First-time management roles are often the result of promoting or hiring high performers with impressive technical expertise or individual achievement.
While both are solid indicators of potential, neither is sufficient without intentional training to equip managers with the right leadership and management skills.
But first, employers and HR leaders need to know which skills matter!
To help, here are nine key skills for new managers in Malaysia based on proven frameworks.
From individual to manager: Ram Charan’s First Passage
First, we refer to Ram Charan’s Leadership Pipeline, which describes how to continuously develop individuals to keep a steady supply of talent at every leadership level.
New and first time-managers are covered in Ram Charan’s first leadership ‘passage’, where an individual goes from managing themselves to managing others.
Most direct work is no longer done by themselves but through others.
In practice, this means less time spent personally completing tasks, and much more:
- prioritising team targets
- resolving conflicts
- coordinating deadlines, and
- generally enabling team members to succeed
It is a major mindset shift, but one that must happen as a manager who retains the mindset of an individual contributor is not going to do well (to put things lightly).
On top of that, it demands a specific set of soft skills that, if absent, must be taught.
Gallup’s Four Domains of Leadership Strength
As leadership can be very nebulous, it helps to narrow it down for meaningful action to be taken, and analytics and advisory firm Gallup’s four domains of strengths does just that.
These represent outcomes an effective leader achieves, even as a new or first time manager:
- Executing: The ability to get things done.
- Influencing: The ability to influence others.
- Relationship Building: The ability to build strong relationships.
- Strategic Thinking: The ability to think strategically.
Based on this, the manager should be the best in their team at uniting team members, forging relationships, and planning ahead all with the purpose of achieving objectives.
Of course, we say should as new or first time managers are rarely able to do these things immediately–they are, after all, going through their first leadership passage.
Putting the frameworks together
As Gallup’s Four Domains helps determine the importance of a skill, Ram Charan tells us always remember the huge mental shift required.
As we list the essential skills below, note how each helps new managers better execute, influence, build relationships, think strategically, or prepare for the mindset shift.
9 key skills to teach first-time managers
Although many new managers already possess these skills, they will be required to apply them at a much higher level than ever before.
1. Effective communication
Clear, empathetic communication is the cornerstone of good management, and new managers must quickly learn to handle potentially sticky situations such as:
- conveying expectations
- giving constructive feedback, and
- listening to concerns
This means listening with empathy, adjusting communication style to different individuals, and ensuring information flows openly.
2. Relationship and trust building
Trust is the currency of leadership, and first-time managers must learn how to focus on building positive relationships with and among their team members.
While it’s no surprise that a team that trusts their manager is more engaged, managers account for as much as 70% of the variance in team engagement according to Gallup, so it’s extremely important that your new manager learns how to build and maintain trust.
3. Task delegation
Many new managers struggle to let go of tasks they used to do themselves, so just getting them comfortable with delegating can be a struggle!
However, delegating is a skill unto itself, and effectively delegating tasks to the right team members based on strengths and workload is vital for team productivity and preventing burnout.
4. Time management
As soon as possible, new managers must level up their time management and prioritisation.
They now have to balance the entire team’s multiple projects and responsibilities at all times, and every team members’ deadline is their deadline!
Without the ability to prioritise and manage time, a first-time manager can easily become overwhelmed and burn out.
5. Coaching
For a first-time manager, this is likely an entirely new skillset to learn, and a critical one.
A great manager is also a coach, which means providing team members with:
- guidance
- mentoring, and
- growth opportunities
Effective coaching has a direct impact on a manager’s ability to delegate and manage projects, and if you read the rest of Ram Charan, move up the leadership ladder.
6. Conflict resolution
The times they could safely enjoy office drama while watching from the sidelines are over!
When conflict is sufficiently serious, managers must step in, and without making things worse.
People management inevitably involves handling conflicts professionally, objectively, and as we cover later, in compliance with labour laws and company policies.
7. Emotional intelligence and empathy
Managing others for the first time means dealing with different personalities, stressors, and motivations among team members, only now it’s your job to take them into account!
High EQ and empathy helps a manager:
- remain calm under pressure
- respond empathetically to members’ needs
- recognise when someone is struggling (even if they don’t), and
- adjust their management style to individual circumstances
In a Malaysian context, workplaces are often multicultural, so cultural sensitivity is an important aspect of empathy for new and first-time managers.
8. Critical thinking and decisionmaking
Now their decisions have much bigger and long-lasting impact, not to mention being constantly judged by every other team member under them.
First-time managers must sharpen their ability to analyse the big picture, consider options, and make sound decisions in a timely manner.
It’s just as important that they know when to escalate or seek advice for bigger issues.
