the definition of success drastically changes. There’s a shift from “me” to “we.” Instead of cranking out work as an individual, there’s a shift to empowering collective success as a team. For a lot of new leaders, this challenges their self-worth. They don’t always feel like they are contributing in huge value-add ways to the company because it’s not how they’ve previously contributed. Second, the actual work being done changes drastically. Managers tend to spend way more time in meetings than they did as an individual contributor. It’s because you’re spending time with people trying to clear roadblocks and accelerate their individual success. You need a completely different skillset as a manager than you do as an IC. So what can we do to make this transition easier? 1️⃣ Document processes and expectations for new managers. What are the things you expect from all managers in your organization? Are they responsible for 1-on-1s, approving PTO or timecards, giving feedback, or having career conversations? If they are, make sure there’s a central place where they can go to see everything that's expected of them. It should also include best practices and templates for each item. Last, make sure to link any systems they might need to use. (I love a tool like Trainual for this!) 2️⃣ Help provide resources so they can get real skill development to thrive as managers. Most commonly, these are things like: - Self-awareness - Delegation - Building trust - Decision making - Managing Conflict - Delivering Feedback - Setting Expectations I’ll link a super cool resource that anyone seeing this can use inside their organizations. It outlines some of these skills and how to get more development on each of them. I’m super grateful to have partnered with Trainual to make a resource like this free and open to anybody to use! Overall, let’s set up new leaders for success by clearly outlining expectations, giving them tools and resources, and helping them gain the new skills they’ll need in a new manager role. I want to know from you, LinkedIn: What do you think is so hard about this transition? And how can we make it easier?

Are you struggling to transition from a high-performing individual contributor to a manager role? I've been there and have worked with many rockstars struggling with this transition. Why do we struggle so much? To achieve high performer status, you have to get stuff done, be better than other people, and in most cases, you believe that "to get things right, I need to do it myself." This is where it gets tricky. Just before you become a manager, you are likely managing larger projects and other people indirectly and it's tough to balance the IC work and the manager work you need to do. Here are a few tips: ➡️ Separate your IC vs. manager time on your calendar. Literally, block time to do the IC work and to manage people. ➡️ Learn how to manage people without doing the work for them. If someone says, I need this report on return on our advertising spend. Don't think you need to do it yourself. Instead, ask the person in charge to create that report for you and give them feedback. Yes, they will make mistakes at first and you'll learn that your first few requests won't be super clear, but you gotta try. ➡️ Get feedback on your performance as a manager. Ask the people you are managing and your leader. These people will have insights and potential blindspots that you can work on. ➡️ Keep at it. I know some people who've decided they prefer to remain an IC and that's 100% ok. My point here is, don't give up just because you don't feel like you are good at it in the beginning. ➡️ Read this book if you have time. I read it in business school a while back, and I still recommend it to high performers on my team making the transition. I love helping people develop into great leaders. I'm still a work in progress myself, but aren't we all? #leadershiplessons #teamdevelopment

From coaching first time managers I have seen something that I call ‘Specialist IC Syndrome’. This is where in your role as a manager you operate more like an IC than a Manager. This happens when your team come with challenges and you provide the answers and solve the challenges over helping them to learn and grow. If you are doing this here are some tips to move into your manager role: - Delegate and Empower: Trust your team to handle tasks you’d normally do yourself. Focus on guiding and coaching them rather than doing the work for them. - Shift to a Strategic Mindset: Focus on broader goals, team development, and aligning tasks with company objectives rather than just the technical details. - Encourage Problem-Solving: Instead of solving problems for your team, guide them to find their own solutions. This helps foster their growth and independence. - Prioritize Team Success Over Personal Expertise: Your success as a manager is defined by the success of your team. Focus on their achievements and development. - Set Clear Expectations: Define roles and responsibilities clearly, both for yourself and your team, so everyone understands where their contributions fit in the bigger picture. Hope this helps and the biggest takeaway for anyone would be focus on coaching in your 1:1s over providing answers. #firsttimemanager #managerenablement ==== 👋 I help first time managers navigate their new role going from lost to leading effectively, in my weekly newsletter I provide tips, resources and guidance for leading effectively. Link on my profile to sign up.