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Many people dream of moving up at their job and becoming a manager, but becoming one brings with it a lot of new challenges and responsibilities. It can seem overwhelming when you first start, and you may find yourself making mistakes and wondering where your focus should lie. To help you out, here are a few tips for first-time managers.

Learn new skills

You probably got promoted to a manager position because you were good at what you did, and that’s great. But knowing how to do your job is only part of your new position, and the other part is learning how to manage people and get them working to their full potential. To accomplish this, you’re going to need to learn a whole host of new skills. You need to adopt a “growth mindset” and be willing to accept new ideas. This won’t just help you but will help your entire team.

Empower your people

It’s no longer enough to focus on doing your job well- now you have to make sure everyone is doing their job well. Their successes and failures are now your successes and failures as their manager, so you need to empower them to do the best they can. Learn what their strengths and weaknesses are and delegate tasks based on these traits. Then, resist the urge to micromanage. Being a manager means trusting your team enough to do their jobs well.

Take care of yourself

Management isn’t the cushy job many think it is. It’s a lot of hard work and responsibility, and as a first-time manager, it can be easy to get caught up in the job and let your team’s successes and failures get to you. You have to stay focused on your job without letting it consume you and your emotions, and that means taking time for yourself before every shift to get ready and after the shift to decompress. 

These are just a few of the things a first-time manager should keep in mind as they further their career, but they’re some of the most important. If you are willing to constantly learn, empower your people, and take care of yourself, you will grow into a fine manager.