Tips for a new manager?

[GreenFootstool]

I'm awaiting appointment into a new role as a manager with a respectable payrise but it includes line management which is new to me.

Whilst I've managed and arranged lots of things like police search / arrest operations with 100 officers and been a mentor and tutor multiple times I've never been a line manager of people with HR responsibilities etc. I'm not in the police anymore but it's an adjacent type role, sort of in investigations of a sort.

Anyone out there willing to share any advice for the newbie?

I'm in my 40s, I am absolutely shit at asking for help and have a tendency to hoard tasks rather than delegate then panic when I'm overwhelmed....

You already sound unsuitable for the role.

“have a tendency to hoard tasks rather than delegate then panic when I'm overwhelmed”

Change this immediately, ask your current manager to support you

Read the book the first 100 days. It won’t tell you how to manage exactly but it’s a great book to help you be successful in a promotion. It might not all be relevant but a lot will be.

Ok, I'm not quoting the initial comment but am quoting the statement cited.

Do not hoard and refuse to delegate.

You need to knock that on the head. Rapidly. You'll look incompetent, it's not fair on your team and the quality of your work will suffer.

I don't know what panicking looks like to you, but no-one wants to be managed by a flapper.

Schedule in regular supervision with your team.

They don't want a friend, they want a manager.

Share the limelight. Share it publicly. Positive feedback from your boss? "Thanks, Emily and Ranjit came up with some great ideas for that".

Helpful....

The panic, I should probably have mentioned, is solely internal and in my head - not flapping about in front of people. But I'll stay awake late at night, worried or work until the wee hours to try complete tasks rather than let people down.

Thank you @Pharmacyproblem , I think I am good for putting others work in the spotlight, so I'll make sure to remember it if there's opportunities.

In terms of hoarding, it's because I feel like I can't ask others to take on tasks - I'm hoping to manage myself better when it is literally, my job to delegate work when currently I don't have the power to do that. So I tend to do it myself rather than put people out?

Be firm, be fair don't let colleagues walk over you. Dont fall in to the trap where you bully to get things done- seen this so often!

In terms of hoarding, it's because I feel like I can't ask others to take on tasks - I'm hoping to manage myself better when it is literally, my job to delegate work when currently I don't have the power to do that. So I tend to do it myself rather than put people out?
giving people work to do keeps them skilled and essentially in employment, I had a manager who was a hoarder and it was miserable, I knew we’d (team members) be first on the chopping block if they needed to make redundancies and just felt like our manager didn’t trust us, reframe it, you’re not putting people out, you’re helping them do the job they literally applied for.

Do the basics right. eg.

• set up regular 1:1s with your direct reports and honour them. Occasionally may need to rearrange, but rearrange dont cancel. Dont drop them because things are busy. Theyre more important when things are busy.
• get on front foot with HR processes. Objective setting, keeping your own records through the year for mid year and end of year reviews.
• make giving feedback normal. Something positive, something to work on. At most 1:1s.
• know who your HR advisor is. They have a very different role for managers than individual contributors. Set up a regular check in with them if possible, especially early days.
• get a teaching session, expenses, annual leave, sickness are the basics. Performance management / disciplinary, compassionate leave, maternity and parental being the next round. You want to know the basics before you need them.

Get yourself a buddy for ‘being a people manager in your company’. Someone who you can ask the dim questions to.

Assume there’s a policy for everything. Find it and follow it.

This.

Keep a box of tissues on your desk and find somewhere private that you can go to to cry.

I sympathise OP. In every other job I've had, there has been some sort of training, shadowing and support. When you reach a certain level and experience, its assumed you will automatically succeed at line management.

It wasn't just the line management I struggled with but even basics like organising my work calendar/emails/scheduling etc. I know this sounds ridiculous, but this was long before covid and WFH and I'd moved from a hands-on, paper based role to an office based one requiring zoom meetings and using multiple IT systems which I'd never used before.

My diary became full of meetings so for sanity, I'd put in a lunch break in for myself. I'd often walk to a park to ensure I was away from the office for an actual break.
Read the HR policies and familiarise yourself and ask HR for help when needed.

Just a thought. You're not "putting people out" when you delegate. You're growing them.

A good manager grows the person with the role.