Over the years, the LYP Women Who Lead series has featured influential women in established leadership roles, sharing their perspectives and advice gained from their extensive experiences. In a departure from our usual format, this installment responds to popular demand from LYP blog readers who are navigating the early stages of their leadership journeys. We spotlight Sharnelle Bhandal, a relatively new manager and a fellow LYP alumna, whose journey offers a fresh and insightful perspective that promises to inspire and guide those embarking on or transitioning into leadership roles.
Sharnelle Bhandal is a Social and Branded Content Manager at Metrolinx and she recently marked her first year anniversary in a management role. As we discuss her experiences, I am struck by her compassion for her employees and the self-assuredness she has clearly gained from her successes in her role. In our conversation, we explore her transition into management, the challenges she has faced, and the lessons she has learned along the way.
Q1. Walk us through your career journey. What are the different roles and experiences that led you to become a people manager?
I entered the marketing world fresh out of university, with a contract with Saatchi and Saatchi – a respected global advertising agency. I was a social listening analyst, creating social media posts but also keeping a pulse on consumers’ perceptions of our client's brand. However, I didn't get a lot of exposure to different brands, which prompted my move to a smaller agency. Since then, I’ve worked in many different social media and marketing roles for a variety of industries, such as automotive and banking. I experienced a range of work environments and managers; some of them were incredible managers, who really supported me and protected me from toxicity in the workplace. In other cases, I was in very stressful environments where I experienced a lack of support from the top-down. It was these experiences with ineffective managers that was eye-opening for me and taught me the kind of manager I wanted to be. When I finally came to Metrolinx, I was nervous about being a people leader because I didn’t have a lot of experience managing others and I wasn't sure if I had what it took. But now, after a little more than a year, I’ve really grown into my role and I’m enjoying my time at Metrolinx with my team.
Q2. Describe your initial experience stepping into the role of a people manager. What were your feelings and thoughts during those early days?
Quite frankly, it was a little bit of a shock, kind of like jumping into a pool of cold water when you haven't acclimatized to it. I knew that I was going to be leading, not one, but two employees right from the get-go, and that this might eventually increase to four employees. I was really worried about how I was going to be able to manage my time to ensure all of my employees got equal attention and opportunities for growth, as well as perform my own responsibilities. Stepping into the role, I felt a lot of anxiety because I wanted to make sure that they were going to get the manager that they deserved.
I definitely felt some imposter syndrome at the beginning. What really helped was having other people on the team that I could speak to and understand their perspectives on managing others. I also knew I had the support of my own incredible manager, and I could go to her for advice on something like navigating complex conversations and situations.
Q3. What has been one of the most significant challenges you faced as a people manager, and how did you navigate through it?
For me, one of the most difficult things about becoming a people manager was transitioning from solely thinking about myself and my own tasks to thinking about my employees. So my philosophy when I first started as a people manager was to begin my work day thinking about what my team had going on and what I could do to support them, encourage them, and help keep their projects moving, rather than what was on my plate. This also required me to be observant about my employees’ behaviours, which was another skill I had to develop. If you want to be a very thoughtful manager that's going to help someone on your team grow, this requires you to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and really pay attention to them as people so you can help identify the gaps that they can close to succeed even further in their roles
Q4. How do you ensure ongoing development and growth for your employees?
At Metrolinx, we are provided with support for external learning and we can work with accredited universities to build on the skills that we may need for our current and future roles. I check in with my team often; I have one-on-ones with them every other week and I bring up these external courses regularly because I want to understand where they're planning on growing in their career and where they see themselves in five to ten years. I want to be able to help them get there. Even if they don't see their own career path, if you're a good manager, you can almost visualize it for that person. However, I don't force them onto a certain path but I try to guide them and get them thinking about different opportunities and possibilities.
Q5. What advice would you offer to new managers who are just starting their careers in management?
My advice regarding the day-to-day is to stay organized. If you're not an organized manager, that chaos can definitely translate to your entire team. We use a lot of organizational tools on my team, like Microsoft Planner, and that allows me to avoid taking up time during one-on-ones asking narrow questions regarding my employees’ tasks. Instead, I have oversight on what they're doing and so we can really focus on mentoring, career growth, and anything else that's relevant to that particular day. I would also say that taking notes is really important for managers, especially when you have a larger team to manage. That way, you can always remember the conversations that you've had because when you have to juggle managing people, it's really easy to forget things.
Overall though, my advice is to just be confident in yourself. Know that if you've been given the opportunity to be a manager, there is another manager out there that has years of experience that trusts you and believes in you. Be willing to accept that sometimes, your team members are going to be smarter than you. They often say that the smartest person in the room is in the wrong room, because you should actually surround yourself with smarter people than you if you want to succeed. That's the way that I treat my team and I encourage them to showcase their expertise and be the subject matter experts. I'm just there to help guide them and keep things running.
Q6. Any final comments regarding your experience as a relatively new manager?
I think the only other thing that I would add is that it's been really rewarding being a people manager. Even though I'm relatively new at it, I think I’ve been successful in leading them so far based on what they all have accomplished and how they have grown in the past year. I can see that they're becoming incredible marketers and they're only going to grow from here.
Sharnelle has clearly experienced incredible growth as a relatively new manager, showing a notable increase in confidence compared to when she first stepped into the role just over a year ago. Guided by examples of both effective and ineffective leadership over the years, and with support from peers and her own manager, her employees are thriving under her guidance, and Sharnelle is flourishing alongside them. From my experience in leadership research and organizational psychology, Sharnelle exemplifies the core principles of leadership: trusting her team, offering compassionate support, and driving continuous growth. Her approach to leadership showcases that a leader's success is deeply connected to the success of their team. Although I am not yet a manager myself, I know that I will keep her example in mind should I ever come into a leadership position.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Clara Lee obtained her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Calgary. Her research interests focus on leadership as well as biases in perceptions of effective leadership. She has previously taught undergraduate courses in I/O Psychology and Statistics and has consulted in both private and public sectors in matters of organizational effectiveness and employee assessment. Driven by a passion for cultivating positive workplace environments, she is dedicated to instigating meaningful organizational change in the workplace.
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