In this interview Josh Rivera, a Support Escalation Manager here at Calabrio, talks about his #1 tip for first time managers.

Culture Matters

First time managers need to focus on the culture within your organization. Often times culture is view as something that is really hard to do and there is just too work involved. If you invest time and effort in building a really strong positive culture it will led no only to the behaviors you want to see but also results you want to achieve. Weaker organizations often have individuals focused on thier specific needs and wants – individualistic goals. While in strong positive culture even though you all work in different departments everyone is striving towards the same goal and working as team.
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30/60/90

How do you go about building a strong positive culture? Well when possible a 30, 60, 90 day plan like the following will work best:

• 30 Observer- similar to the concept of ethology, observing animal behavior in their nature habitat, watch your employees in their natural work environment. As an outside you can pickup trends on good & bad practices and processes. Analyze the situation and take as many notes as you can.
• 60 Plan (& being to engage)- you’re now getting out there and beginning to know your employees. As you start to interact more with the team don’t rock the boat too much. Instead in the back of your mind you are still observing but with an eye on how to make things better. Take your notes here and the first 30 days to plan out how you’ll shape this culture.
• 90 Act (& iterate on plan)- Implement the plan based on everything you’ve collected. Now you start to build your strong positive culture within your team and thus the entire organization.