Subscribe to our newsletter. Who better to offer tips and insight to someone just starting their management career than the seasoned professional manager. We are fortunate to have such a group of management professionals frequent the Management Forum on this site. You are managing people, not projects or product development or customer service or any other departmental mission.
People are complicated and messy.
So stay alert to what's going on with them. For the first couple of days, sit down and get to know your staff. Find out what they do, what their goals are, what they like to do in their free time, etc. Several years ago, I watched a new manager start with a company and for the first month or so, didn't talk to any of his staff. A month later, he wondered why people were handing in their two week notices.