What Every First-Time Team Leader Should Know

Being a first-time manager can seem daunting. But there are a few things you need to keep in mind while transitioning from an individual contributor to a leader.

- Amulya Jamwal And Prashant Salwan

VIKRAM IS A 27-year-old sales professional at a tech start-up and has been a consistent star performer for the last four years. He was promoted and given a team of four people to manage. A year into the new role, Vikram had not met his targets and his performance dipped significantly. Two of his team members had quit, the other two were reportedly looking for opportunities outside the company, and the annual engagement survey showed abysmal scores for him as a leader.

What happened to this star performer, and why did his performance deteriorate? Vikram’s own competence as the product expert is not in question. He was entrusted with more responsibility because of his product-level expertise and consistent performance.

Many successful young managers, who were once brilliant Individual Contributors (IC), are not able to replicate their success stories as team leaders or managers. Managing your own work and excelling at it is easier than managing a team, keeping them motivated, and getting them to excel at their job. It’s a game that many do not know how to play.

A study of data on global leaders shows the average age of first-time managers is 33 years old and that they first get leadership training on average at age 42 – about 10 years after they began supervising people. Young organisations or start-ups often find themselves with a young set of managers who may have the competence to deliver on results but often lack the skill, tact, and emotional maturity required to lead people. The heavy responsibility of leading someone else’s career and balancing it with organisational goals is a challenge.