Need to help your new managers lead? Join Chelsea C. Williams, CEO and founder of Reimagine Talent Co., and host Nicole Belyna as they discuss how HR pros can best support their colleagues stepping into first-time leadership roles. Discover key insights to aid them in such challenges as overseeing direct reports who were previously their peers, having difficult conversations, avoiding common mistakes, and more. This episode is packed with strategies to help new people managers measure their own success and growth, so that you can build stronger teams together. This podcast is approved for .5 PDCs toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification. Listen to the complete episode to get your activity ID at the end. ID expires July 1, 2026. Subscribe to HR Daily to get the latest episodes, expert insights, and additional resources delivered straight to your inbox: https://shrm.co/voegyz --- Explore SHRM’s all-new flagships. Content curated by experts. Created for you weekly. Each content journey features engaging podcasts, video, articles, and groundbreaking newsletters tailored to meet your unique needs in your organization and career. Learn More: https://shrm.co/coy63r
Need to help your new managers lead? Join Chelsea C. Williams, CEO and founder of Reimagine Talent Co., and host Nicole Belyna as they discuss how HR pros can best support their colleagues stepping into first-time leadership roles. Discover key insights to aid them in such challenges as overseeing direct reports who were previously their peers, having difficult conversations, avoiding common mistakes, and more. This episode is packed with strategies to help new people managers measure their own success and growth, so that you can build stronger teams together.
This podcast is approved for .5 PDCs toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification. Listen to the complete episode to get your activity ID at the end. ID expires July 1, 2026.
Subscribe to HR Daily to get the latest episodes, expert insights, and additional resources delivered straight to your inbox: https://shrm.co/voegyz --- Explore SHRM’s all-new flagships. Content curated by experts. Created for you weekly. Each content journey features engaging podcasts, video, articles, and groundbreaking newsletters tailored to meet your unique needs in your organization and career. Learn More: https://shrm.co/coy63r
[00:00:00] Nicole Belyna: Welcome to Honest HR. I'm your host, Nicole Belyna. According to SHRM's research, 92% of HR executives say that people managers are critical for their organizations' overall success. However, on the flip side, only 64% of US workers rate their manager as highly effective. So today we're exploring essential skills for first time people, managers, and everything HR professionals can do to equip them for success.
Joining us is Chelsea C Williams, founder and CEO of Reimagined Talent, a national talent and workforce development firm. Welcome to Honest HR. Chelsea, I'm so excited to be here, Nicole, and it's a pleasure to have you. Thanks for joining us, so we'll dig right in. How has your work with Reimagined talent shaped your perspective on what first time people, managers need to succeed?
[00:01:06] Chelsea Williams: Oh my goodness. In so many ways, I think most, center of focus in these days is the concept that when we think about our talent. Who are multi-generational, the concept of leadership development, we know to be important across the board. And when we think about some of the generational dynamics at work, we know that early career or younger generations are stepping into being first time people leaders.
That's something that we have explored as we've worked with organizations and so we know that leadership development is most effective when it is specific. In a segment of leaders focusing on first time leaders and their needs, that can be very different than esta an established leader is really important in getting to, development and actual, retention of their skills.
[00:01:59] Nicole Belyna: Yeah, great insights. And so what would you say are the top skills? Every first manager, first time manager must develop effectively to lead their teams.
[00:02:09] Chelsea Williams: Yes, it's a great question. Now, here's the thing. We have looked at first time people, leader skills from the standpoint of where we are as a society. And so some of the things that have been common norm for leadership are things like communication.
But if we are to go a step further into the conversation of communication, we would say being able to give and receive feedback, how you give feedback in a way that is specific and actionable to a direct report or a team, is super important when you step into leading for the first time because. You are really responsible for someone's success or at least helping them to navigate and be successful on the job.
Another one that I would mention is coaching. Now, I am not saying every people leader needs to be a certified coach, but I am saying they need to understand what coaching need. And how they can use the skills of coaching to help them develop their team in micro moments of giving them the support without giving them the answers to help them work across an organization or a team.
