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Are We Setting People Up to Succeed?

Michelle Battista

We've all seen it, or perhaps experienced it ourselves.

Someone is brilliant at their job. They're knowledgeable, highly capable, respected by their colleagues, and naturally become the obvious choice when a management opportunity comes along.

But managing people is a very different skill from doing the job itself.

Many managers find themselves leading teams not because they set out to become leaders, but because they excelled in their previous role. They're often referred to as "accidental managers."

This has been a big topic of conversation in my house recently. My 21-year-old daughter has applied for a Team Leader role after doing exceptionally well in her current position. One of the interview questions she was asked was how she would feel managing colleagues who have been with the organisation longer than her, people who applied for the role and weren't successful, and even friends she currently works alongside.

We often promote people because they're great at what they do, but we don't always equip them with the skills needed to manage people, navigate difficult conversations, build credibility, or lead former peers.

Management can be one of the most rewarding roles in an organisation, but it can also be one of the most challenging. The impact a manager has on employee experience, engagement, wellbeing and performance is huge.

There may be some new managers out there that could do with a bit of moral support or some practical advice and guidance to support them on their new journey so I’d love to hear your experiences and tips for those stepping into leadership for the first time.

Looking back, what's one piece of advice you wish you'd been given before managing people for the first time?

Or, if you're new to management, what's been your biggest learning so far?

P.S. I'll be sharing these tips with my daughter too Wink, so thank you in advance for any words of wisdom!

As a little return from me, the CIPD and FutureLearn offer a free People Management Skills course that's ideal for aspiring, new, or existing line managers looking for a refresher.

The course takes around 3 hours per week over 5 weeks and covers practical people management skills to help build confidence in leading others. There's also the option to purchase a certificate on completion if you'd like one.


Feel free to share it with anyone who is stepping into management for the first time, considering a leadership role, or simply looking to strengthen their people management skills. Blush

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  • Brilliant question to ask as based on my experience, manager inaction is the main cause of issues becoming larger than they need to and has a massive negative impact on productivity in the country.

    I was lucky in that i worked for Tesco when i first took on a management role at the ripe old age of 23. They sent me on a week long management course before I was let loose on a team.

    The best thing i learned on that was the importance of having a conversation early. They also taught me how to positively phrase feedback - making sure that when there was an issue, i focussed the conversation on what I needed them to do in the future, rather than giving a negative 'telling off'

    This was really important as on my first day in the new role, I had a new starter. We had a 60 minute lunch break and to cover the office half went at 12 and half at 1. I had briefly explained this to my new starter but they disappeared for 2 hours.  I didn't want to discuss it with him but the training gave me confidence. Towards the end of the day I arranged a bit of a how the first day went conversation.  We had a general conversation and then I mentioned that he had taken a 2 hour lunch and was everything ok. he said he had a birthday present to get and in his previous job he could take a 2 hour lunch as long as he made the time back so was planning on staying an hour later.

    I thanked him and explained that because we had to cover the office, we generally had an hour and if people took extra if could mean someone would struggle to take their break. Therefore it was important that whilst we can take longer on occasions if we needed to go into the City and would need longer, that would normally be ok, but they needed to check with me first so I could make sure that we had office cover over the lunchtime period.

    It was a very easy conversation as it was focussed on what I needed him to do in the future and it fixed the issue straight away. Had I not had that training I may not have had the confidence to raise it. he would have continued to do it, My Team would have got  frustrated with me and I would have got more and more annoyed with him. When it became untenable, It probably would have been a far bigger issue than it needed to.

    So i think my key things would be 

    1) Address issues straight away

    2) Focus conversations on what you want them to do in future, not what they did wrong in the past

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  • Brilliant question to ask as based on my experience, manager inaction is the main cause of issues becoming larger than they need to and has a massive negative impact on productivity in the country.

    I was lucky in that i worked for Tesco when i first took on a management role at the ripe old age of 23. They sent me on a week long management course before I was let loose on a team.

    The best thing i learned on that was the importance of having a conversation early. They also taught me how to positively phrase feedback - making sure that when there was an issue, i focussed the conversation on what I needed them to do in the future, rather than giving a negative 'telling off'

    This was really important as on my first day in the new role, I had a new starter. We had a 60 minute lunch break and to cover the office half went at 12 and half at 1. I had briefly explained this to my new starter but they disappeared for 2 hours.  I didn't want to discuss it with him but the training gave me confidence. Towards the end of the day I arranged a bit of a how the first day went conversation.  We had a general conversation and then I mentioned that he had taken a 2 hour lunch and was everything ok. he said he had a birthday present to get and in his previous job he could take a 2 hour lunch as long as he made the time back so was planning on staying an hour later.

    I thanked him and explained that because we had to cover the office, we generally had an hour and if people took extra if could mean someone would struggle to take their break. Therefore it was important that whilst we can take longer on occasions if we needed to go into the City and would need longer, that would normally be ok, but they needed to check with me first so I could make sure that we had office cover over the lunchtime period.

    It was a very easy conversation as it was focussed on what I needed him to do in the future and it fixed the issue straight away. Had I not had that training I may not have had the confidence to raise it. he would have continued to do it, My Team would have got  frustrated with me and I would have got more and more annoyed with him. When it became untenable, It probably would have been a far bigger issue than it needed to.

    So i think my key things would be 

    1) Address issues straight away

    2) Focus conversations on what you want them to do in future, not what they did wrong in the past

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