A survival kit for managers landing into digital
Be honest, be humble and, whenever possible, be happy
Being promoted to manager is always flattering. Climbing the corporate ladder is something hard, even if you have a great mentor. You must work countless hours to fulfill your duties, be innovative, learn new things every single day, become an expert, take initiative and responsibilities, support your team… and then, when you are finally considered The Best in … (fill in the blank), your company decides to reward your hard work by designating you as Chief Digital Officer. Or Head of Digital Operations. Or Manager of the Whole Digital Thing. The title doesn’t really matter. The point is that from one minute to the other you go from being The Best at … (fill in the blank) to be just another traditional/analogic/lame boss landing in the digital arena with little to no knowledge in this field. The reasoning behind such a bizarre promotion? Well… probably that you are such a solid, innovative and efficient professional in your field that your CEO is convinced that you will do great things also in the digital field. After all, anybody can do digital strategy as long as he/she is younger than his/her CEO. Can’t they?
If you are in such a possition, I have some little pieces of advice that may be helpful for you:
- Be honest. Pretending that you know more than you really do by dropping some technical words here and there won’t get you very far. And there are few things as anoying as listening to the just landed digital boss lecturing about how important is having good SEO or the necessity to make a strong bet on video.
- Be humble. Don’t be afraid of asking for help to learn everything you need (1). Trust me: your team will really appreciate having the opportunity to explain to you how do they work, which tools they use, what works and what needs to be fixed … Just give them the opportunity to do it.
- Be happy. You have the amazing opportunity to continue growing professionally entering a completely new and promising ecosystem. Value your own skills (thinking strategically, finding solutions, coordinating multidisciplinary teams, opening new roads …) so you can enjoy the ride, empower your team and deliver great results.
Among the common mistakes that you should avoid:
- Thinking that digital means ‘produced instantly’. If you want a digital feature to be really great you need to plan, define, design and develop it days, weeks or months before. This apply to all kind of digital product and services: from covering the news about the US presidential elections to providing online banking services. No matter how hard you try, you can’t draw a digital product, service or feature in a screen, click the play key and make it works. (Trust me, I tried more than once and didn’t work!)
- Ignore the diversity and richness of your professional team. ‘Computer guys’ is an imaginary species conceived only by ‘analogical guys’. Your team is probably composed by product development managers, designers, UX experts, developers (front/back end, mobile, ddbb…), SEO experts, etc. To be able to manage your team efficiently, it is essential to be familiar with their skills and functions, as well as their workflows.
- Be unsure, afraid and suspicious. Face it: You’ve gone from a position where your judgment was infallible and no one dared to challenge your opinions to a scenario in which some may question your ability and skills. A really fertile ground for insecurity. Whenever those thoughts come to your mind, remember that being honest and humble is the best recipe for happiness. Trust your people and empower them so you can jointly pave the way for success!
(1) Dedicated to the amazing team of ELPAIS.com, who taught me much of what I know about digital with patience and boundless generosity when I landed from the outer space. @guiomardelser @benimarin @fhernandez @noemiramrez @petezin @javier_lasa @PepeCerezo @BrunoG_Gayo @vbenayas @vjimenez @antoniofraguas @guerraypaz @asteroid159 @JSRSalvatierra @jacintocorral @mcobos_it @ikaitor @sikonome @asegovia @ipvalverde @ssauce @ruthblanch @mtascon @jmartinluengo @arantzacollaut and other friends from @losdelvolcan, Manuel Mirat, Cristina Martín Conejero, Paco Alcaraz and so many others…
