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I’ve been offered a promotion that would move me from an individual contributor role into my first management position. I’m excited but honestly worried about the transition, especially around developing the right skills to lead a team effectively without just being the top performer myself.

I went from IC to manager a while back. I was buzzing with ideas and terrified of turning into a bottleneck. The first thing I did was create time for one on ones and learn about each person’s strengths. I still slip up, but coaching beats trying to be the best individual contributor who happens to supervise.

I tried to push efficiency by taking on too much myself for the first month. It felt fast and dull at the same time; people stopped owning stuff. I learned to delegate and to celebrate small wins; still a work in progress.

I kept a notebook of what I learned from each person: listening cues, blocks they hit, what motivates them. It helped me tailor assignments rather than applying one size fits all.

An easy win for me was setting quarterly goals with the team and writing down who owns what. We found that clear ownership reduced meetings and politics.

I tried getting a mentor and joining a leadership circle. It felt like stepping into a different language at first, but the conversations slowly changed how I talk to the team.

Do you think the real issue is you needing to learn to lead, or is the problem more about unclear expectations and support from the org?

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