Challenges for New Managers

Managerial roles

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By Dr Deepika Saxena

In any organisation, the managers play a very important role. They perform critical functions, enable their team and subordinates to perform their jobs, and work towards achievement of organisational goals. They require analytical bend of mind, problem solving skills, critical thinking and so on. All these can be studied theoretically, but the fact is that the management is something which comes by doing. As the grass always looks greener on the other side, the managerial role looks fascinating but at the same time very exigent. Managers have to be on their toes all the time and have to face a lot of challenges specially those who are new to the managerial roles.  This article will discuss various challenges faced by new managers and steps that can be taken to overcome those challenges.

Stress to Perform 

The new role comes with new responsibilities. The managers are always under pressure to perform and achieve targets and goals set by the management. The new managers are given ample opportunities and they are always under pressure to prove themselves in the organisation. They should understand that this is an ever-learning process, with time and experience their abilities and skills get sharpened and refined.

Attitudinal Change

Attitudinal shift has been observed as a challenge for new managers. A manager must understand that his role has changed from ‘doer’ to ‘leader’. He is now acting as a role model; needs to build an attitude which is cooperating and understanding towards his team members and subordinates. He should listen and pay attention to the problems, issues and challenges of his team in the organisation and should try to resolve them as best as possible. He should guide and motivate his team to work towards the common goal. 

Acceptance from Colleague to ‘As a Boss’

The most difficult situation is when a person working as colleague in the organisation gets internally promoted and become the boss! The acceptance of the subordinates and team members becomes the most difficult challenge. This is the situation when manager needs to carefully handle everything and need to explain to the team his new managerial role; should assure his team that he is also a part of them and they all mutually need to work towards the targets and goals. He should try to build relationship with team as a leader instead of as a boss.

Time Management

Managing time is another big challenge for the new manager. Time management should be on the priority list even if you have busy schedule, meetings lined up and you are performing your own tasks. The manager should be available for the team all the time and simultaneously dedicate time for his own tasks and responsibilities. He should keep his team informed in advance about his pre-occupation in other important tasks or unavailability for a particular period of time.

Team Conflict  

Every manager wants his team members to work in coordination with each other to bring work efficiency. But the challenge comes when team members are in conflict with each other, have clash of opinion and interests, which hamper the efficiency level at the workplace. The manager has to handle the situation tactfully and make the team understand the difference between personal interest and organisational interest.    

Coming Out of Comfort Zone

Coming out of comfort zone has always been challenging for everyone. Most of the time, the new managers have to come out of their comfort zones and take up new and challenging tasks and assignments. Learning is a continuous process and one should have zeal to learn. Great leaders are always keen to learn new things.     

Understanding ‘The Boss is Not Always Right’

‘My subordinates should do work my way!’, should not be the attitude. The new manager should understand that every person has his own way of doing things and has own view point.  The manager should respect his team members’ viewpoints if he wants to gain respect from them. He should allow their style of working within the boundaries of ethics.

Transparency While Dealing With Subordinates

Lack of transparency creates unnecessary problems for the new manager. In order to increase the productivity, the manager should adopt the transparent policy while dealing with his subordinates. Each individual should be clear with the goals set by the manager for them, past, present and expected performance, appraisal, rewards, recognition and appreciation related to each individual in the team. According to Gallup, employees want to know how their individual performance is contributing to the goal of the organisation. The manager should discuss it with his team members so that everyone works towards the same final outcome. 

Dealing with More Responsibilities

People have misconceptions in their minds that managers’ life is easy as they don’t have responsibilities the way their subordinates and teams have. But the truth is something else.  The new managers generally work for more hours than they used to do prior to their managerial role; and have to deal with increased responsibilities as they are accountable to their superiors for their own performance as well as for their team’s performance.                    

Feel Isolated

The challenge new managers generally face is isolation. They are not able to develop same relationship with their subordinates as they have with their colleagues. The new manager should look for a guide and mentor with whom he can share all his challenges and problems. He should take full advantage of the training and development sessions provided by his organisation for his personal growth.

The Act of Balancing

Management is the act of balancing. The manager needs to be strong, but at the same time sympathetic and concerned. He should be flexible, but at the same time stubborn. He should have high expectations, but at the same time needs to be considerate. All this makes managerial role difficult especially for the new managers. The organisations should support the new managers in their situation handling and should provide management development programmes wherein they are given real time exposure to handle similar situations.

About the Author

Dr. Deepika Saxena is presently heading PGDM Retail Management vertical at Jagan Institute of Management Studies (JIMS). She has more than 12 years of work experience including academia and industry. Her areas of research includes financial inclusion, micro-finance, micro-credit, technology in banking, retail analytics etc. She has published and presented several research papers in Journals and Conferences of National and International repute including IIMs and IITs. Her research paper titled: ‘Technology based Initiatives by Indian Commercial Banks towards Financial Inclusion’ received the “Best Paper Award” in annual conference of IIM Bangalore. 

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