PDF Summary:The First-Time Manager, by Jim McCormick

Becoming a manager for the first time can be challenging. In The First-Time Manager, organizational risk expert Jim McCormick argues that to succeed in your new management role, you must shift your focus from tasks to people and build a strong team of empowered employees capable of achieving exceptional results. Whether you’re freshly promoted or looking to brush up on your management skills, McCormick provides the ultimate guide to successfully navigating the role and responsibilities of a manager, including tips for winning the trust of your team, managing performance, and delegating tasks.

In this guide, we’ll discuss how to transition into your new managerial role, win the trust of your employees, and build an empowered team that takes initiative and produces great results. We’ll also explore ways to handle your responsibilities as a manager effectively and prepare yourself for future opportunities. Along the way, we’ll provide insights from other business and management experts and supplement McCormick’s methods with actionable tips that can help you navigate your new role with competence and confidence.

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Manage Your Team’s Performance

To build a strong team, manage your employees’ performance by providing regular feedback, conducting periodic performance reviews, and enforcing discipline when appropriate. These techniques will help you enhance their overall productivity while helping them improve their skills and achieve their goals.

(Shortform note: McCormick focuses on how to manage and discipline employees on an individual level, but Michael Watkins recommends you also evaluate your team as a whole. In The First 90 Days, Watkins suggests you review prior meeting minutes or team reports, look for similar patterns or disagreements among the answers people give in one-on-one meetings, and watch how the team interacts during meetings. This helps you keep track of how your team is performing as a unit.)

Give Regular Feedback

According to McCormick, a good manager makes sure their employees know how well they’re performing by providing feedback on a regular, ongoing basis. There are two types of feedback you can give: praise to encourage positive behavior and constructive criticism to help someone improve their behavior or performance.

When giving praise, describe in detail the work or behavior you’re praising. This helps people understand what behaviors you’re looking for and makes them more likely to behave similarly in the future. Also, describe the positive outcome that resulted from their actions because people enjoy feeling like they’re contributing to something greater.

(Shortform note: In Nonviolent Communication, Marshall B. Rosenberg suggests you also express the positive emotion that resulted from the praiseworthy action. For example, if an employee shared an innovative solution to a problem, you could also mention how it made you feel excited. Rosenberg writes that sharing how someone’s behavior made you feel (in addition to describing the behavior and what they accomplished) makes your praise less judgmental and easier to accept.)

When giving constructive criticism, McCormick recommends you focus on addressing the behavior and not judging the person, which degrades people’s confidence and performance. Treat the behavior as a misunderstanding, ask for their input instead of doing all the talking, and give this criticism in private, such as in your office, so people feel less embarrassed.

Balance Praise and Criticism to Avoid Feedback Fatigue

Many experts agree on the value of frequent feedback but note that finding the right balance of praise and criticism is crucial for motivating your employees to perform better. In When They Win, You Win, Laraway suggests you aim for a ratio of five-to-one positive to negative pieces of feedback. Giving too much criticism makes people defensive and reluctant to make improvements. It can also cause people to experience feedback fatigue—or feeling overwhelmed and mentally drained by too much feedback. This happens because feedback requires change, which is often hard to do.

In addition to following Laraway’s ratio, there are some other ways to combat feedback fatigue:

• Decide on the most important feedback and give it first. Then, wait until the person has implemented it before giving more feedback.

• If you notice you’re repeatedly giving negative feedback to the same person, try to dial it back: First, tell the other person that you gave them too much feedback. Then, reaffirm their competence by acknowledging their positive behaviors and work. Finally, ask for their input on the best steps to move forward.

Conduct Performance Reviews

In addition to having informal feedback conversations, McCormick advises that you also conduct formal performance reviews once or twice a year to improve your team’s performance. These are periodic evaluations of each employee’s work that let them know how well they’re meeting expectations and how they can improve. According to McCormick, employees often want more feedback than many managers may assume.

(Shortform note: In No Rules Rules, Reed Hastings describes an alternative approach to performance reviews: an annual 360-degree review. During these reviews, everyone can evaluate and give feedback to one another, not just the manager. These can be written or conducted live. Either way, allow employees to give feedback to anyone—to bosses, coworkers, and subordinates—and encourage recipients to follow up about ways to improve. Encouraging feedback on all levels allows you to capitalize on the intelligence and perspectives of all team members, maximizing your organization’s ability to grow and improve.)