9. Adaptability
Workplace circumstances inevitably change and effective managers help their teams navigate transitions efficiently and with minimal disruption.
Naturally, they must reliably adapt to changes before others or it’s the blind leading the blind!
One could argue adaptability can only be developed through experience, setbacks, and real-world challenges, and we wouldn’t outright disagree.
However, it directly draws from the other skills above which can be formally taught, so strengthening those areas will improve a person’s ability to adapt.
Compliance with Malaysian labour law
While they don’t need to become experts, first-time managers benefit greatly from having a basic understanding of Malaysian labour law to avoid exposing the business to legal liability.
At the very least, managers should know how to handle conflict-prone situations like:
- mandatory vs optional leaves
- various forms of termination
- the proportionality of disciplinary action in relation to an offence
Most of what managers will ever need to know is contained within four Acts:
| Act / Code | Key Areas of Reference | When HR Refers to It |
| Employment Act 1955 | – Wages, hours of work, rest days – Leave entitlements (annual, sick, maternity) – Public holidays – Contract termination – Types of employees covered | – Drafting employment contracts – Managing leave and payroll – Terminations or disciplinary issues |
| Industrial Relations Act 1967 | – Union recognition and collective bargaining – Industrial disputes and resolutions – Dismissal procedures – Domestic inquiries | – Handling unionised staff – Disciplinary actions |
| Code of Conduct for Industrial Harmony | – Guidelines for fair dismissal – Conducting domestic inquiries – Misconduct vs poor performance – Natural justice principles | – Handling disciplinary cases – Ensuring fair process in dismissals |
| Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (OSHA) | – Employer/employee safety duties – Risk assessment and mitigation – Accident reporting – Safety training – Establishing safety committees | – Developing safety policies – Responding to accidents – Safety audits and training |
Managers should be informed of them as a key reference, especially first-time managers.
Compliance with company policies
If your company has an employee handbook that lays out how staff must behave, first-time managers should be explicitly told it exists (trust us, the average employee doesn’t) and where to access it.
In addition to the law, managers must follow company policy when dealing with team members and making department-level decisions to ensure consistency across the organisation.
General training recommendations for new managers
We always prefer tailoring training, but if we had to plan a general syllabus for new managers, we’d pick the following five, one from each Gallup domain, and one based on the first leadership passage.
MANAGING PERFORMANCE (Executing)
| Item | Details |
| Brief Description | Tools and techniques for effective performance management, helping individuals manage both their own and their team’s performance, and addresses challenges to optimising results. |
| Skills Taught | Performance Management, People Engagement, Feedback Giving, Expectation Setting |
| F2F / Virtual / Both | Both |
MANAGING UP & ACROSS (Influencing)
| Item | Details |
| Brief description | Develop skills to engage effectively with senior leaders and peers, improving ability to persuade, influence, and adapt their behavior to enhance work performance and business outcomes. |
| Skills taught | Stakeholder Management, Adapting to different individuals, Effective Communication, Trust Building |
| F2F / Virtual / Both | Both |
COACHING FOR PERFORMANCE (Relationship building)
| Item | Details |
| Brief description | The practical application of coaching to enhance employee performance and foster a learning culture, teaching managers how to adapt and optimise coaching to support their responsibilities and drive results. |
| Skills taught | Coaching, Questioning, Active Listening, Feedback |
| F2F / Virtual / Both | Both |
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP (Strategic thinking)
| Item | Details |
| Brief description | Helps leaders become more adaptive using Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership principles, focusing on flexibility in leadership and exploring styles for different organisational contexts. |
| Skills taught | Leadership, Adapting to Different Individuals, Goal Setting |
| F2F / Virtual / Both | Both |
LEADERSHIP MINDSET (First-time manager mindset)
| Item | Details |
| Brief description | This module helps participants understand the shift from individual contributor to team leader, exploring the skills and mindset needed to lead effectively and contribute as capable managers within the organization. |
| Skills taught | Leadership Mindset, Thought Leadership, Trust Building |
| F2F / Virtual / Both | Both |
Again, while we believe this combination offers the most universal benefit, every organisation has its own unique mix of goals, limitations, and culture, so you’ll always get more out of a tailored training syllabus.
We have 25 training programmes for new managers, which we’d love for you to browse through!
If you’d like help identifying these needs, time to get in touch 🙂
Let D Jungle People tailor training for your new managers
D Jungle People doesn’t have hundreds of trainers, just a handful of passionate experts who are dedicated to tailoring every session to align with your new and first-time mangers’ needs.
Get in touch today to explore custom corporate training solutions that deliver impact–and yes, we are HRDC Registered Training Providers!