[00:03:16] Nicole Belyna: HR executives told SHRM research they wanted people, managers to, to have many of these skills, things like coaching and mentoring, which you just shared. Communication. We're on the list as well as strategic thinking is another one. performance feedback, which we just talked about. And lastly, conflict resolution.
So how can HR professionals help first time managers really identify and address any gaps in these skill sets, in their, in their employees and themselves?
[00:03:55] Chelsea Williams: yes, It's such a great question. And I think the first thing that has to be done is to tell them, the skills that are necessary or the ways at which they can effectively navigate into the role.
and it sounds really simple, but the concept of having your whole organization understand, here's what's expected of you when you become a people manager, is the first step. So I say, first tell them. But not only that, as they start to get into the role, you'll want to ask them, about their experience, ask them what the unique challenges they may have are so that you are able to support them through with the resources that they need.
And I would say the final step of this would be to guide them. We know here, Nicole, that. Managing people a lifelong journey. You get better and better at it. At it. You don't just arrive. it is a process of self-development that helps you be a better people leader. And we will be developing ourselves for as long as we're breathing.
So it is important for people to understand that it's a journey. But when we talk about guiding, HR professionals can help to guide and support through resources, through programs, through simple understanding of internal practices. How they can best, support their team
[00:05:11] Nicole Belyna: where they are. Yeah, that's great.
And are there any additional ways HR professionals can help first time managers before they make the transition from individual contributor to leader? So I know you started off with three, right? Tell them, ask them, guide them, anything else as they're making that transition? Two, opportunities come to mind.
[00:05:35] Chelsea Williams: First is simply informing of the paths. Meaning in many organizations there are paths, right? You could be an individual contributor or you could become a people manager or people leader of a practice or team. So simply sharing the different paths to. organizational success because one is not better than the other.
Right? Is a very healthy way for folks to understand. Maybe I'm an individual contributor today, but I have aspirations to be a people manager in the future and helping them see the differences and the skillset and responsibilities is a great way just to be transparent about that across the board.
Outside of that, I really think about this concept of starting to build skills across the board early. We talked today about communication as one important skill to be a people leader. That is also important when you're an individual contributor, and so simply having your team understand the skills that are necessary for work and organizations and team from the offset is a really healthy way.
To help them once they become a people leader, if they choose that path. Understand that they've got the baseline of the skill likely already in motion. Now they'll just need to flex it in considering the fact that they've got people within their, within their responsibility. and so then it's just the light bulb moment of, okay.
I have communicated, cross team, cross collaboration, I've communicated up. Now I just have to think about it in terms of having a person on my team in which I need to support their ability to, thrive in the organization through communication.
[00:07:21] Nicole Belyna: I really love that idea too because it, it also perhaps makes the jump feel not quite as big, right?
That's right. Yeah. So it's almost a, can feel like a, much more natural and seamless transition. What role can HR play in monitoring the progress of first time managers and providing that ongoing feedback or development opportunities?
[00:07:47] Chelsea Williams: Yes, I love this question. HR can be plugged in from the beginning.
I would say, you know, one basic thing is if you're noting or it's flagged to you that a person is going to transition from individual contributor to people leader, having that pulse conversation, that kickoff meeting, I. just to let them know, first of all, you're on their team and you want them to be successful, but also laying out some of the most important information they need to understand.
I think that is a healthy thing that should happen from the offset, but over time, those check-in points are really healthy ways that you can ensure. Your people leaders are, thriving. If it's a larger organization, it might be harder to do that. So you might rely on, opinion surveys to understand the people leader experience.
You may periodically do focus groups and bring people leaders together, and then in some cases, as you grow, you may help to facilitate peer support and learning that you as an HR. Team facilitate to help create that community that is so important as you're growing in your journey as a leader.
[00:08:57] Nicole Belyna: Those are some great suggestions.
And what about the role of the first time managers, manager? Obviously HR professionals play a big role in developing people managers, but you know, what about that? That manager that they see every day. How important are they to the success of emerging leaders and how can HR professionals bring them into the equation?