McCormick adds that you should be fair, honest, and objective when conducting performance reviews. Avoid rating every team member as satisfactory or above. This may be tempting to do, but giving inaccurate ratings deprives employees of the opportunity to grow and improve.

(Shortform note: To make objective evaluations of your team members, Michael Watkins, in The First 90 Days, recommends using six criteria to assess them: competence, judgment, energy, focus, relationships, and trust. If you still find it hard to be honest or objective during your evaluations, consider seeking an expert outside of your team who can help assess an employee’s functional skills.)

Resolve Work Problems and Enforce Discipline

You’ll also need to know how to resolve work problems and take disciplinary actions when appropriate. This ensures your team maintains high standards and people are fairly rewarded for their efforts.

If you experience behavioral or performance problems with an employee, McCormick suggests you create a performance improvement plan. You can make one by dividing a sheet of paper into three sections—strengths, areas of improvement, and goals. Then, work with your employee to fill out each section and decide on a time frame for the goals.

(Shortform note: Some experts argue that, while well-intentioned, performance improvement plans (PIPs) can often make things worse, not better, because they cause employees to feel insecure about their jobs. Instead, they recommend you discuss behavioral or performance issues and goals for improvement during your regular one-on-one meetings. Try to encourage honest conversations and understand the root cause of the behavior.)

You may need to occasionally dismiss an employee. Before you fire a worker, McCormick suggests you consider all possible alternatives, such as giving them additional training. However, while firing people can be hard, it’s often beneficial for the employee—they’ll likely be thankful to be in a position that better suits their strengths. Before dismissing someone, McCormick suggests you check that you have their performance or behavior documented to avoid potential lawsuits.

(Shortform note: McCormick recommends firing employees only as a last resort, but others advocate moving more quickly to dismiss problematic workers. In No Rules Rules, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings says you should fire any employee you wouldn’t fight to keep on your team. Instead of spending money and time on performance improvement plans, Hastings suggests offering a generous severance package. To have a top-tier team, you must replace good employees with great employees, he writes.)

Empower Your Team to Innovate and Take Initiative

McCormick writes that you can nurture a high-performing team by empowering your employees to be innovative and to make independent decisions. He explains that technology has made centralized decision-making outdated and ineffective. As a result, teams that can operate with self-efficacy will be better able to keep up with the fast pace of business.

(Shortform note: In No Rules Rules, Reed Hastings argues that empowering your employees to make decisions on their own is not enough. You also need to share enough information with them so they can confidently make good decisions. Hastings advises you to be transparent with information, even if it’s sensitive financial data. If you’ve cultivated a team of trustworthy and talented individuals, sharing information with them should not be a risk but an advantage.)

Know What Kind of Support Your Employees Need

To empower your team members, first figure out what kind of support they need from you. Different employees need different amounts of control and encouragement from you to function at their best. Assess the support your employees need based on two things: motivation and skill level.

First, evaluate how much motivation your employee has. This helps you determine how much encouragement they need from you. A highly motivated employee needs little encouragement while an unmotivated employee needs a lot of encouragement.

Second, assess the level of their knowledge and skills. This helps you determine how much oversight and control you should exercise—for example, how detailed your instructions should be or how often you should check in on their work. The more knowledgeable and skilled an employee is, the less control they require to perform well.

Support Your Employees Based on Their Task-Relevant Maturity (TRM)

Tailoring your support based on motivation and skill is only one approach to figuring out the best management style for each of your team members. In High Output Management, Andrew Grove proposes a different factor you can consider, which he refers to as task-relevant maturity (TRM), to determine how involved you need to be. An employee’s TRM is how experienced, skilled, and mentally prepared they are to complete a specific task under specific circumstances.

• For employees with low TRM, Grove recommends giving detailed guidance on what needs to be done and how it should be done, similar to what McCormick suggests you do with less motivated or skilled employees.

• For employees with medium TRM, Grove suggests you mostly provide ideas but let the employees provide much of the structure and guidance themselves.

• For employees with high TRM, give objectives but don’t get involved in the team’s work. Often, giving people the autonomy to do their work the way they see fit will boost their motivation.

Considering TRM in addition to motivation and knowledge might help you get a more accurate gauge of what your employees need from you. For example, someone might have high motivation and skill, but if they’ve been sent to do work in a new location, they may need more guidance and support than usual.

Build Your Team’s Confidence

McCormick writes that you can also empower your team by finding ways to boost their confidence so they feel capable of taking initiative and making decisions on their own.

