Academic Insight
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everal weeks ago, I had a conversation with a student in one of my upperlevel business classes. I was asked to share some career advice that would help the student be successful in their new managerial role after graduation. Ever since that conversation, I’ve been thinking more about my personal work experiences, the experiences of others and various academic and practitioner resources that I’ve read over the years on this topic. I posed the following question to myself: If I could go back in time and give advice to my younger self on being a first-time manager and supervisor, what advice would I give?
BY Shontarius D. Aikens, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Management at Offutt School of Business at Concordia College 94
MAY 2021
Please be advised that there is not enough space in this article for me to share all of my thoughts. But what I’ve attempted is to identify five key takeaways. And while the target audience of this article is nascent managers and supervisors, perhaps there may be some useful information for individuals who are experienced managers and supervisors. So with that, let’s get started. #1: Understand your talents and strengths. Each person is born with natural talents that can be used in their professional careers. The key is to learn about them early on and to develop them into strengths. It wasn’t until later on in my career when I was introduced to (and became a believer in) self-assessments that helped me to learn about and to affirm my unique talents and strengths. This also helped me to understand the importance of surrounding myself with people who had talents and strengths in areas that I struggled. So, take the time to know and truly understand your talents and strengths. The Gallup Corporation’s Clifton StrengthsFinder and
GARY USSERY
5 Pieces of Practical Advice for Nascent Managers and Supervisors Strengths Based Leadership books are excellent resources to start with. #2: Ask questions to understand the work environment. In the book The 27 Challenges Managers Face, Bruce Tulgan indicated that new managers have a huge learning curve. The process of becoming accustomed to new organizational policies and procedures, the workplace culture, and the dynamics of organizational politics can be intimidating. My recommendation for new managers and supervisors is to be inquisitive during the first months on the job and to ask lots of questions. Become a master at posing the following statement: “I’m new here, and I’m still learning how things operate. Help me to understand how this process/procedure works.” #3: Build strong relationships with your employees. As an employee, you are evaluated and compensated primarily based on your individual performance. When becoming a manager, you are evaluated and
