Suddenly Boss – 5 Tips For The New Management Role

Made Suddenly the start-up rolls up, the first successes have been achieved and the newly occupied rooms are slowly filling up with their own employees. That means you are no longer just founders. The new role is that of boss. Fantastic! Because that also means: Your scope for action is growing. You can pursue your goals with even more power, even more man power. You now have real support. A whole team. However, those who are no longer just their own boss also have responsibilities. You no longer only have to stand up for your own work, but also for that of your employees. You have to see their concerns, resolve conflicts, create structures and find common ground. How to lead your team in the best possible way and what makes good personnel management: These five short tips ensure motivation and team spirit.

Clarify Dance Areas

You probably know this from your own experience. Most disputes arise from trifles. Especially often when the rules of the game and responsibilities are not clearly assigned. Who can say what to whom? Which votes are necessary? If this is not clarified, frustration and unnecessary competition quickly arise. Especially in small teams, clear agreements should be made at the beginning in order to make the cooperation harmonious. This also includes establishing rules of conduct and thus enabling an employment relationship on an equal footing. Especially if you have little experience in personnel management, team days with external coaches are a good solution to get off to a good start together right from the start.

Mistakes Happen – You Can Learn From Them Together

Trial and error usually involves tedious testing. The chance of success from trial and error is just as high as the risk of making mistakes or bad experiences. But mistakes are also part of everyday work – and especially in start-ups , the error culture should be more relaxed. If you want to be a good manager, you follow the principle. If in doubt, ask why a team member just made that one decision. Even if your employee does not have a suitable answer ready, it is important and purposeful to ask: This is how you show your interest in a joint solution and give everyone involved the opportunity to reflect on what happened – and thus to find new, better solutions. After all, learning from mistakes together helps everyone.

Using Diversity: The Riemann-Thomann Model

If the team members get nice tasks, everything is fine – but woe if not. If the areas of responsibility are not clearly defined, squabbles quickly arise. Or – even more stupid – the tasks just stay put. Some coaches advise not assigning tasks, but roles: based on the Riemann-Thomann model, which can be used to decode people’s characters and inclinations. One is particularly creative, the other more thorough and conscientious, or particularly open-minded and open. Diversity wins! Successful teams are made up of as many different people as possible, and you should take advantage of that as a manager. If you then find out how each team member thinks and acts, they complement each other perfectly. And many misunderstandings can be avoided in this way.

let Employees Have A Say

Anyone who patronizes their employees usually has bad cards. In all projects in which the team performs together, it should therefore have a say in the matter. This includes creating opportunities for everyone to, for example, make suggestions for modifications, voice criticism and concerns, or raise concerns about potential problems in an impartial manner. The perspective of employees who are directly involved with a problem or a specific workflow is valuable and important, so you should take their opinions and experiences seriously and even demand them. On the other hand, if you demand work to rule from your team, you can only count on it.

So Simple: Being Nice Helps!

The eulogy for the team at the Christmas party is all well and good – but it’s not enough! Good bosses know their team. You know who’s married, who leaves early in the afternoon because of the kids, and who’s on the surfboard or soccer field at the weekend. However, visibility and appreciation start with small, nice gestures. For example, by greeting all employees in smaller teams by name every day and briefly asking how things are going. It cannot be emphasized enough how incredibly motivating it is when the boss has a few more words to offer in addition to the warm good morning and shows interest in the person. If there is also serious praise, the appreciation is conveyed perfectly. Because then the boss not only appreciates the work, but also the person. On the other hand, if the appeal and respect for employee performance is not perceptible, the young team members will quickly leave. Almost one in five employees gives, according to the annual Gallup study, quickly because of a lack of respect or states that they have already mentally quit.

The Alternative: Simply Not Being A Boss

Or you can do it like Nicolaj Armbrust and Sebastian Mastalka. Today, the founders of ” traum-ferienwohnungen.de ” work completely without hierarchies – without a boss, without a department head, without a team leader. There have been no bosses at the holiday portal for a year and the founders are doing extremely well with it. Since they took this radical step and abolished all managerial positions – and all specialist departments too, by the way – the tips described above have worked as if by themselves.

The Team Decides Together

Everyone makes important decisions that affect the company together . And unlike a year ago, the employees know each other much better because they no longer work in different departments.

Absolute Chaos? None

The expected chaos did not materialize. But can that be good in the long run? Yes it can! For fourteen years, for example, the Hamburg beverage producer “Premium” has been working completely without bosses. All decisions are also made there by the employees, partners and even the customers together – and the hourly wage is also the same for all employees.

Founder Friends Instead Of Hierarchies

The examples show that it can also work without traditional company structures and it is exactly what startups and their teams can bring forward. This is also confirmed by surveys by the Kienbaum Institute: Generation Y – i.e. above all young teams whose members were born between 1980 and 1999 – has little to do with traditional structures. Work-life balance is much more important here. For the young team, the job should be fulfilling and, above all, fun. Colleagues are friends at the same time, and at best the founder himself is one of them. That can work if everyone supports the flat structures.

Also Read: Management And Development Of Human Talent In An Organization