One way to boost your team’s confidence is to provide them with little victories. You can do this by first assigning tasks that are relatively easy and within their capabilities. That way, they can achieve good results and feel more confident about their skills and their work.

(Shortform note: In addition to boosting your team’s confidence with small wins, make sure to give them time to pause and celebrate. In Leadership is Language, L. David Marquet explains that giving your team time to celebrate provides them a sense of closure and progress, which boosts their productivity and engagement. They can reflect on the work they’ve done, learn from their experience, and improve their performance for upcoming tasks.)

Another way to increase your team’s confidence is to encourage employees to make decisions on their own. To do this, react to mistakes productively and don’t expect perfect decisions. People who fear making the wrong decision won’t make any at all, and if you harshly criticize those who do take initiative, you’ll only discourage them from trying. If someone makes a flawed decision, review the situation, discuss what could be done better next time, and thank them for taking the initiative.

(Shortform note: In Turn This Ship Around, L. David Marquet recommends encouraging a language change to empower team members to make more decisions. Tell employees that instead of asking for permission, they should say what they intend to do—for example, “I intend to start on the next project phase.” This language change forces team members to make more decisions since they have to decisively state what actions they plan to do instead of asking others what they should do. This leads employees to take ownership of their tasks and become more engaged in their work.)

Motivate Your Employees

To run an empowered team, you also need to keep your employees motivated. To do this, figure out what drives them individually—what keeps them engaged in their work and pushes them to perform well. McCormick recommends several ways to motivate your employees:

Method #1: Align individual and company goals. Motivation varies from person to person, so McCormick recommends getting to know your employees’ goals, whether they’re interested in learning a new skill or networking with more people. To inspire them to do their best work, try to match their goals with those of the company—for instance, if they want to learn a particular skill, offer them training or mentorship opportunities.

(Shortform note: Promoting your employee’s goals in a way that benefits the overall organization also improves employee retention. Research shows that the main reason employees quit their jobs is because they feel they’re not growing or developing. One way to align employee goals and company needs is to transfer or promote them to a role that matches their goals. If this isn’t viable, try to provide them with education, exposure, or experience opportunities—offer courses or workshops, assign them mentors, or give them opportunities to practice skills they’re interested in.)

Method #2: Share positive outcomes. People enjoy contributing to something bigger than themselves. Showing how their efforts contribute to a positive outcome gives their work more meaning and motivates them to work hard.

Method #3: Give rewards. Rewards show people that their performance and efforts matter and are therefore a great motivator for employees. You should not only reward successful endeavors, McCormick writes, but also thoughtful and well-executed ones that don’t succeed. This encourages people to take innovative risks instead of playing it safe to avoid failure.

Boost Your Employees’ Intrinsic Motivation

In Drive, Daniel H. Pink explains that people are driven by two types of motivation—extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from external rewards, such as money or recognition. Conversely, intrinsic motivation is based on internal satisfaction, such as purpose or enjoyment. Pink says intrinsic motivation is more powerful and self-sustaining, leading to better performance in the long run.

Sharing positive outcomes aligns with one element of intrinsic motivation: purpose. Like McCormick, Pink notes that humans are biologically wired to want to contribute to a cause that reaches beyond themselves. He writes that you can enhance this sense of purpose when sharing positive outcomes by using words that reflect meaningful ideals like “honor” or “beauty” as opposed to less inspiring words like “value” or “differentiation.” For example, if you’re leading a marine conservation team, you might discuss how your efforts have restored the beauty of coral reefs.

Rewards, on the other hand, are external motivators. Pink argues that most rewards actually decrease performance because they reduce people’s sense of autonomy. Once people start doing things for external rewards, they feel less in control of their lives and subconsciously reason that they don’t enjoy the task if they’re getting compensated for it. To reward people without depleting their motivation, Pink suggests giving unexpected rewards once the task has already been completed.

Part 3: Tips to Excel as a First-Time Manager

We’ve discussed how to transition into your new role as manager and how to effectively build and nurture a productive team. In this section, we’ll explore tips for excelling in your management role.

Use Your Time and Resources Wisely

McCormick writes that great managers know how to use their time and resources effectively. Two ways you can increase your efficiency are to delegate tasks to your employees and run productive meetings.

1) Delegate tasks. Delegate by reflecting on your current tasks and reassigning any that might help your employees develop their skills or improve your organization's efficiency. Consider which person on your team is best suited for each task, then meet with them to discuss it in detail. By delegating tasks, you can save time and energy for important responsibilities and prevent high turnover, which often occurs when employees are only assigned low-value work.

