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Different challenges facing a new manager?

Submitted by Paul Johnson on Mon, 02/08/2010 - 17:17

Would you say that the challenges facing a new manager are fundamentally different to those faced by managers who are more established and/or experienced?  And if 'yes', what would you say those differences are?

Paul

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Submitted by Ben Acheson on Thu, 02/09/2010 - 08:55 Profile image

I think they do face different challenges.

For example the judgement of an established, experienced manager is likely to be much less subject to scrutiny and doubt than that of a new manager.

And yet a new manager must eventually take risks in order to innovate - because innovation requires a degree of risk-taking. Indeed I think a tolerance of mistakes is required if innovation is to be encouraged.

Submitted by Samantha Godley MCMI on Thu, 02/09/2010 - 11:39 Profile image

I think it's a very broad question.  Yes there will be challenges that are different from those for an experienced manager.  At the same time I think there are some similarities as well.  I guess it depends how deep you look at these challenges.

For example;  similar challenges might include those around people management such as building teams, managing personalities or risk management and so on.  These sorts of challenges could appear to any manager, regardless of experience.  An experienced manager may come across personality issues for the first time several years into their management career, a new manager may experience this on their first day. 

From my perspective the challenge isn't the issue itself its how it is handled.  An experienced manager may have had the training, developed the skills and so on to be able to deal with these issues.  A new manager may not necessarily have had the experience or developed the skills in these areas.

Also I think the personal challenges presented to a new manager will have some affect on how situations are handled.  Things such as how big the leap is between previous roles and current role, how steep a learning curve they have, how settled they feel, how accepted they feel in their role and so on could potentially affect how a new manager deals with a situation.