ADVICE: Aoife Coonagh answers your career questions

How to show them who's boss

Dear Aoife

I began a new job as a senior manager in a major engineering firm earlier this year. I'd been encouraged to apply by the woman who is now my boss.

When I took over, I found I had inherited a tight, well-run unit of half-a-dozen long-serving people who functioned well as a team. One had applied for my job, but did not seem to bear any grudge.

They were pleasant and welcoming and got on with it, while I settled in and tried to read myself into a new set of challenges and responsibilities. I've always regarded myself as a slow burner and need to have my positions well worked out before I challenge existing practices or begin championing new ones.

Then last month I needed to take some time off. Upon my return, I discovered - to my horror - that my absence didn't matter. Nor, it appeared, did my presence. The team had been functioning without me, reporting through the unsuccessful candidate to my boss. I can see now that I had slipped into a support role. I'm beginning to think I need to move on, but my CV is going to be a disaster if I do.

Dear John

You have made two serious mistakes here, and three if you count sleepwalking. Make that four if you quit now.

The first one is the worst, and you don't need me to tell you. You didn't (however gently) assert your authority from day one.

You are quite right to take time to assess what is going on and develop plans and strategies, but you cannot just go away and hide while you do it. Even without showing your hand, you needed to be present and engage with people. Absentee landlords have a habit of coming to grief.

At unit meetings, you clearly downplayed your authority and you cannot really complain now if an ad hoc leadership has established itself. Just be glad it kept the wheels turning in your internal exile, and hope nothing too damaging to you was said, or worse, inferred.

Secondly, in addition to not managing down, you haven't been managing up either. Until your "wake-up" call on your return, you had not been aware that your boss was communicating with your staff without you being in the loop.

The good news is that it is not too late. The six-month anniversary can be turned to your advantage.

Talk to each member of your unit individually first. Then call a special meeting of your unit. Hold  it away from the office to underline the significance of what you are  doing.

Explain briefly what you have learned from your period of reflection, acknowledge the good work done and give an outline of the challenges ahead, internal and external. Then invite people to speak.

When they are done, wrap up the discussion, referring to points made by team members, and in doing so ask each one to take responsibility for a specific strategic objective and to report back to you.

Then treat them all to a nice dinner at which you are the host with the most.

Along the way, you should have a quiet word with your "acting" manager, in or around the day of your big meeting, generously acknowledging his or her contribution, but not allowing time for them to muster the troops against you, in case they were minded to, or the troops felt like making a stand. Do it right and this person will soon look for your advice about moving on and upward.

Before this you have had a private chat with your boss, explaining that you have taken six months for assimilation purposes, setting out your objectives and tactics and thanking her for her patience. By getting her to buy in at this stage, and taking her observations on board, she is unlikely to act as a court of appeal later.

Forget about your CV for now. You are going to be so busy for the next six months, talking to and listening to your people, that the next time you think of it, it will be something wondrous to behold.

Moving from medicine to management

Dear Aoife

I've got the job I've always wanted.

And now I'm nervous. I've worked my way up through the surgical ranks and after a great deal of lobbying and networking - neither of which comes easily to me - I've got sanction to hire my own team and set up a special clinic within the grounds of an existing medical facility.

It's a fabulous opportunity to create a new unit, using the latest surgical and other techniques. This is the Holy Grail for someone like me.

Why then do I wake up in the morning with a feeling of increasing dread as the opening day approaches?

Dear Anna

Firstly, it is natural to be a little nervous with any start-up project. A mixture of excitement, anticipation and the realisation of a dream will do that to you. "Increasing dread", however, is something else entirely.

I'm assuming that, being a surgeon by training, you have approached this demanding project using the tried and trusted evidence-based method. If so, you have chosen your team with precision.

You have adopted best practice to suit the needs of your new clinic. You have hand-picked a team to support your endeavours; not people who you like to be around, but people who you know can do the job. And you have a vision for your clinic - a well thought-out path that will help you trace the progress of this unit, which is, after all, a shrine to your own ambitions.

That said - and with all this in place - it should, in theory, be "steady as she goes".

The problem could be in your own perception. Look at the words you use: "a great deal of lobbying and networking - neither of which comes easily to me . . ."

In your career to date, you have approached the business of medicine pretty much on a one-to-one basis . . . it's you and the patient.

You have been guided by your own intellect and technical skills. True, medicine can be a team sport.

You take advice from others, but ultimately, it's you who is in charge.

Now, with this clinic, all that has changed. You are moving from medicine into management. You are becoming dependent on other people to help you realise a dream that you have had for some time. For people who are used to making their own way in life and in their career, this is not an easy transition.

At least, in the past, if you had made a mistake you only had yourself to blame. Now you are reliant on other people. You must lead from the manager's desk.

In a sense, medicine has become subtext to what it is you want to achieve and you are forced to lead, to motivate, to empower and to drive.

It's a different set of skills. But it's a skills set that will determine the success or failure of this important project.

Now, here's the good news: you already have these skills. Because if you didn't have them, you wouldn't have landed the job in the first place. So it's time for a bit of refocusing.

The success of your new unit will rest on your ability to get the most and the best out of other people. You will need to provide back-up; you will need to monitor myriad situations; you will need to encourage and cajole; you will need to anticipate problems coming down the line; you will need to see the big picture and not just the surgical detail.

You will always be a surgeon. Your training has ensured that your brain is hardwired to that particular skill. Ironically, the success or failure of this unit is still in your own hands.

AOIFE COONAGHis head of the career development unit at Carr Communications. The case histories published are true, but details have been changed to avoid identifying individuals and companies. If you have a problem you would like to see featured, or wish to comment, e-mail askaoife@irish-times.ie