If you’re the type of young person who spends your free moments online reading blog posts on productivity and office politics and your evenings perusing the latest business books, than most likely one goal is at the forefront of your mind — making it to management. You may think of being promoted as the reward for all your hard work, but is this also a case where you should watch out what you wish for?
For a significant percentage of new managers the answer appears to be yes if a new CareerBuilder survey is to be believed. The nationwide poll of nearly 4,000 workers revealed that finally getting on to the next rung of the career ladder can cause some serious stress.
The survey revealed that more than a quarter (26 percent) of new managers felt underprepared for their new responsibilities and a whopping 58 percent reported receiving no management training. So what did these fledgling bosses struggle with the most? CareerBuilder outlines the most commonly reported trouble spots for managers:
- Dealing with issues between co-workers — 25 percent
- Motivating team members — 22 percent
- Performance reviews — 15 percent
- Finding the resources needed to support the team — 15 percent
- Creating career paths for my team — 12 percent
Of course, we’ve got plenty of great resources to help new mangers get up to speed on BNET, including experienced managers sharing their worst mistakes following their first big promotion and readers offering tips to rookie bosses. Each individual story is different, but what stands out from both these tales from the front lines and from the CareerBuilder list of problem areas for new managers is just how difficult “soft” skills of management can be. Technical abilities may win you the promotion, but to succeed in management you’ll need tomaster office politics.
If you’ve already made it to management, was the transition a smooth one or did you struggle to cope with your new responsibilities?
Read More on BNET:
- What’s the First Thing New Managers Need to Learn
- Readers Diagnose “New Management Syndrome,” Offer Cures
- The Worse New-Manager Mistakes
(Image courtesy of Flickr user mrallwrighty, CC 2.0)
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