When I took over my team, the paperwork was overwhelming at first. I set up a simple tracking system in Google Sheets for vacation and timesheets. That cut my admin time in half, so I could focus on coaching my people. Honestly, it made the job way less scary.
Consider all that paperwork they mentioned. It is not just filing reports. You get stuck approving timesheets, tracking everyone's vacation days, and writing up performance reviews. The real time sink is dealing with budget stuff and explaining why your team needs basic supplies. That admin work can eat up half your day, leaving less time for the actual job you were good at.