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In the third and final part of the three-part article on the challenges of middle-level managers, Bangalore-based HR professional, Preeyan, tells us about realising that the importance of your position revolves around your team. Your organisation and management skills are important. Read more, in the weekly column, exclusively in Different Truths.
Last week we covered some important practices that will help you become a good manager. It is important to realise that the importance of your position revolves around your team the most because it is they who make or break this position for you.
Managing these relationships are very important. Always understand that as you go higher up the ladder there is a double-edged sword dangling over your head and one mistake of yours and you end up getting hurt big time.
Your position in the organisation as an emerging manager will be based on the delivery of your team and your capability of managing them, your competencies that you develop and have developed during the course of this time also plays a vital role.
It is important that you get into the mode of self-learning. You need not read big books and become a philosopher of sorts, but need to look up at important things and learn the tricks of the trade. Every situation will bring new challenges and new problems and how you deal with them and handle them becomes the best learning curve in your life.
By now you would have got comfortable in your position in the company and this is when you look forward to a mentor. You need to choose the right person to mentor and guide you through. This mentor can be a senior colleague, a friend, an acquaintance or anyone else from a different organisation. It is just that principals of managing a team are the same in any organisation it is only the scale and complexity of the task accomplished that differs from place to place.
Socialise, it does not mean being active on social media, it is about actually meeting people in the real world. Never miss an opportunity to meet people, make friends and enjoy the diversity of the world. Having conversations with some random person on a flight is good, that’s a place where you tend to develop contacts. Do not be a reserve, learn to make friends, get involved in a lot of social activity in your colony, neighbourhood, club or city. It will help you grow your network and will transform your personality to a different level.
All this will provide you with an ocean of learning and open doors for infinite possibilities and help you set goals for yourself. You will be able to appreciate all this when your personal and professional growth path gets clear in your head and you get a reassurance that the path you have taken is correct and will help you achieve your goal.
By this time, you are eluding confidence and radiating positive energy, at this time you should realise that you can stray away from your focus and goal and may lose your footing. You need to stay grounded. Never for once forget where you came from. Never forget the path you have taken and the people who have influenced it. Learn to respect what you have and how you have got it. Learn to be patient and learn to be restless at the same time.
Patience will keep you grounded and restlessness will keep you on the run.
You should also understand that you will grow only if others grow with you. To help you achieve this you will need to teach your learnings to your team. They are also people who want to follow you to success, hence, it is imperative that you teach/train them in getting their competency developed to the next level. Your role will only then start to make sense. Your leadership will only be complete if you are able to develop this in your team. You must start training your team and develop competencies. By doing this you are getting sharper and you are moulding yourself to become someone better. It is this that will lead to strengthen your position in your company and help you keep your Job.
At this level, there will be a lot of temptations, competing organisations will look at hiring you for a similar position with a higher pay. Do not give in to these temptations. It is most times because of such decision that employees’ take that makes certain organisations suffer huge losses. You should realise that you hold such an important position on the board that such decisions can really hurt the people in your team. Most organisations may deny that at your level they may have little impact. But trust me when you actually look at the time, money and energy they would have spent in grooming you for this position will not justify such a stand. But you also need to remember that the call is ultimately the organisation’s and if they find you not suitable or find you not good enough they can pull the plug on the position anytime. So, it is important to ensure high performance is delivered.
If you need to look at growth outside your organisation, my advice is that you look for something which is larger in terms of position outside. Never join an organisation at the same level, because invariably you will have to spend the same time there developing yourself and establishing your position in the organisation.
Like the old saying goes the grass always looks greener on the other side of the river. It is only when you get there that you realise that you need to start over again.
Your call is to see whether it is worth it, or if it is worth knowing how to keep your job. In today’s generation of people, keeping a job has become very subjective and selfish. But in a market as volatile as our country, it only makes sense to ride the wave that is growing and help you go places then get stuck and remain unsettled.
I hope that what I have written may have made some sense for you. Again, I maintain that this is only for you to seek a direction, how you may use this is your call and your wisdom will prevail.
I am signing off for now wishing you a successful career and life.
Cheers!
[Concluded]
©Preeyan Abraham
Photos from the internet
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