Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Wait Till Eventually?

Why Wait Till Eventually? By Daryl M. Williams December 18, 2012 If I had a $1 for every time I heard a student or client indicate they were going to wait until they graduated or until the holidays were over before beginning their employment search, I would have a nice down payment on a near luxury vehicle. Here’s the thing, folks: it really is a myth that hiring stops during the end of the year. We HAVE to go forth and conquer because depending on where you look you will find data suggesting that the average time it takes to earn a new job is 6 months to 1 year. For example, an article at AOL indicates the average time is 7 months. AOL Job Length Think about that in terms of YOUR job hunt YOU just pushed back until you graduate one year from now. If you thought you would waltz from the classroom to the boardroom you may be in for a huge, unwelcome surprise. The same applies to the holidays in terms of assuming companies are waiting. Here’s the thing, I get it. Peopl...
3 comments
Read more
Marketing 101: You are the Product By Daryl M Williams Think back to the past several Super Bowls and some of the companies that produced commercials. At the end of their 30-60 second spot, you had no idea what service or product they were introducing or selling. DON’T be those guys! Even GoDaddy.com, a seemingly successful and newsworthy company is an example NOT to follow. Why? Well for one thing, they relied on your desire to research them further by going to their website, routinely ending commercials before you knew what was being sold. It worked for them but unless your résumé offers truly captivating content, ending it before you’ve sold the connection  between your experience and the role you are pursuing is a sure fire way to hear crickets from that job you applied for. How do you avoid being those guys? Glad you asked and here are some tips: ·          AVOID the empty rhetoric such as: o    Keen ey...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why YOU should have an Executive Board

Why you should have an Executive Board daryl m. williams January 14, 2013 Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. I ALWAYS loved the theme song to Cheers. ALWAYS! Fantastic but what does that have to do with anything and specifically the title about executive boards? Well, the executive board I’m talking about is different but should be a bit closer to our hearts because it is our individual boards. Let me explain. I believe we should look at ourselves as individual corporations. Our careers are our product and we are the CEO as well as head of marketing, etc…of our corporations. This is not a new concept and while I did not learn it from J.T. O’Donnell or Reid Hoffman, among others, they certainly validated my way of thinking. That said your corporation should...
Post a Comment
Read more