As you ascend in your career, taking on a manager role can be a natural step on the career ladder. My first taste of what I like to refer to as "sort-of-management" was at a prior job when my producer tasked me with overseeing two production assistants on our team. It was sort-of-management because managing wasn't in my job description – I had no managerial experience or training and no official manager title. I just emulated the behaviors of my producer and tried to pretend I knew what I was doing. When this approach failed, I turned to Google for some informal management how-to videos.

Armed with my new knowledge, I altered my approach and struggled through the experience. My brief time in sort-of-management wasn't a complete failure; when I left I received a card from one of the production assistants I oversaw commenting on how much she learned from me. This small gesture was my big reward – it was a sign that I had done a few things right.

This short-lived experience gave me a whole new appreciation for management. It's certainly not for the faint of heart and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing people. Being a manager means accommodating a diverse range of personalities while maximizing each employee's skills and capabilities. It can mean being a mentor, coach, motivator and mediator.