Transitioning from Peer to Manager

Early on in my career, I was given the opportunity for a promotion to lead the team I was on; this meant becoming senior to folks who had been my peers. While I was appreciative of the opportunity and others recognized my work ethic merited the offer, no one prepared me for the awkwardness of this transition. So. Very. Awkward.

Recently, I was approached by someone going through a similar transition and wanted some of my advice. I am sure I’m not the first to give this kind of advice and, obviously, your mileage may vary, but there are some basics that everyone going through this kind of thing should know.

(1) Yup, it’s hard — but you can be adults about it!
Many folks assume it’s hard because they are bad at something; the truth is, managing people is hard and managing people who were your peers/friends can be that much harder because it can change the nature of your relationship.

When I was on the receiving side of this, watching my friend get promoted to be my boss, it was actually quite easy because she and I had discussed our aspirations. She knew what I was trying to achieve and she was supportive of it. We were working together to help me get to my promotion, too, and we knew that her promotion was not a barrier to mine in any way. This requires two hard working adults who don’t seek drama — that’s not always guaranteed. But, in the end, working with her helped me achieve my goal; it was truly a win-win for us both.

Again, this requires an acknowledgement for both parties that it isn’t a zero sum game.

(2) Provide the Psychology Safety to Uncover What Folks Want
It sounds kind of simple, but it’s important to know what the people on your team want. You might THINK you know because you used to talk but I would caution against making any kinds of assumptions. It’s better to have the conversation (and folks respect that) than to avoid it altogether and potentially make incorrect decisions in how you support someone’s growth.

Going back to my own personal life, I appreciated when I had managers who created the psychology safety for me to discuss my aspirations without judgement. It was important that I felt heard.

As a manager now, I try to have a 30 minute session with each new joiner of my team to ask them a few key questions including: where did your last manager leave off with you? What did you like/dislike about them? These kinds of questions can be very helpful to ensure you aren’t assuming you know this when transitioning from teammate to manager.

(3) Take the Lead but Hold Everyone Accountable
When you are hired to lead, you have to take the lead. That means having difficult conversations (whether with your team, or with others) and ultimately setting an example of how you want your team to operate.

And that means it’s ok to hold your team directly accountable for how their actions, or lack of action, can impact others / the bottom line at work. Sometimes it is difficult for folks who haven’t transitioned to a management role to understand why you might want them to do something a certain way so it’s important for you to explain the performance you want to see and, most importantly, what impact that will have. If you have to think about the impact, it might not be worth giving the feedback — so something to keep in mind as, now that you are a manager, you don’t have to tell someone how to do their job as long as the job is getting done effectively.

That said, when it’s not being done effectively, it’s important to give that feedback on what you need them do and how you are there to help! “We need to do better” isn’t harsh — it’s fact and now you and your direct report need to figure out how you can better set expectations, help them manage time, whatever it is that might help them overcome their current performance hurdle.


Gifting at Work: How Do You Handle the Holidays?

The holidays seem to be filled with societal pressures that push us toward consumerism. That said, there’s something really nice about receiving a gift, especially when it comes from a source you don’t usually expect: work!

There are some unspoken rules and general best practices to keep in mind to navigate this appropriately in most situations.

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What Do People Say When You Aren’t in the Room?

Recently, I was in a meeting where I mentioned that we’d need to recruit someone to help test. When I mentioned a particular colleague’s name, everyone’s faces lit up; she’d be the perfect person to help on this effort! This reminded me of something that is so simple but yet alludes many when it comes to work: if half the battle is showing up, the other half is how you show up.

But what exactly does that mean?

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Evaluating a Job Offer: How to Assess Culture Fit?

Recently, I was asked about how to assess the culture of a new organization before you join. As I mentioned in a prior post, it’s really hard to figure out whether you are joining a place where you’ll thrive and grow or if you are joining an organization with a toxic culture.

Here are some tips I use and recommend when assessing a potential company to work for.
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When to Say Goodbye: Do You Need to Stay 2 Years at Every Job?

A former colleague reached out to me earlier this year with a situation. She found herself in a position at a company that didn’t quite measure up to her expectations in terms of work/life balance and culture. It’s really hard to assess these things upfront and especially difficult for folks early in their careers with less ability / means to be choosy when job hunting.

Her question for me was: do I really need to stay at this position for 2 years to make this look good on my resume? Or can I start looking for a new position now?

My response to this question is nuanced because life isn’t quite so black and white.
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Ownership Mindset

In the past, I’ve heard folks say that a Product Manager is the CEO of their product. This kind of thinking creates a strange founder-like mental model where folks feel work will simply fall apart without them so they can’t take a vacation. You can also sub Product Manager for any other ‘Lead’ role within a digital product team (think Lead Engineer, Product Owner, etc).

In short, this line of thinking is not sustainable.

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Why I Can’t Read the Googler’s Manifesto

I think you may have heard about one Googler’s manifesto, but I can’t bring myself to read it.

Segmentation Fault
Was I not the only one who wanted to throw her computer out the window after hearing about the manifesto?

Let me preface this by saying that I strongly believe in free-flowing discourse and dialogue. I believe that we should question our assumptions and seek solace in facts and figures. I also believe in seeking out patterns in our past behavior to help predict future actions, or break out of them. But first and foremost, I believe that we owe it to our fellow humans to empathize with their experiences on this earth.

And, from what I understand of this manifesto, the writer doesn’t seem to understand the shifts that women have seen in the last 30 years with regard to technology. The number of women graduating with Computer Science degrees is steadily decreasing; as Wired Magazine notes in their interview with Melinda Gates, 1 in 3 women in the 1980’s has decreased to less than 1 in 5 earning a Comp Sci degree. Continue reading “Why I Can’t Read the Googler’s Manifesto”

The importance of feedback in user experiences

I wrote this piece on Medium first about my work as a Product Manager:

I work in a large room that’s offset from a larger and more public area. The room is locked, so that only people who work for my company can enter as long as they have an ID badge with the appropriate permissions assigned. There are two doors through which one can enter the room. These doors can be opened by anyone from the inside of the room, but you must first push a red button adjacent to the door.

Buzzers
Buzz Me by Jen Gallardo

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Let’s Just Start Over or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying About the Product and Comfort a Cranky Stakeholder

I wrote this piece on Medium first about my work as a Product Manager:

Last week, colleague walked over to my desk to ask me about the product I just started working on. And by started to work on, I mean I inherited this product in part because there was some significant “clean-up” needed and rumor has it that I’m good with fixer-uppers. His question to me was, “How about we just start over?” In short, stating that he’d almost rather walk away from this dumpster-fire mess than somehow try to put out the embers and make something of the leftover half-burned pieces of fresh garbage. Well, this isn’t exactly what he meant but that’s probably how I felt when I heard the question and realized the hole I now needed to climb out of.

Bonfire at Night
Bonfire #8 by Jen Gallardo

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My 10-Year Test

I use the Pocket app which I love. It allows me to hold on to interesting articles to read (or re-read) later on the subway (where I still often have little signal).

One that I finally got around to reading is titled The 10-Year Test: The Best Way to See if You’re on the Right Career Track.

The gist of the article is that, when you feel stuck and you don’t think you are making progress, reflect on how far you’ve come in the last 10 years. I’ve been thinking a lot about my life trajectory, especially in the wake of this crazy election, but I never really thought of it this way.

The author makes a compelling argument against the constant anxiety around our forward-looking plans.

Continue reading “My 10-Year Test”