Q&A With Paddy Moogan - The New Leader Course
Paddy is on a journey to help improve the world of management. Having been an agency co-owner, a top tier SEO expert and an all round great person, Paddy is uniquely placed to help managers across their management journey to find and develop their management style and improve their leadership.
I consider myself lucky to have had Paddy as a friend for easily 15 years (when we were both coming up & often competing in the agency world) and it’s been a pleasure seeing him build his own agency and then help other agencies develop their offering and improving their management.
If I were running a team or back agency side I would firstly recommend signing up to his newsletter and asking to joining his new leadership course that you will learn all about below.
Q1. You have been on a mission to help managers especially managers early on their management journey to get the right level of support and training for a long time, what are the key recommendations you make to managers?
I think that the first core thing for managers to understand is that the job of being a manager is very different from the job that they’ve done up until this point. Someone can be the best person in the world at their particular job, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll automatically become a great manager. So an awareness of the need to learn new things and embrace change is the first thing that I try to help new managers understand.
Beyond this, I recommend that new managers focus on the fundamentals of management and block out most other stuff. To me, the fundamentals lie in being an effective communicator via one-on-one meetings, giving (and receiving) feedback, creating good personal development plans and having difficult conversations.
Underlying all of these is a need to balance the person’s “new” job with their old one. Most people, particularly at digital agencies, still have their previous clients to manage and work on - they don’t suddenly disappear! So there is a need to balance priorities and learn to do two jobs at the same time.
Q2/ You have shared your recent journey leaving the agency you co-founded openly (across LinkedIn (X) and more recently threads), could you share any essential lessons for managers and business leaders from your recent experiences that will help them on their journeys?
My exit from Aira wasn’t the one I dreamt of! It came from a place of looking after my mental and physical health and the challenges that I faced can apply to pretty much anyone. My lessons really revolve around self-care and recognising as soon as possible when things are getting too much. For me, there wasn’t a particular moment or incident that caused me to break down, it was the compounding effect of a few years of challenges which ultimately led to a mental breakdown. I’d encourage others to not ignore these “small” things which can build and to regularly get support when things aren’t always going as you’d like.
Q3/ You have been guiding managers and agency leaders through your new leader newsletter since early 2023, what are the biggest learnings or lessons you have picked up from your newsletter audience over the last 18 months?
Mostly that many people experience very similar problems! I encourage newsletter subscribers to reply to me and share their current challenges and more often than not, the challenges have been shared before. Most of these challenges connect to a core skill which is effective communication. This could be delivering feedback or having a hard conversation or just listening to someone - communication is so often the common thread between lots of challenges that managers face.
Sign up to Paddy's Monday morning leadership below ↓
Q4/ Most managers are promoted to progress their career or keep them with the company, what are the 3 recommendations you make most to help first-time managers or managers starting out in their career?
When you start a role, whether it’s a brand new company or a promotion, get very clear on what your manager (and the wider company) expect from you in your role and what success looks like.
Be prepared to own your own journey and where it takes you. If you want to move towards a certain role or certain discipline, then you need to make that clear to your manager. Of course, they also have a duty to help craft a path for you to take, but it’s important to communicate what you want as well - they may not always be able to give it to you, but at least be clear on where you’d like to go.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. First time managers get put under pressure to perform immediately because they are managing others. So don’t make this pressure worse by worrying out asking your own manager or peers for support on challenging situations or processes that you’re learning for the first time.
Q5/ Your new training course went live recently and “its the training every new manager should get” If a manager wanted to ask their boss for your course, how should they pitch it to them?
Thankfully, I’ve written a template email for this exact purpose! But essentially, it’s about getting training that otherwise isn’t given to managers. 82% of people are given no training at all before becoming a manager, so chances are that most people fall into this. Asking their boss to provide training (at a decent price point) for something so important is very fair and reasonable - so try not to think that you’re being cheeky by doing so!
Here’s Paddy breaking down his course
Links To Connect With Paddy
Link to Paddy course → https://thenewleader.digital/courses/new-manager-academy/
Link to Paddys Monday Morning Newsletter → https://thenewleader.digital/newsletter/
Connect with Paddy On LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/paddymoogan
Paddy On Threads → https://www.threads.net/@paddymoogan
Read the other quick-fire Q&A
With Beth Gladstone on knowing what social media demands are now
With Carl Hendy on SEO and the importance of connecting SEO to business revenues
