Technical experts, people who are good at their job, are usually the first ones to be promoted to people manager. The transition from an individual contributor to a people manager is not a simple one. It requires a significant shift in mindset. From being the one doing the job, you are now the one organizing it and driving the change

Continuing from Part I

Leadership training Many organizations group new people managers (those with less than two years in the role) and offer them a full scope of leadership training. These programs are usually conducted by an external company, and they are quite comprehensive, including learning materials, learning platforms, in-person meetings with the trainer and the group, as well as in-person meetings between the participants themselves. The main advantage of this type of leadership training is that it is well structured and full of insights on the most relevant topics.

In my last role in HR, I was a project manager for a leadership training program for 100+ new people managers. Moreover, it created strong relationships among the participants. They learned that they are not alone in their journey and that their peers face similar challenges to theirs. Thus, very often, through this type of leadership training, a company is implicitly building a strong support system for its managers. The main disadvantage of this training is that it can be pricey and requires a certain size of organization (usually 500+ employees) to be implemented only with internal participants.

Mentoring Mentoring is a collaborative relationship where an experienced individual (the mentor) shares knowledge, skills, and insights to support the personal or professional development of a less experienced person (the mentee).

In the case of people managers, a new manager can be partnered with a more experienced one through regular meetings during a certain period of time. From my experience, to create a lasting and fruitful collaboration between the mentee and the mentor, I would recommend mentoring for 9–12 months, with at least one meeting per month. After this period, very often, both the mentee and the mentor are interested in nurturing the relationship with occasional meetings a few times per year. The advantages of mentoring are that the organization is using its internal resources, Moreover, through mentoring, the expertise and wisdom of more mature managers are leveraged and passed on to the new ones. It creates stronger relationships within the organization itself.

The downside is that not every institution offers a mentoring program. In my view, one should not get discouraged about this. As a coach, I encourage new managers to be proactive and approach a leader in their organization whom they respect and ask if they would be interested in mentoring them.

Of course, some preparation should be done beforehand. I recommend the following before approaching a leader in your organization:

• analyze their career;
• be clear on your expectations of them during the mentoring;
• identify the topics to be covered, e.g., delegating, difficult conversations, leadership styles, poor performance;
• define the objectives that you want to achieve through the mentoring;
• determine the expected time commitment.

Senior team members are happy to support and share their expertise and experience. In my experience, in most cases, the answer has been positive. And in the few cases when leaders could not accept a mentoring commitment, they were always willing to propose another person whom they trust and believe would be a good fit.

To wrap up, the list of supportive activities an organization can offer to a new people manager doesn’t stop here. There are many others: individual coaching, team coaching, and certain assessments… It differs widely from institution to institution, including budget, time, and resources. I always advise new leaders to start with what is already available in the organization. Then, check externally. Even a short course on LinkedIn or Coursera can be very insightful and create lasting change.

The journey from an individual contributor to a leader is not a straight line. It can be messy, humbling, and sometimes even lonely. But it doesn't have to be.

Whether you are a new manager finding your feet or an organization looking to set your leaders up for success – the message is the same: support during this transition is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

To all the new leaders reading this, never stop learning and progressing! You are not just managing people – you are shaping careers, building teams, and creating an impact that goes far beyond any project or deadline.

That is true leadership.