[00:09:22] Chelsea Williams: Ugh, this, I'm so excited about this because, and you know this, Nicole, this can be a friction point, and this is the opportunity that we have to really be thoughtful about as much as we can from the offset. So there's a couple things that I think about that can be helpful for that next level leader.
Number one is. Setting the culture, being the ambassador to the culture of the organization, and with that, helping to ensure accountability of behavior and the actions that are necessary to support people because we've all heard it happens from the topic, stems from the topic, and that is so true, and that person embodying leadership and culture helps to support.
People, leadership and, downstream effect, right? So that's, what, that's that off of the, kind of beginning of the conversation. Then I think one of the things that we are hearing so much in our practice is around the importance of that next level leader to knowledge share, to be able to share what's going on across the organization with clients, with partners, with communities, if it's a nonprofit, and giving that macro.
Awareness, Nicole, that then the leader, you know, underneath the, support of the more executive leader can then take that and cascade that to their team. because sometimes we'll hear, you know, I'm not understanding what's happening on a macro level. I feel like I'm tunnel vision in my team. And so that next level leader can help to provide the information and awareness that helps to support the team's growth, productivity, and success.
[00:11:00] Nicole Belyna: So essentially helping them look at that bigger picture instead of getting stuck in kind of the day-to-day and looking downward all the time ly. Absolutely. Now let's move on to supporting some of the trickiest parts of being a first time manager. It's not all glamorous, right? According to SHRM research, people, managers say that their top challenges are things like heavy workloads, insufficient resources, budget constraints, balancing competing priorities.
And employee turnover. So what can HR professionals do to help out, first time managers to tackle some of these challenges with grace and ensure that they don't get burned out
[00:11:42] Chelsea Williams: burnout, the one of the ques, the words of the year, I should say. We hear that often. Well, I, think there's two things I think about because this is very real across organizational size and industry.
First is what is already working. Nicole, and I know you, we talk about this often, what is already working that can be continued, what that can be, scaled. So I would take that moment to think about, well, what are the elements of how we support leaders broadly? Then first time leaders that are working well and, expanding where you're already making an impact is the first place.
So it could be that you do a really good job of connecting leaders, first time leaders, to a, buddy, a mentor, right? Informally or formally. Keep that going, right? That's, number one. Number two, has to do with making it easy. To, learn and to educate. So I'm thinking here, creating a repository, a place where a first time people leader can go for your most basic information that's necessary when they step in annual performance reviews, how to escalate poor performance, compensation benefit, like all the things we know are the.
Foundational and having a central place where they are informed and they can go at any point in time to gather that information. Okay. but also starting to create the micro learning, the very quick checklists, worksheets, one pages that they can go to when a situation arises, or simply when they need a refresher.
I'm thinking about this week, spending some time with a agency on the west coast, a nonprofit agency on the west coast. And one of the things that came out of some work we've done with them is. Feedback as we talked earlier, is such an important piece, and a challenge for first time leaders.
And so one of the things that we did was we just created some talking points to help support giving and receiving feedback. The language that we know you can get stuck on when you're building momentum in a new leadership role. And so creating what I'll call those playbooks. Or place sheets. If, it's, easy for people to kind of digest and keeping that in a central place, Nicole, that people can go to and you can grow this over time, is a really healthy practice of, again, using what's already existing or building with the understanding that people, leaders, new people leaders will step into their role periodically and you'll have a launchpad for them to be successful.
[00:14:18] Nicole Belyna: That's great. It, and it is really, you know, I think what contributes to, burnout and that level of stress is not knowing where to go or trying to find the answer, or sometimes, you know, making up the answer because they, don't wanna appear, you know, that they don't know. Yeah. So I think having things like reference sheets and toolkits and, you know, one pagers that managers can go to and.
Grab when they need it. maybe it's, you know, how to approve time off, something as simple as that. But just, you know, keeping the momentum of their job going, their, in their responsibilities, but then also figuring out how to care for, for their direct reports at the same time in a very easy way, I think is a really great solution.
Chelsea. So of course everybody makes mistakes. What are some common mistakes first time managers make and how can we help them proactively avoid some of them?
