Managing for the first time

Managing for the first time

By Daryl M Williams

Beaded sweat on my forehead drips on the small of my back, sleep wracked by erratic motion and an inability to relax, doubt plagued thoughts imagining catastrophe and ruin.

Not the beginning of a poem, if it were it wouldn’t be one of my better examples, but this is a slight exaggeration of how I felt the days and nights leading up to my first step into the managerial arena. Why was I so despondent when this is something I wanted, badly? I’ve always considered being in management the opportunity for ordinary people to have an EXTRAORDINARY responsibility. Now, I didn’t join the police or become a firefighter, I didn’t become a Ranger, Delta Force or the team lead on Seal Team Six but I realized I potentially had the opportunity to decide the following:

1.      Who was interviewed

2.      Who was hired – Are your kids eating today?

3.      Who was fired – Will the rent/mortgage be paid?

4.      Make work passable if not fun and/or challenging

5.      Make work miserable

This scared me. Like many, I’ve had a bad boss or two, perhaps not to the extent of Horrible Bosses, the movie, but I’ve had bosses that made work challenging and not in the sharpen your skills, get your thinking cap on way. I DID NOT want to be that guy.

What to do? I decided on servant leadership. I thought about how I wanted to be treated, what I respected and appreciated and how I intended to treat my team. My goal was to ensure that no matter the decision made, I would do my best to ensure the following: Business not personal. I didn’t want to allow my emotions to drive this car. Level-headed, clear thinking and focused on treating my team like the adults they were was and is always my goal. I also did the following things through word and deed:

1.      We are a team – amazing how expressing that sentiment can help it become so

2.      You can ask any question you want, just be prepared you may not like the answer

a.       We had an occasional ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ meeting where I would share even more information

3.      Focused on what my team, individually, wanted from work

a.       Set up informational interviews

b.      Worked on resumes and interview skills

c.       Acted as a reference (Sorry Human Resources)

This won me a couple of awards at that first job for going above and beyond and customer service. It led to associates on other teams feeling comfortable enough to confide in me and it made me value the importance of relationship building. Turns out I did have an EXTRAORDINARY responsibility but I didn’t shrink from the moment and instead reveled in it.

Daryl M Williams, MBA, M.S., is an adjunct professor, teaching Career Planning and Management as well as being a Career Coach. He is passionate about providing information to assist friends, family, students, alums, and even frenemies (really) in professional development and uses his management experience in Fortune 500, non-profit and private corporations to inform his decisions. Feel free to connect via LinkedIn.