Leadership Navigation: For New Managers

By Phindile M Mooketse

Faced with a step change? Bridge the gap of the step change from being exceptional in your trade to being a manager.
Promotions to management are usually based on identified leadership talent and trade competence. However, trade and talent do not result in exceptional leadership by default. Exceptional leadership is inclusive of managing and leading. You can not only lead and not manage or manage and not lead. The question is, what is it that we ought to manage? We fall into the trap of managing what we know and lose sight of what we do not know or are not comfortable off.
Leadership books and training provide tools and frameworks that boost our knowledge. Mentors and coaches provide advice that assists us to cope. Leadership Navigation is a tool that navigates you to real-time execution; it is not based on application of a specific model nor a specific topic but a holistic view of how to utilize all your resources and tools. It is a great self-check tool for emerging managers and even experienced managers who feel lost within the thick of things.
Avoid managing by killing fires. Avoid surviving through giving excuses for poor performance. Opt to lead and manage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: May 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482804652

Phindile M Mooketse

Debut author Phindile M Mooketse, gained her industrial experience within the metallurgical and power plant industries. Through her growth from entry line manager, middle manager, and, ultimately, executive level, she learned that new managers hit the ground running. She thrived like everyone else who thrive on potential but felt that sharing her experiences with upcoming new managers would benefit not just her mentees but global high flyers. Phindile was named Leader of the Year in 2012, and she strongly believes that everyone is a great leader given the right tools and guidance.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by Phindile Mooketse.

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Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

I.   The author’s note to the reader

II.   Promoted, What now?

III.   I have management insight, what then?

IV.   Why Exceptional Leadership?

V.   How do I manage my core business?

VI.   How do I ensure safety of people & assets?

VII.   How should I manage stakeholders?

VIII.   How are resources managed?

IX.   How do I influence finances?

X.   How do I avoid killing fires?

XI.   Why should I manage my Image?

XII.   The start of your journey

XIII.   Positive affirmations for my team

XIV.   Author’s acknowledgement to personal mentors & coaches

XV.   Authors favorite books

XVI.   Three Year Monthly Journal

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This Leadership Navigation belongs to

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For any assistance or further coaching, you can send an email to [e-mail]

The written notes within this navigator belong to the owner and are confidential unless shared by the owner

If this navigation is lost and found, it should be returned to the owner at the following contacts

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Owner’s preferred contact number or email

I am promoted, what now?

Where do I start?

Who can help me?

How do I know if I’m on the right track?

Foreword

New line managers are often exceptional in their areas of trade. Promotion to management is usually based on potential, leadership talent, and trade competency.

Trade and talent do not result in exceptional leadership by default. Exceptional leadership is inclusive of managing, and leading. You cannot only lead and not manage or manage and not lead. Though leadership may come naturally, management requires induction, training, and grooming to yield exceptional leaders

The intent of this book is to navigate new or novice managers through basics of management and leadership.

This navigation is not about management or leadership theories but about leadership in action specific to your industries.

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Acknowledgements

It is amazing how interdependent we as people are. This navigator is not an outcome of a single mind but those of many. It is not my thinking or intellect but the support and love that enable us to thrive. Beyond the support and love, is coaching and mentorship that we receive from those that we interact with. We therefore are not without the other.

My husband, Erasmus Rasi Mooketse, is my pillar of strength and coach in both life and career. My kids, Kitso and Motheo, are my best managers and teachers through their countless questioning, ‘Mama, why?’ I learn so much in answering their questions because each answered why, is followed by another why.

I would like to specifically acknowledge Vuyo Oupa Mokoena, who planted the seed of writing this navigator and continued to encourage its publication. I also acknowledge and appreciate my business associates, service providers, colleagues and friends who dedicated time to review the drafts and offered support to the book.

My mom, Betty Sindane, she is such an amazing mother who serves as a consultant in everything I do. She made me the woman I am through being the woman that she is. Thanks to my father who groomed us as his kids on image, presentation, and thinking hence most of my learning was not in industry but from an early age.

I am the fourth born of a family of five kids -two brothers and two sisters-, my confidants. May my brother Mandla, who passed on at the peak of writing this book; rest in peace… Sindane, Radebe, Nzotho, Hlokohloko lomlambo. Not forgetting my nephews and nieces who are my source of courage.

I am because they are.

I

The author’s note to the reader

C ongratulations on your promotion! You are now changing from being an expert in your trade to being a generalist accountable for the output of others. Is that not daunting?

In this role, if things go wrong, you take all the blame, and if they go well, you share in the glory. That is the reality of your role. When you take the blame and know exactly how to turn the situation around, you exhibit one of the characteristics of a leader. Similar as when you share the glory, you reflect acknowledgement of your team and that demonstrates true leadership. Leadership and management will be covered briefly in chapter three; for now, we talk about you and your new position.

An offer of promotion is mostly accepted with excitement, celebrated for the status and extra perks. Possibly, even the power that comes with it! It is rare that we converge to talk about the level of responsibility that one signs up for.

We never talk about the diverse areas of accountability compared to when you were practicing your profession or trade. People are often promoted to a managerial position due to being good technically. Your technical expertise could be coupled with a natural flair of leadership. However, you are now responsible for a wider scope, and you are accountable for your team’s outputs and outcomes.

Our ego, or rather confidence, normally tells us that we can do it. Sometimes there is that inner voice that says, ‘You will make it, you are a born leader.’ The reality is that we become vulnerable, hoping for someone to sit us down and take us from A to Z of management and yet no one does. No one takes the time to meticulously induct you into the facts and figures of your key focus areas. Needless to say, the responsibility of a manager is not on facts and figures but how to achieve them.

Ask any manager or supervisor if there was any introduction that made them aware of what they were signing up for? They are rare if at all none.

Reflecting back to my first day as a new line manager; it was the most daunting day in my life. When I got home that night, I was tired and exhausted. It was like I had done more work while all I did was to entertain people who came in the office to congratulate me. I was also flooded with congratulatory emails to which I kept myself busy responding to. The euphoria of responding to people slowly turned to an overwhelming question; ‘what now?’

I had thirty-eight people waiting to take a lead from me. It dawned on me that being a manager is not about my trade or knowing the business. Neither is it about the natural flair or