You just been promoted - you’re now in charge of the team – great news!

Or is it?

Once a hands-on techie DBA, firefighting and troubleshooting – all of sudden you’ve progressed to managerial status! With this newly acquired position comes more responsibility, and unfortunately resentment from others maybe?

Once ‘one of the boys’ and now the top man. People naturally view you in a different light, and you’re no longer one of the ‘regular folks’ on the coalface. Can your staff apply the same trust in you as they once did? Some will believe that now you’re up on a pedestal, you’re above everyone else and no longer care about the ‘production line’, even though this may not be true.

In any case, it’s a delicate time easing into a new leadership/supervisory role and trying to keep the team working efficiently.

As a novice boss, I’ve become aware of the common misconceptions about management. If I was thinking that because I’ve been an established member in the team a long while – I must be liked, and if I’m liked then surely the team will be more inclined to do as they ask?, well I’ve found out that isn’t necessarily the case ! I’ve needed to consider the whole picture; being friendly isn’t enough.

SLAs and user requirements are areas I’m now responsible for, the buck stops with me – my team is now my project, as well as ensuring they are progressing as individuals, I need to ensure they are gelling together.

Whilst dealing with all this managerial chaos, how do I keep current? Should I still be looking to recertify or am I supposed to simply let my team ‘educate’ me from now on – and if I do, am I comfortable with it??

In this monthly series of editorials I aim to describe how I’m managing the transition.

From a pro-active DBA to someone who is now responsible for ensuring someone else is monitoring the DB infrastructure!