#56: London, Part 2
And what to do if you are a new manager
Hey friends,
Welcome to the 56th edition of the “Level Up Ladder” newsletter.
In this edition, I talk about the last days we spent with friends in London, Easter with the family, and some recommendations for new managers.
1/ London, part 2
We finished our stay in London with a trip to Cambridge, one of the places I wanted to see badly.
Ever since I visited Stanford in 2010, I have become fascinated by university towns. So, since we were in London, we had the option to visit either Cambridge or Oxford. We chose Cambridge for two reasons:
My friend's dad went to college here, and he wanted to see the place himself.
It was closer to home.
So, we arrived in Cambridge and had a proper English meal and a pint at “The Mill," the most famous pub there.
We went on wandering the streets of Cambridge, and it was the first time I heard the term "punting.”
punted; punting; punts
a pole to propel a boat, such as a punt
I would see all these boats on the river and think that people were rowing. Actually, they were punting, which means that the water is so shallow that you use a stick to push the bottom and make the boat move. That was interesting.
It was a very nice day, which inspired me to write this piece of content on LinkedIn:
On our last day in London, we went for lunch in a former church, walked a bit more in the city, and had a nice steak for dinner in a lovely restaurant.
We landed in Bucharest Saturday night, went to sleep, and drove to my hometown Sunday morning.
We spent the day with my mom and my sister's family, and we returned to Bucharest the next morning to go to lunch with my in-laws.
Don't expect the Easter "lunch" to be just a lunch. In Romania, it’s a 3–4 hour meal involving at least 3 courses, 2 types of dessert, and lots of drinks.
Anyway, we survived both Easter lunches and went on to work on Tuesday.
As they say, all good things come to an end, right?
2/ 5 things to do if you’re a new manager
In a post I wrote on LinkedIn yesterday, I talked about how lost I felt when I first stepped into a management role.
I had been a more than decent individual contributor, but leading a team was uncharted territory.
The "imposter syndrome" often strikes first for those promoted into management roles.
“Why should these people listen to me?”
I stumbled through those early days trying to prove myself, micromanaging people, and enforcing outdated rules and processes that did more harm than good.
It wasn't until a mentor pulled me aside and shared some simple yet powerful advice that everything started clicking.
He told me to focus on just five things as a new manager:
Listen more than you speak.
Offer your team more autonomy.
Ditch the stupid rules that hold them back.
Actively ask for feedback.
Praise team members publicly.
Here are some tactics you can apply if you are in this position.
Listen more than you speak.
Make it a rule to spend the first 10 minutes of every team meeting listening, not talking.
Instead of doing all the talking, have regular 1-on-1s where you mostly ask questions and take notes.
Practice reflective listening by repeating back what you hear to ensure understanding.
Offer more autonomy.
Identify processes or decisions you can start delegating fully to your team.
Set clear constraints and guidelines, but allow people to decide for themselves how to achieve their goals.
Offer flexibility around work hours, locations, etc. to build trust.
Ditch stupid rules
Audit team processes and policies, and remove anything that is slowing your team down.
Question why rigid rules exist and push back on unnecessary bureaucracy.
Model a mindset of constantly optimizing and avoiding "we've always done it this way."
Ask for feedback.
At the end of the sprint, have a retrospective in which you ask the team what can be improved in your processes.
Make feedback discussions a regular part of 1-on-1 meetings.
Watch for non-verbal cues that people want to share something.
Praise Publicly
Start team meetings by recognizing people's recent wins or achievements.
Send team-wide emails highlighting exceptional work and results.
To make recognition more enjoyable and frequent, create awards and gamification.
Do these things, and you will see the results.
At least for me, it worked out very well. In less than two years, I was promoted to senior manager based on the outstanding performance of my team.
But the biggest reward was seeing multiple people who had been stuck in the same roles for years become managers themselves.
It kicked off a multiplicative effect as those new managers implemented the same principles with their teams. Giving people a voice, granting autonomy, and celebrating wins created an upward spiral of success.
3/ Recommendations
4 Side Hustles to Earn $100,000+
Justin Welsh’s article from 2022 is still relevant today.
That doesn’t mean it’s easier in any way.
Schitt’s Creek on Netflix
Unfortunately, this is not available in Romania. But, if you are in country where it is available (or, if you have a vpn, wink) this is so worth it. One of the funniest show I’ve seen.
How I Gained 1.8M Followers (and Make $930,000/Month)
Matt Gray’s video on how to get started if you want to gain an engaged online audience.
Thank you for reading, and let me know if you liked something in particular in this newsletter.
I hope you have a great weekend, friends!
Leo
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P.S. 2: If you want to take your productivity to the next level, check out my extensive Productivity course that can accelerate your career.