Useful life hacks for becoming a top manager

Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.

Paul Hawken

Manager is a person in charge of a project or a complex set of tasks as well as people represented by internal and external stakeholders of a company.

Working in one of the top companies in one of the most lucrative areas of corporate finance – Mergers & Acquisitions, I have received my promotion from assistant manager to manager internally. From today to tomorrow you come to work and you feel like you are on a rollercoaster hanging in the air upside down.

How does one become a manager? – my inner voice asked me while I was downing my espresso nr. 5 on that rainy office morning. Seriously, how does an internally promoted manager turn into a really good manager? Is it really just learning by doing or can one prepare him/herself for making this career leap?

Step 1 Get used to control switch

I was mentally unprepared for an overnight mindset transition from formally being managed into managing others and delivering results. I have deliverables, but I have no one telling me HOW to do it. Instead, I have all creative power to structure the process the way I think should work the best.

Step 2 Get your own signature management style and manager voice

Step 3 Design your own management strategy

Step 4 Recognize it is people business

Key takeaway

My key learning so far as an internally promoted manager has been twofold. Responsibility caused me so much stress, anxiety and sleepless nights. But funny enough it turned out to be my sense of success, achievement. It is now my ultimate source of professional as well as personal growth.

Don’t be afraid of taking on the responsibility of a manager. Try it out and move along step by step bringing out the best in you and feeling fulfilled in the end.

Katie