The transition from contributor to manager is one of the most challenging in any career. Everything is different. What made you successful as a contributor is a different skill set than the one you need to develop for success as a manager. And, the failure rate of new managers is abysmally high with some estimates suggesting more than 50% will flame out during their first year. That's unacceptable, and it's one of the key reasons I created First Time Managers Academy.

A Career Long Commitment to Helping New Managers Succeed

I have a long-running commitment to helping new managers succeed.

It started with my own nightmarish transition to a manager from a contributor. Thankfully, a great mentor helped me navigate the quicksand of managing for the first time.

As an executive, I sponsored new managers for expensive training and coaching and worked with our promoting managers to ensure mentoring was in place.

And, when I left the corporate world to open my professional development practice, I focused my first book, Practical Lessons in Leadership, squarely on new managers.

My View Hasn't Changed—Learning to Manage is Hard Work

After leading workshops and webinars and training thousands, my view that the move from contributor to manager is one of the most difficult of anyone's career is stronger than ever.

There are no shortcuts to success.

Moving from contributor to manager is awkward, clumsy, and filled with opportunities to misstep. These missteps are costly to everyone involved, the new manager, the new manager's team, and the promoting manager.

It's a fundamental transformation with more obstacles and pitfalls to catch you off guard than the typical video game. Except, it's not a video game. Those are real people, and our organizations and bosses need actual results. Good results.

The Design Thinking Behind First-Time Managers Academy

Early last year, I set out to create a program that would blend the best of my experience-based coaching and development work with the benefits of on-demand learning. Additionally, one of our core underpinnings was that any program we created had to be rich in guiding ongoing development and improvement and allow access to the course creator (me) for q/a support and ongoing live webinar training.

This program had to be fundamentally different than the bargain-basement video training out there for new managers flooding the market. It had to be more than one-and-done or stand-and-deliver programs.

Putting the ideas to work and monitoring and measuring progress while striving for continuous improvement is the right way to develop new managers.

Learning Plus Development Plus Continuous Improvement

Our program had to incorporate specific developmental actions and a system for continuous improvement. As mentioned, it also had to allow easy access to me for questions and idea generation. And finally, it had to provide regular opportunities to build on the concepts in an online educational setting.

The outcome—First-Time Managers Academy—an online learning and continuous development experience for new managers.

From considering moving to management to acclimating to the new role, building a solid leadership foundation, and then building high-performance with team members, the program is laser-focused on new manager success.

First-Time Managers Academy is built on a teach/experiment/monitor/measure/continuously improve structure.

If you're motivated to succeed, the tools and approaches are all here.

The ongoing education via my alumni webinars is here.

The 100-day start-up guide is here!

And I'm here to help. As the program creator, every participant has unlimited access to me via e-mail for questions on concepts or managerial problem-solving.

Whether you are managing and mentoring new managers, or, you are the new manager, First-Time Managers Academy is the right place to start working on success.

Put me to work helping your new managers succeed!

Introducing First Time Managers Academy

This is an online/on-demand course containing your tried and true roadmap of PRACTICAL IDEAS and approaches for starting out and succeeding as a first-time manager.