Week 1
Learning about the People and the Work

Some people think management is all about the people, and some people think management is all about the tasks. But great management is about leading and developing people and managing tasks.

If you want to lead people, you need to know them: their unique strengths, aspirations, and patterns of behavior. If you want to manage work, you need to see what people are doing and understand how it fits into the context of the group’s mission.

You need to learn three things when you enter a new organization or job:

• Who the people are—their strengths and interests—and what they are working on

• The stated mission of the group and how the group provides value

• How your group fits into the larger organization

It would be great to learn this information on your first day and in nice neat boxes. But it doesn’t work that way; the information will emerge and coalesce as you uncover information and perform management work. Start with the people first in order to build trust and lay the foundation for a cohesive team. A good way to do this is to meet one-on-one with everyone who reports to you.