Help me be a better manager

[chocolatekeyboard]

I started managing a large team in March 2022 and shared this with 4 other managers. I liked the collaboration and support I had from my managers.

In June of this year I started managing a smaller team elsewhere in the organisation doing very different work and I manage them on my own. I'm struggling at the moment as we've had a huge restructure and everything still looks quite uncertain. My team are quite an anxious bunch anyway and most weeks I am dealing with 121s where they list all their frustrations and worries. I do my best to appease them but I am also trying to soothe my own anxieties at the same time. I'm still getting to grips with the job itself.

I think I've been trying to conceal my worries in an attempt to ease theirs but they seem to be misconstruing this as being aloof and naive. Any ideas on how to best manage my own concerns and theirs?

If you're just giving platitudes you don't mean they'll know that. From experience it's better to acknowledge the uncertainty and the fear and how it can be different for each person. Help the team focus on the controllable but don't dismiss or appease. Come back to the topic regularly even if it's just to say 'no more updates' and have a chance to dismiss rumours. Have someone you can talk to about your worries (not in the team). Restructures are highly disruptive and you need to be all over it and driving regular and open communication.

1:1s should be a constructive 2 way conversation, are they just bringing worries and complaints to you or are they also bringing solutions? You should be asking them what would make things better, how they can get involved in bringing about those improvements and you need to be realistic. They are all adults, adults don't get to just voice their problems and throw them at someone else to fix, they have to be part of the solution.

If the things they are raising and the solutions they are giving cannot be implemented then you need to work with them to find alternatives or to set the expectation in a way that can be understood and accepted.

Communicate updates as much as you are able to, be honest and tell them there is no update if there isn't one.

Spend some time really assessing the characters in your team, in all likelihood you'll have a mix of:

• people with potential and interest in developing and taking on more responsibility
• people who are happy with the status quo and just want to come in, do their job and leave
• people who will probably never be happy and will be a drain on your time.

Put your focus on the first 2 groups, develop group 1, help them to build their skills and experience, look to them as your succession plan so they are able to fill your role if you move on. Keep group 2 happy, they are the ones who will be doing the BAU work and keeping the department ticking along. Manage group 3 but don't devote excess time to trying to make them like the job more if it isn't realistic that you'll achieve that goal, putting too much focus on this group means you will frustrate groups 1 and 2.

Great advice, thank you so much! I actually had a realisation today now that I have a new manager how little support I had previously and as a junior manager I really struggled with this. I love the groups idea, thank you!

Bumping this in case there is any more brilliant advice to add as I am in the same boat as OP.

Honesty, action and trust.
Follow up on their questions. Never break their confidence. Have a meeting with them all together amd compile a list of all the questions they have. Then try and get them answers.
Keep their roles interesting, offer them chances to cross train to increase their skills.