You're a manager now—don't forget to manage!

A student in one of my workshops recently told of an unfortunate career experience he had. In addition to his former duties, he was given responsibility for managing two people who would report directly to him. He was a first-time manager and wasn't given any special training for the new responsibilities—which is very often the case in today's busy workplace.

Unfortunately, it was a particularly busy time for him, and he simply followed his usual practice of working on his own tasks—and more or less forgot to manage his people! After a short period, he was moved to another position—without anyone reporting to him this time.

The lesson for you as a new manager is this: create a new workplan that includes a component of managing the people who report to you as well as completing your own functional tasks. Make sure people know how to, and feel free to, approach you with questions or concerns so that you'll know about any potential problems before they are noticed by your own boss.