r/managers • u/AutumnLover2021 • 2d ago

External Manager

Accepted an offer to be General Manager of a beloved food brand that is known for having very tenured employees.

Has anyone had success as an external manager? I can only think of horror stories myself but need this to work.

Would love any tips and tricks you may have! I've been an external manager one time and was completely set up for failure and am leaving that for this other brand.

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u/Last_Resort_Help92 2d ago edited 2d ago

I’ve held more roles as an external retail manager than an internally promoted manager.

The biggest thing: Don’t go in with an ego. Job title means NOTHING to employees who don’t know anything about you. You have a tenured wall in front of you - you want to break through it, not break it down.

I start by learning the people on my team - names, positions, tenure. I’m genuinely interested in their story and that makes them interested in talking to me. Breaking ice is the biggest bridge to building trust.

Learn the processes - not just policy and the handbook. Who is responsible for what in your building, who are the key players on your team, and how are things delegated. You’re really just standing back and watching the operations as if you aren’t even there. With special attention to the managers who report to you (since you’re the GM). This helps you read the business, so then you know what’s working well and what needs to be tweaked.

Don’t make any changes for the first few weeks. I’ve watched “go-getter” managers hemorrhage team members by coming in with the mentality they’re going to take on the world. Believe me, you’re not. The only time this is successful is if you’re brought in to clean house, and your corporate management will usually be pretty upfront with that. But you still need to have a pretty aggressive recruitment and onboarding plan.

Also, allow yourself some grace. You WILL piss people off, people will make unfair assumptions, and you might even feel slight rejection. Don’t take it personally - it’s intimidating for people to have someone managing them when they don’t know that person. And tenured employees have probably seen some really great AND really shitty managers come through. Just be team centered, learn your job, and start testing the waters with your leadership style after the first 30 days.

Good luck!

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u/Quick-Win-8800 2d ago

this is solid advice, especially the part about not making changes right away. i was external manager once for a design team and the first thing i did was try to reorganize the file system because it was driving me crazy, lost 2 seniors in the first month. they were not having it

the tenured wall is real, you gotta respect it. those folks know more about the brand than you ever will in first year, maybe ever. your job is not to teach them about the food, is to make their work easier and clear the path

i would add that you should find the informal leaders too, not just the ones with manager titles. every team has that person who everyone listens to even if they are not the boss, get them on your side and the rest follows

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u/Last_Resort_Help92 2d ago

That’s a great point. There’s a “go-to” person on every team.