You're a Leader, Now What?
“Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.” Dorothy, as played by Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz
You spend years doing your job as an individual contributor. You work hard and the people in charge seem to take note, and then on one magical day you are promoted to be a leader of people. It very well may have been something you have been working for your entire career and now you’ve finally made it!
Great news, right? It certainly is great. But there’s also one little problem… All the amazing work you have been doing those past years may not have prepared you one bit for leading people.
We see this happen a lot when a person who is really good at their job is first promoted to being a leader of people. As many organizations find, it turns out that having the skills to manage tasks, projects, or even customers, doesn’t mean that you will have the skills to lead even one person effectively.
Not to mention that in addition to all that lack of experience— If you were promoted from within your team, you are now the boss of your coworkers. People who may have also thought that they deserved the promotion that you’ve received. This puts you in a very awkward starting position that isn’t fair to you or the team.
The way I see it, those are the main problems that cause new leaders to fail and neither of them are really “their fault.” Yes, when becoming a new leader there are skills you should be learning and practicing — but the truth is many new leaders don’t even know what they don’t know.
For my money, I see two pretty simple solutions to these problems. The first falls on the employer and the second falls on the new leader.
For the employer, it’s imperative that you give new leaders the tools that they need to succeed. You wouldn’t ask an analyst to do their job without having training on how to use the programs that they will be using, so why would you ask a leader to lead without the proper training? Leadership isn’t a talent that you are magically granted at birth. Yes, there are some inherent skills that might give you a better aptitude for leadership but that’s not enough to be a great leader.
Employers need to invest in leadership training and/or coaching for their upcoming leaders. And I know, I am a leadership salesperson trying to sell you leadership training but don’t let that diminish my point. I myself am here writing this blog today because my former employer decided they needed to invest in their “bench” of upcoming leaders by giving them classroom training and coaching. If it wasn’t for them taking a chance on me, I never would have developed the skills to lead people and I wouldn’t have found out what coaching was at all.
That training and coaching unveiled a real love of leadership and wanting to help others become better that I didn’t know existed within me.
The second solution falls on the employee. While you may not have the formal training to be a leader, what you do have is a wealth of experience that you can leverage when becoming a new leader. Let’s make a list of what you can draw on from your past to help you with your future in leadership.
Bad leaders- Look at the traits of the worst bosses you have had and ask yourself honestly if you are guilty of any of those traits. If you are, work on improving those traits.
Good leaders- Think of leaders who have inspired you and ask yourself how you can use the traits that made them successful to also help you be a better leader. Start by picking just one trait to work on.
Empathy - Stop and put yourself in the shoes of others around you who are now in your charge as a leader. Ask yourself how you might feel in their position of seeing a coworker promoted instead of them. Reach out to them and have real discussions about how they feel regarding the team and your leadership.
Vulnerability- Be willing to admit that you are new at this and that you will make mistakes. When you screw something up, be honest with your team and talk to them about it. I think that you will find that they are willing to give you a chance if you are open and honest with them.
Self Awareness- Pay close attention to what you are doing as a leader. Focus in on what you are good at and what you can improve. From there, build a plan to make yourself a better leader.
Hopefully that list will get you started as a leader. Those six strategies did wonders for me when I first started leading a team. Truthfully, the best thing you can do for yourself is just give yourself some time and know that if you work at it, you can become a truly great leader.
I believe in you. So at least one person has your back. Now just make sure that you believe in you as well and you’ll be off and running.
-Jason