[00:15:16] Chelsea Williams: What we really just talked about, one is not understanding or not knowing process because maybe I understand. The process or experience I have as an individual contributor, but I don't understand how this plays a role when I'm actually a part of the process for someone else.
I'm thinking about. It's different to do your own self review than to have to review a person or a team. Right? So that next level understanding, so sheer understanding processes, and here's what I'll also say, Nicole. really understanding processes so that when your team member comes and asks you a question about.
Maybe how their performance, is measured or what does it take to be promoted or how does my competency, the things that you've talked about or benefits and changes. You're not sitting there, hubba, hba, but you are informed as much as you can be. And of course then you can, make the introduction to someone else.
But you're aware, and there's a trust and confidence that your colleague, your team members have that you are aware and are supporting their best interests. I think that's like. Again, foundational. But outside of that, I think one of the things that happens often with first time leaders are assumptions, making assumptions.
Because again, if you have not been in a role where you have been responsible for having to think of another person or people, you could be in your brain all day long just assuming that you know something is the right way or the best way 'cause it worked for you. but when you start to think about others and be responsible for others, you then need to validate.
Gather information, spot check, especially before you communicate to a teen. 'cause what you're saying is gonna be held with such authority. and so those are two things I would say are just essential and some pitfalls that can happen. Process understanding and just avoiding assumptions at all costs.
[00:17:08] Nicole Belyna: Great points. particularly, you know the ones about the one about assumptions and that is true. oftentimes first time managers will. You know, say to themselves, well, what did I do when I was in this role? Or, recognition is one very well intended. You know, first time managers will want to recognize people on their team, and perhaps that individual loves.
Public recognition, you know, wanna throw, celebrate somebody's, you know, great contributions. But somebody else could be incredibly embarrassed by that type of recognition, but well intentioned, right? But, perhaps not somebody's, ideal way of being recognized. So, really good points.
What other strategies can HR Pros give first time managers to help them handle those difficult conversations, such as giving constructive feedback or addressing performance issues?
[00:18:11] Chelsea Williams: Yes. What screaming out for me is, train them. Okay. now I'm very aware that training costs, resources, whether it's time or financial right.
If you don't have that in house. But I cannot stress how important the concept of training or developing, if that's a better word for you, is when it is a first time leader who is stepping into this new responsibility. And so here what's helpful is identifying, again, some of those core skills that are necessary for people leaders to have communication, giving and receiving feedback, understanding how to manage for performance, high performance, and under performance.
what is your leadership style? Some of those things that help you start to think about the kind of leader you wanna be. How do you transition from peer to leader and along with that, managing up, down and sideways, cross-functionally we like. And then of course, like still inclusion and you were kind of getting at this with, it's so important for people, leaders to understand that they need to manage the individual.
Which means you have to understand that people on your team have different experiences, identities and values and understanding that. and so often we think people just understand and can have that competency and skillset to do that, but we have to give people those hacks and those tips to be able to manage and lead inclusively.
And so. My point is training them with some of the foundational elements of success, not expecting them to get it on day one. It's additive learning over time, but if you could think about an intro to management that kind of goes through the most essential, capabilities and skills that are necessary for your org, you at least provide a baseline of.
Education and understanding that they can go back and say, alright, I'm clear on some of the things that I need to be focused on and I have a team that's willing to support me on the backend. That's great.
[00:20:15] Nicole Belyna: you know, another challenge that you often see at first time managers and even not first time managers, is when they find themselves having to oversee peers.
They previously worked alongside. How can we help them to get over that, challenge?
[00:20:35] Chelsea Williams: Yes. juicy, juicy question again. You go. Being a peer man, you know, working cross-functionally to being a manager, helping people to have the conversation is one of the things that I think tends to be most difficult.
Nicole, giving them the language. The confidence and assurance that they can, have a conversation where there might be a friendship that was there and just understanding. Here's what this new role means for me, and here's what it doesn't mean. Here's what's gonna be necessary for me. Now, yes, I'm gonna have to be more cognizant of confidentiality as I have team members under me now.
