On LinkedIn, there has been an ongoing conversation about transitioning to a new job as a documentation manager. The conversation has yielded some excellent suggestions, but I’ve noticed that they were all focused inward, on the team. They include suggestions like listening to your team, instituting changes carefully and in consultation with your team, and building a partnership based on the team’s objectives.
These are all good suggestions, and I wouldn’t want to suggest that you shouldn’t build a strong relationship with your new team, however, you also need to deal with the environment outside the group.
In particular, there are three more sets of interactions that will have a material effect on your success: interactions with your own manager, the managers of the teams you support, and your customers.
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Your manager: I’ve never seen a management change where the new manager’s manager didn’t want some change in the way the group was being led. (Just as a writer cannot look at another writer’s words without finding something to change; upper level managers will always want some kind of change when a new manager comes in.)
You also need to be absolutely sure that you and your manager are 100% clear on the group’s objectives and priorities.
Finally, just as you need to build a relationship with your team, you need to build a relationship with your manager.
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Your peer managers: You are really joining two teams, the team you manage and the team of peer managers; these are the people who manage the groups your team works with. You need to build a working relationship with them as a team, understand what they need/want from your team, and understand any problems they may be having with your team.
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Your customers: You need to interact with your customers to understand their needs and concerns. While this may seem obvious, documentation managers too often treat the internal teams they support as their customers and ignore the people who actually use their documentation.
The other reason for placing some emphasis here is that as a new manager you have the opportunity, and obligation, to take a fresh look at what your team is doing and institute changes. But, it’s very dangerous to make changes without understanding the customer impact and their needs. Plus, you can use customer input to help drive change.
Taking on a new job as a documentation manager is a serious challenge, and you are guaranteed to have a few bumps in the road. If you’re interacting frequently with the right people, you’ll be more likely to avoid the bumps or at least see them in time to take action.
Great idea, but…
Users will change their habits when the pain of their current situation is greater than their perceived pain of adopting a possible solution.
–Pip Coburn The Change Function
Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships, that is why good ideas are always initially resisted.
– Hugh MacLeod, Ignore Everybody
Pip Coburn’s quote captures the most common reason good ideas fail. The pain of our current situation simply isn’t great enough for us to accept the pain it will take to change that situation. Yet, even when a rational analysis of a situation makes it clear that a change is essential, great ideas are frequently not adopted. The key to understanding Coburn’s point, and to implementing great ideas, lies somewhat hidden in Coburn’s quote, specifically the word “perceived.”
Our perceptions of both our current pain, the pain of change, and the benefits of implementing a new idea are all distorted by human nature. We underestimate the pain of our current situation, overestimate the pain of changing that situation, and underestimate the future benefit. We also often completely miss the effect a good idea has on the balance of power in an organization.
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