Congratulations on your promotion! You’ve been a star in the office, you’re well respected among your peers, and you have wanted this for a long time. So, are you sure you know what you’ve just gotten into?
As I reflect on my own promotion into leadership, I can recount several things that I sincerely wish someone would have told me as I set out on this journey. Sure, you’ll have to “find your own way”, and this list won’t guarantee that you don’t encounter any rough seas, but it will give you a jump start!
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Your “why”.
The Big Deal: I don’t want to scare you away right from the start, but leadership is not all smooth sailing. You’re going to be asked to make some tough decisions, hold others accountable, and take responsibility for issues you may have known nothing about. This can be a difficult adjustment for some.
The Plan: When you find yourself in a moment of defeat, asking why you’re even doing this thing called leadership, you’ll need to remember why you wanted to do this in the first place. If you’re like me, your “why” is your team and you’re doing this for them! To grow and develop them. That is the reason I go to work everyday.
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The concept of Servant Leadership.
The Big Deal: Servant Leadership means that you must always think about how you can serve the team. It’s simply not about you. This can be tricky, because everything your team does is a reflection of you. So, everything is about you. But, also nothing is about you. Clear as mud?
The Plan: Prioritize the team’s growth and wellbeing. Get to know your associates’ strengths and focus on how you can help them develop their skillset. Then, work to align their individual goals with those of the organization.
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You won’t have enough time.
The Big Deal: You’re going to feel like you do not have enough time, all the time! This can feel defeating as you leave the office day after day, feeling like you didn’t finish everything you needed to do that day. You’re also going to find yourself being interrupted. A lot.
The Plan: First, know that feeling like there’s never enough time is a normal part of your leadership growth and that it will get better as you become more efficient, learn to delegate, and as your capacity increases. Explore some tools and strategies for time management and find what works for you.
Second, identify what (or who!) your interruptions are and determine solutions accordingly. For example, repeat interruptions from a given employee could uncover a need for additional training. Make sure your staff has the tools they need to perform their roles.
There’s No Such Thing as Multitasking
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It’s up to you to set the tone.
The Big Deal: Nobody wants to work in an environment where no one’s talking or laughing, or one where you can cut the stress tension with a knife. This kind of work environment is sure to zap the life out of even the most engaged employee, so you can’t stand for it.
The Plan: Bring the positive energy and encourage “brain breaks”. Be the one to say, “It’s going to be okay” even if or when you’re not 100% sure yourself. Work to improve your own emotional intelligence and take some time for self-reflection regarding your impact on the work environment.
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You don’t know it all.
The Big Deal: It can be challenging to balance the questions you’re fielding from your new staff with the fact that your new title didn’t come with a magic guidebook full of the answers. You don’t want your employees to lose confidence in you and it feels like you’re losing confidence in yourself.
The Plan: Ask questions, identify the subject matter experts on your team who do know it all, and work to remove obstacles in their way to getting the answers they need.
Next, empower them to increase the team’s overall knowledge. You’ll also need to commit yourself to continued learning so that as time goes on, you will know how to better answer your staff’s questions.
You Can’t Motivate Your Employees
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Previously published on “Change Becomes You”, a Medium publication.
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Photo credit: Ambreen Hasan on Unsplash