Tutorial: new-manager flow

Goal: the week someone gains their first direct report, they know what is expected of them, and their own manager knows how to coach them. Time: about 45 minutes. You will end up with one automation, New manager, with four weekly emails to the new manager, two to their manager, and an acknowledgement that they have joined manager training.

New manager: Promoted to Manager trigger and the first weekly email.

Before you start

• Reporting lines are synced from your HRIS. The Promoted to Manager trigger fires when an employee goes from zero direct reports to one, after the first HRIS load, so existing managers are not swept in.
• Four short pieces of content are published in Library > Content: what we expect of managers, running 1:1s, giving and receiving feedback, and career conversations. The emails link to them rather than carry them, so you can revise the content without republishing the flow.
• An email sender is connected.

Chapter 1: create the automation

1. In Pyn, open Flows in the left navigation, then Automations, and select Create New.

2. Under Team and Org Changes, select Promoted to Manager (“An employee moves from zero to one or more reports.”). Title the automation New manager.

3. On the trigger’s Configure tab, read “This flow runs the first time an employee gains a direct report.” There is no offset: the day the first report appears is the reference date.

4. On Audience, keep Lifecycle at Current.

Tip

The catalogue has a ready-made version. Add from Template > Promoted to manager gives you four weekly emails that each send a piece of library content; Join new manager training and Check in with new manager sit beside it. This tutorial builds the same shape by hand so you know every setting.

Chapter 2: four weeks for the new manager

Each step is Send Email to Employee to Employee, at 09:00 in the Recipient Timezone. Keep each one to a few lines and a link.

1. On the day of, Congratulations, and what we expect:

   Congratulations, @principal.preferredName. Your first direct report means you are a manager at @company.name, and we want to make the step a good one.

   Most new managers tell us they mainly want to know what is expected. So that is where we start: the linked page sets out your responsibilities, the decisions that are yours and the ones to bring to @manager.preferredName. Over the next four weeks you will get three more short emails on 1:1s, feedback and career conversations. Your manager has a copy of the plan.

   Add a Link To Library Content button to your expectations page.

2. 1 week after, Running a great 1:1: the cadence you want (weekly, 30 minutes), who owns the agenda, and the two questions to ask every time. Link to the 1:1 guide.

3. 2 weeks after, Giving and receiving feedback: how to give feedback the same week, how to ask for it, and that the first one is awkward for everyone. Link to the feedback guide.

4. 4 weeks after (choose the custom offset of 28 days), Career conversations: why to have one in the first quarter, how it differs from a performance conversation, and the template to use. Link to the career conversations guide.

Chapter 3: brief the new manager’s manager

Set To to Manager; relative to the principal, that is the new manager’s own manager.

1. On the day of at 09:00, @principal.preferredName is now a manager:

   @principal.preferredName has their first direct report from today. The transition from individual contributor to manager is where most of the difficulty is, and you are the person best placed to make it smooth.

   This week: tell them you are pleased, and agree a weekly 1:1 of your own for the first quarter. Pyn is sending them our four-week series on expectations, 1:1s, feedback and career conversations, so you can refer to it.

2. 3 weeks after at 09:00, Check in on the transition: ask whether the new manager has held their 1:1s, given one piece of feedback, and what they are finding hard. Add an acknowledgement button and a reminder 3 days after send.

Chapter 4: training acknowledgement

1. Select Add a step, then Acknowledgement. Set To to Employee, schedule it 2 weeks after at 10:00, title it Join new manager training, and write the dates and the sign-up link. The step is complete when they press the button.

2. Open Reminders and add 5 days after send. Open Escalations and add 10 days after send to Manager, so an unacknowledged invitation reaches their manager.

3. Select Publish, then the mode button, Change Mode, Verification. Promotions are infrequent; review the first two in Needs Review, then switch to Automated.

What you should see

The day a reporting line makes someone a manager for the first time, they appear under Enrollments with that date as Reference Date, the first two emails delivered within the hour and the rest scheduled over four weeks. Activity > Actions shows whether the training acknowledgement has been pressed.

Next steps

• Add a Change of Manager automation for the people whose reporting line changed, with a short note to each of them introducing the new manager.
• Attach New manager to the Promotion or New manager moment on your Journey map.

Related

• Configure a team change trigger for Promoted to Manager and Change of Manager.
• Create an automation for the template catalogue.
• Content for the pages the emails link to.
• Steps and messages for acknowledgements, reminders and escalations.