Key Takeaways
- Your job fundamentally changed: success is now measured by your team's output, not your individual contribution
- The first 90 days are about building relationships, understanding context, and establishing trust—not proving yourself through heroic individual effort
- Resist the urge to make big changes immediately; listen first, act second
- Your former peers are now your reports—navigate this transition deliberately
Congratulations, you're a manager now.
You got promoted because you were good at your job. You delivered. You solved problems. You were the person people could count on.
Here's the problem: your job just changed completely. The skills that got you here aren't the skills you need now. Success used to mean doing excellent work. Now it means helping others do excellent work.
This transition is harder than it looks. Many new managers struggle—not because they're not talented, but because they keep trying to succeed the old way.
The First 30 Days: Listen and Learn
The temptation when you start a new role is to prove yourself quickly. Make changes. Show impact. Demonstrate that the promotion was deserved.
Resist this urge. Your first job is to understand—the people, the work, the dynamics, the context. You think you know these things because you were part of the team. You don't know them from a manager's perspective.
Schedule one-on-ones with each person on your team. Ask about their work, their challenges, their goals. Ask what they need from a manager. Ask what's working and what isn't. Listen more than you talk.
Talk to your peers—other managers. Understand how things work at this level. What does your boss expect? How do decisions get made? What resources are available?
Talk to stakeholders who depend on your team. What do they need? Where are the friction points? What would make your team more valuable to them?
The Peer-to-Manager Transition
If you were promoted from within the team, you have a specific challenge: the people who were your peers are now your reports.
This is awkward. Acknowledge it directly. "I know this is a change. We used to be peers, and now I'm your manager. That's going to feel different. I want to talk about how we make this work."
Some relationships will shift. The casual venting sessions about management decisions? Those need to change—you're now part of the management decisions. Social dynamics that worked when you were equals will need to evolve.
Be fair, not friends. You can be friendly, but you can't be their buddy in the same way. You'll need to give them feedback, evaluate their performance, make decisions they don't like. That's harder if you're trying to preserve the old relationship exactly.
Days 30-60: Establish Your Approach
Once you understand the landscape, start establishing how you'll operate.
Set up regular one-on-ones. This is non-negotiable. Weekly or biweekly conversations with each direct report. These are their meetings—time for them to raise issues, get support, discuss development. Protect this time.
Clarify expectations. What do you expect from your team? What can they expect from you? Be explicit. Don't assume they know.
Establish communication norms. How should they reach you when they're stuck? What decisions can they make without you? When do you need to be looped in? Clear norms prevent both bottlenecks and surprises.
Start small with changes. If you see things that need to improve, pick one or two to address first. Build credibility through small wins before attempting larger transformations.
The Individual Contributor Trap
The biggest mistake new managers make: continuing to do individual contributor work.
It's comfortable. It's what you know how to do. When a problem arises, your instinct is to solve it yourself—you're faster, you know you'll do it right.
This is a trap. Every hour you spend doing IC work is an hour you're not spending on management work. And your team doesn't develop because you keep rescuing them.
Ask yourself: Am I solving problems, or am I helping my team solve problems? The former is IC work. The latter is management.
There are exceptions. Sometimes you need to jump in because of urgency or because you have specific expertise. But these should be exceptions. If you're constantly doing the work instead of leading the work, something's wrong.
Days 60-90: Build Momentum
By now you understand the situation and have established your basic approach. Start building momentum.
Address performance issues. If someone is struggling, now is the time to have that conversation. Waiting doesn't help—it just makes the eventual conversation harder. Learn how to manage underperforming employees before you need to.
Develop your team. What does each person need to grow? What experiences would help them? Start having development conversations, not just work conversations.
Improve processes. You've identified things that don't work well. Start making them better. But involve your team—don't just impose changes.
Build relationships upward. Understand what your manager needs from you. How do they want to be communicated with? What are their priorities? Managing up is part of your job now.
What Success Looks Like
Individual contributor success is visible. You shipped the feature. You closed the deal. You solved the problem. Understanding the 30-60-90 day framework can help you structure this transition for your own development.
Manager success is often invisible. The team is productive. Problems get solved before they escalate. People grow and improve. Nothing catches fire.
Adjust your sense of accomplishment accordingly. You may feel like you're not doing anything because you're not producing tangible outputs. But enabling others to produce is doing something—it's just less visible.
Get Support
New managers often feel like they should have all the answers. You don't. Nobody does at first.
Find support. A mentor who's been through this transition. A peer group of other new managers. Your own manager, if they're willing to coach you. Resources that help you develop the skills you need.
The transition from IC to manager is significant. Give yourself grace as you learn. You'll make mistakes. Everyone does. The goal isn't perfection—it's learning and improving over time.
JoySuite supports new managers through the transition. Access guidance on management situations when you need it. Practice difficult conversations before having them. Build leadership skills through practical learning that fits your schedule.
