Five ways to enable the Beginner Mindset for Mid-management

You are not at the bottom nor are you at the top. Neither are you in the weeds but neither a top dog creating strategy. Neither are you focused on individual contribution on a day-to-day basis nor are you creating multi-year strategies?

You have just been given your first leadership position. Most likely you are now part of the venerated “mid-management” of your firm. But then research as well practical experience has shown that this is the exact point where most of the rockstars or those hotshots groomed for success fail.

Of course, this has to with the mindset change. Until this point your individual contribution brought you to this level. Now, it’s how others perform which is going to take you to the next level.

The second way why most people lose out at this stage and stop moving into the next stage is the fact that they believe they have reached the position. Or rather they own the race. But the problem is the mid management is just the entry into the ground floor of a different game.

The best way to manage this conundrum is the beginner mindset. The ability to look at something as if you are still a beginner.

5 ideas for you to enable the beginner mindset within you.

Point 1: Ask your team “How you can help?”

Probably the easiest way to be effective is by directly asking the team on whom your effectiveness depends on. Once your team is clear about their KPIs and division of tasks asking them how and where you can help is a surefire way of identifying gaps both in your plan and in it’s execution.

Who knows? You might even come across something which you didn’t know before and could bring it into your skillset repository.

Point 2: What worked for you then need’t work now and vice versa

Just because an strategy worked for you doesn’t mean it will work now in the current landscape or vice versa. For example, I recently met a marketing head who had created a LinkedIn based sales outreach program which had worked very effectively for him in 2016. His plan hinged on connecting as many people as possible and get sales. But now, the landscape has changed. The restriction of 100 invites per week and the sheer number of sales personnel trying to do the same has rendered the strategy moot.

Also, just because something didn’t work for you then, doesn’t mean it wont work now. An idea is only as good as the person executing it. Maybe we weren’t good enough. But if you have a bring person coming up with the idea don’t throw it into the dustbin just because it didn’t work for you.

Some of my best successes has come this way

Point 3: Focus on efficient communication esp. when you have to share difficult information

There is no two ways to put it. Giving bad news is one of the worst parts of the job. The problem here is since we are not high enough in the corporate ladder most of the times which should be executing the decisions taken in the corner office and in the top floor.

Now in this scenario, just focus on efficient sharp communication. Be truthful, empathetic but firm. Get the point across whilst making sure you keep in your head you are communicating to a human.

Communicating bad news is bad. But being a robot is even worse.

But how does this help in keeping the beginner indset you ask?

Being efficient in communication means you will be able to put across more and thus absorb more.

Point 4: Always make sure your work matters

As a mid-management person it’s easy to delegate all your work and spend all your time asking and receiving status reports and in meetings. This is a sure fire way to lose your feet on the ground.

Everyday make sure you do an impact driven task. i.e a task which can take your team closer to the goal. Not only will it keep your feet closer to the ground, it will also hone your skills and also earn the respect of your team as they will now see you as a doer and not just a paper/e-mail pusher

Point 5: Cross-pollinate across teams

Don’t get confined to just your team. Build relationships across all teams be it Finance, Marketing, Sales, procurement etc. Your team will most probably have relationships and touch points with at least 5-6 other teams.

Creating relationships on a personal level with these teams will go a long way in helping you achieve your goals. Not just that, the more you learn about how each function behaves and performs, the more likely you are in a position to provide insights regarding team structures for executing ideas as you exactly understand team dynmacis.

Also, you don’t need to go through corporate loops every time you want something done.

Conclusion

Simply put, entry into mid-management is the end of the first chapter of your career and a start to a new one. It has it’s own challenges and most importantly a new playbook is required to manage it.