But this means that we're absolutely still able to, go to lunch together or have our conversations, you know, socially with the team. But I tend to find like setting the expectation of the relationship. In this new dynamic is a really healthy way, that managers can prepare for that transition.
But oftentimes the language and doing it in a way that the fear in it right, is the part that a, HR individual or team can help to support. So that's just one practical piece that I'd offer. Yeah,
[00:21:49] Nicole Belyna: no, that's great. And certainly, somebody that you worked alongside previously. Can still be your collaborator, as you know, in that manager, director court relationship, and you can learn to do it very well.
but to your point, it does kind of come down at times to the language, for sure. Perfect. What about, managing people who are older and maybe have more experience working experience than they do?
[00:22:20] Chelsea Williams: Another juicy question. because it's common, and especially now Nicole, when we think about the disruption that has hit workplaces in workforces, it's just all tumbled everywhere.
I'm a firm believer that we should not equate age with leadership. Right, right. So for starters, our workforce should understand that managing people managing process is not about age, it's about capabilities, experience. Diversity of thought, all the things that help us to be successful orgs. So I think, you know, and that might be a change management process for an org, but really having your team understand that is the first part.
Because when there's an understanding of that, they're less likely to be shocked by that assumption. We talked about that that one may make. Okay. But if you found yourself in a space where that is a common thought process, communication and understanding around. What are the qualifications and capabilities that are made to decide who leads and who steps into management is important.
It's a transparency conversation for your team, but I think the other piece of this is that your organization, your teams must understand that we are in a place where adaptability and flexibility. Trust of leadership direction is important now, and that decisions are being made with the best interest of the org and team success.
and I think those three pieces together, which I know are not easy, but are important, can help to at least quiet the noise that age assumptions can happen in a workplace.
[00:24:01] Nicole Belyna: Chelsea, let's now turn to KPIs and success factors for first time people, managers. So what are some ways that we as HR professionals can help first time managers measure their own success and growth in their new role?
You know, not losing track of themselves.
[00:24:21] Chelsea Williams: This is where the importance of qualitative and quantitative data measures is important. Nicole. Certainly you may have a question that is specific on a employee opinion survey. You may be able to track that confidence level, or availability of resources across an org to understand macro, growth and development.
individual reviews. Mid and year end is another place where you could have a quantitative and qualitative metric that helps you understand people's growth and development. The third is we have to ask it. It is in conversations. It's outright your people leaders, and it's some of those personal advances that you may observe.
A next level leader might observe. Your, cross-functional peers might observe. In all of that qualitative, feedback is still as impactful, right? And being able to name someone's development as a leader over time.
[00:25:27] Nicole Belyna: All right, we are almost outta time. So final question. If HR Pros could focus on one key action to ensure first time people managers thrive, what would that be and why?
Love this question.
[00:25:43] Chelsea Williams: Create a learning hub for your first time people, leaders. Now. Why? Because doing so is thinking about the future growth and development of every leader who's going to step into the role. In the future, you have the ability to save time. You have the ability to allow innovation and communities contributing to that, portal of learning and portal, portal of knowledge.
and so I would say create that learning hub, put it on a shared drive, put it in your LMS if you have one, as a central place for folks to be able to access again, those quick practices, one pagers. PIP sheets that they can use on the job to be successful. Because the most important thing we need to understand as HR leaders, as it relates to first time managers is they're going to need education and support, and that is a way that you can educate and support across the board and be able to ensure succession of future leaders.
Perfect.
[00:26:47] Nicole Belyna: Chelsea, thank you so much for joining us on Honest HR. You provided our audience with some amazing tips for, guiding first time people, managers, and I can't thank you enough for joining us.
[00:27:02] Chelsea Williams: Nicole, I'm so grateful to be able to spend some time with you, and I'm so hopeful that this is helpful to the community.
Take care everyone. Thank you,
[00:27:17] PDC Message: SHRM.
This podcast is approved for 0.5 professional development credits, AKA PDCs. Toward SHRM, CP and SHRM SCP recertification, enter the following PDC activity ID in your SHRM activity portal to log your credit. Two six dash P three NJF. That's 26 dash P three NJF. Id expires on July 1st, 2026.