At various points in your career, you’ve no doubt come across terrible managers or supervisors, perhaps even had the misfortune to report to one or two of them. But, as horrible as they were, maybe it wasn’t really their fault! Perhaps they started off as first-time supervisors not knowing what minefields to watch for. And then, when they made a few mistakes, because they didn’t know any better, they continued with the same lapses and blunders, and were just never able to pull out of the quicksand.
Years ago, when I got my first supervisory role, I had my fair share of missteps. It wasn’t until later, when I starting working with clients in my leadership development consultancy, that I realized that all my early mistakes and stumbles were actually quite common for novice leaders. So, in my latest column for The Globe and Mail that published this morning, I’ve described the five most unexpected (yet common) lessons I learned as a first-time supervisor.
Five lessons learned as a first-time supervisor
If you get the print version of The Globe, you’ll find this column on page B8.
Note: if you are a subscriber to The Globe and Mail, you can also read the column directly at their website at this link: https://tgam.ca/2viRhST
My hope is that now you know about these common traps, you can take steps to deliberately avoid them. Whether you’re a first-time supervisor or a veteran in the leadership ranks, I’d love to hear about your experiences and observations. Please add your comments below.
If you want to be deliberate and thoughtful about ways to position yourself for career growth and success, you may also find these links to recent past columns I wrote for The Globe and Mail to be helpful: