Once you get right into a senior product supervisor function, one in all your key duties is to mentor and handle your junior product managers. Not solely does this assist them develop their expertise and experience, however it additionally ensures that your workforce is consistently enhancing and rising.
I do know this — I consider every individual has a novel persona, and we should always method mentoring and managing primarily based on the understanding that there’s no common reality on the right way to do it. Having mentioned so, on this article I‘d wish to share my experiences and classes discovered. I used to be additionally requested just lately about this — so I made a decision to jot down down my solutions.
I need to admit — I don’t have the “proper” or “full” reply to the query within the headline. It’s as a result of I’m on a relentless journey and nonetheless studying the right way to mentor and handle junior product managers.
A number of the recommendation you’re about to learn may appear trivial at first, and also you may be inquisitive about the right way to implement my recommendation in your every day routines. With this in thoughts, I shall clarify and supply examples, and I’d love your suggestions and questions.
With out ready any longer, listed here are some factors I discovered:
A lot of the product work and effectivity is predicated on belief that the product supervisor (PM) creates with inner stakeholders and, afterward, the shoppers. Set your PMs up for achievement by mapping the group — roles, duties, strengths, and weak factors of every division alongside the extra “typical” studying supplies concerning the product, and so on.
Create a 4-week onboarding schedule. What materials he ought to learn, who your PM ought to speak to, and the goals of those duties. Encourage your PM to be extremely partaking and work to grasp the ache factors of the folks he’ll encounter.
I counsel assembly with every junior PM, and go over their potential scripts for his or her introductions. This can assist your PM’s perceive the way in which they need to place themselves throughout the firm. Additionally, suggest to your junior PMs to jot down down their impressions and takeaways from every of the introductions.
The plain factor to do is to set clear expectations and targets on your PMs. This contains outlining their duties, defining what success appears like, and offering them with a roadmap for attaining their targets.
There’s a delicate steadiness between micromanaging and setting clear expectations. You shouldn’t micromanage every process, since you wish to domesticate PMs with a way of independence and a mindset for development.
Don’t neglect that it is advisable to be clear with the junior PMs in regard to your expectations.
Lately, managing has change into a mentor’s sport. It’s a really optimistic shift, for suggestions is important for development and growth.
Present to your junior product managers constructive suggestions usually, in regard to their efficiency, highlighting areas the place they excel and others the place they should enhance.
Make certain to additionally present them with particular examples and actionable steps they’ll take to enhance. It’s important to present suggestions on the nice and the dangerous, and be very straight in regards to the studying curve and the place you assume the PM is at present at.
Product administration is a continually evolving subject, and it’s important to encourage your junior product managers to remain up-to-date with the newest tendencies and greatest practices.
Please allow them to attend trade occasions, learn trade publications, and experiment with new methods and techniques.
Collaboration is important for product administration success, and fostering a tradition of collaboration inside your workforce is important.
Encourage your junior product managers to work carefully with different workforce members and supply alternatives for them to collaborate with different departments throughout the firm.
As a senior product supervisor, you’re a task mannequin on your junior product managers. Lead by instance, and exhibit the abilities and behaviors that you simply wish to see in your workforce members. This contains being proactive, speaking successfully, and being open to suggestions and criticism.
Present your junior product managers with alternatives for development and growth. This might embody attending conferences or coaching packages, taking over new duties, or main tasks.
Please encourage them to stretch themselves, tackle new challenges, and provides them the assist they should succeed.
When you’re now not a person contributor (IC), you’re measured in your workforce’s work, so it’s best to credit score the workforce for his or her dedication.
I’ve usually witnessed unbiased contractors flip into workforce leaders. Different occasions, I’ve witnessed newly appointed workforce managers wrestle to undertake the “credit score the workforce” idea. For those who can keep away from it, don’t let this case occur to you. As a substitute, take into account that crediting your junior product managers can construct belief and credibility amongst your workforce.
Mentoring and managing junior product managers is a vital accountability for senior product managers. Whereas there’s no common reality on the right way to do it — making a ‘tailor-made for belief’ onboarding, setting clear expectations and targets, offering common suggestions, encouraging studying and experimentation, fostering a tradition of collaboration, main by instance, and offering alternatives for development and growth are all important elements.
It’s vital to do not forget that as a senior product supervisor, you’re a task mannequin on your workforce members, and giving them credit score for his or her work and dedication goes a great distance in direction of constructing a thriving workforce. Keep in mind to be affected person, adaptable, and all the time try for steady enchancment.
