The other managers are your team too
New managers pour everything into their reports and leave the managers beside them as strangers. A small thought about that loneliness.
There’s a distinct sort of loneliness in being a new manager. You’re a little distant from your direct reports because you’re their reviewer. The other managers are competitors because you’re all asking the same guy for the same headcount. You’re sort of an in-betweener, standing between the rooms but not really part of either of them.
I’m starting to believe now that you should probably be in the other room. Because most important problems cross team boundaries. And the people who determine whether your team gets the resources you need are in the same staff meeting as you and they look slightly tired too.
First you feel a little guilty to go into the other room. And then you start thinking of it as a creaky step that you’ve learned to skip over in the dark.