(Shortform note: When delegating tasks, don’t tell people what to do and how to do it. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven R. Covey says this delegation approach wastes time and energy, which defeats the purpose of delegating the task. Instead, tell your employees the goal and allow them to devise the plan of action. To help them succeed, communicate six things: The results you’re looking for, the rules and guidelines, ineffective methods, available resources, how the results will be evaluated, and the consequences of success or failure.)

2) Run productive meetings. McCormick suggests sending out a meeting agenda in advance to all participants. This ensures everyone is prepared beforehand, which wastes less time. Only invite people who need to be there and during the meeting, discuss the most important topics first. Running productive meetings saves your organization time and money.

(Shortform note: In Death By Meeting, Patrick Lencioni suggests having multiple types of meetings with different purposes and structures. He recommends four: The check-in meeting (a daily 5-minute meeting for everyone to discuss what they’re working on), the tactical meeting (an hour-long meeting to discuss updates on larger logistical issues, like whether the team is meeting goals), the strategic meeting (a two-to-four hour long meeting to discuss three big questions), and the review (a longer discussion about the direction of your organization). Having multiple types of meetings ensures everyone knows what to expect, what needs to be accomplished, and how to prepare accordingly.)

Keep Developing Yourself

According to McCormick, good managers also continuously develop their emotional intelligence and communication skills. By improving these skills, you’ll gain a better understanding of how to support your team’s success.

Having high emotional intelligence means you have good people skills, can recognize your own and other people’s feelings, and can cope well with stress. McCormick says emotional intelligence can be improved and suggests you work on doing so to improve your ability to build relationships and empower your team.

(Shortform note: While McCormick doesn’t explain how you can develop emotional intelligence, other experts provide some guidance. According to Jean Greaves and Travis Bradberry in Emotional Intelligence 2.0, the first step is developing more self-awareness—knowing your emotions. You can practice this skill by paying attention to how your body responds when you experience an emotion—for example, you might notice your heart beats quickly when you’re anxious. By recognizing your body’s physical responses to an emotion, you can more quickly recognize how you’re feeling in your daily life.)

McCormick also argues that you must be able to express yourself well if you want to manage people and projects successfully. To improve your communication skills, both verbal and written, seek out training or books as well as clubs to practice public speaking in.

(Shortform note: Research shows that effective communication has become even more important in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of hybrid and remote work. One study analyzed 6.5 million job postings and found that effective communication was the most sought-after soft skill, appearing 35 times more than other skills like empathy or adaptability. This supports McCormick’s suggestion to improve your communication skills regardless of the field you’re in.)

Work Well With Your Superiors

Your success as a manager depends not only on how well you work with your team, but also on how well you work with your superiors. Just as you should seek to understand your employees, you should also understand the needs and work preferences of those you report to. Figure out how your manager likes to communicate and adapt accordingly. As a rule of thumb, you should always keep them updated on your current projects and be respectful of their time by being well-prepared.

(Shortform note: Proactively figuring out how to be the best employee you can be for your superiors is often referred to as “managing up.” In The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins gives a few additional tips on how you can do so. He recommends having a discussion with your boss about what success looks like in your role. You should then learn your boss’s working style by being observant or talking with people who have worked with them in the past. Watkins also suggests you discuss differences in your work or communication styles to avoid potential conflicts or misunderstandings.)

Prepare for Future Opportunities

Once you’ve cultivated a team of empowered employees and learned to successfully handle your managerial responsibilities, you can start positioning yourself for promotion. McCormick suggests you plan for someone to replace your current role once you’re comfortably performing your job well. This way, you can avoid creating a gap in your department that would make it difficult for upper management to promote you. By having someone who can fill your position, you put yourself in a better position to be promoted.

If you already have someone in mind, let them handle small portions of your job until they’ve learned most of it. If you don’t have a potential replacement in mind, consider letting several employees take on some of your tasks. Once you have someone capable of taking over, start talking about their potential to your boss.

(Shortform note: McCormick’s suggestion to prepare a replacement for your role is known as “succession planning,” a practice encouraged by many experts. If you’re not sure which employee is best suited for the job, figure out which team member the other team members already go to for support. This is a sign that this person has good leadership abilities and communication skills. However, before you start handing over some responsibilities, discuss their career aspirations with them first and make sure they’re interested in being promoted. Once they’ve expressed interest, talk about your role with them and let them shadow you before delegating tasks.)