Moving from a role where you are an individual contributor to managing a colleague or small team is a big step, and it isn't for everyone. In the Whereby team we really believe that being a manager is not a higher-level version of the job you had before — it’s an entirely new job and an entirely new way of working.

This means you need may need to learn and unlearn many things in your current day to day. It also means that you may not enjoy the transition, or the changes in role. For these reasons we have made a short programme which we consider a transitionary period between moving from an IC to Lead or Manager role.

This programme takes 10 weeks and operates similarly to a probationary period, where either yourself or your line-manager may decide that this isn't quite the right fit.

During this time you have the full support of the People team who are here to help you be successful in your new role and responsibilities.

<aside> 💚 Not being the right fit for management does not mean you are a not a smart person, or not successful at your work. You are just you. You may work best as an IC (lots of us do). We have many opportunities for career growth and progression outside of management, so we encourage you to work with the people team to explore those.

</aside>

Before any change

Before you change to a new management role we will encourage you to read the role overview for the position and have two conversations to decide if this is the right step for you.

While you are reading the description, think about the below:

• What do I enjoy most about my current role? Do I still have the opportunity to do that?
• What do I enjoy least about my current role? Will I be required to do this more often?
• Which attributes do I exhibit which enable me to be most successful? Does this role require me to use these?
• Do I have any questions for my line manager about what is clear or unclear in this role overview?

Here is an example Engineering Lead role overview:

Engineering Lead Role Overview 2020

Please ask a member of the People Team for the role overview of any role if you have not been given it.

After you have read the role overview you will have two scheduled calls about any potential changes to your role...

First Exploratory Conversation 👩🏽‍🚀

This conversation will be relatively high level, and a chance for you to ask any questions.

It will be between 30 and 60 minutes with a member of the exec team or your head of department.

It will cover things like your reasons for moving into this new role-type. We will also talk a little about the rest of this programme and what you can expect in the transition to management.

Second Scenario-Based Conversation 👨🏻‍🔧

This call will be 60 to 90 minutes with a member of the exec team or your head of department, and another line manager in our team. We will run through up to 3 practical scenarios

• Example Scenario One