Becoming an effective, inspiring leader takes time. It’s key to find a balance—between jumping in too fast and not jumping in at all, between asserting your authority and not becoming overbearing, and between being eager to impact the team and staying realistic.
Don't try to do everything yourself
What’s the difference between an EMPLOYEE and a MANAGER? Employees are focused on tasks. They have a to-do list of assignments that they were responsible for, and their main responsibility was to get those things done.
As a manager, you can’t focus on individual tasks—you have to focus your effort on helping your team complete their assignments. Now, your success is dependent on the success of your team. So you won’t spend your time “doing;” you’ll be busy coaching, supervising, and guiding your team members.
Focus on goals and not details
Coming from an individual contributor role, you’re used to getting engrossed in the details of an assignment—keeping track of who you’ve emailed, the phone calls you need to return, and the documentation of your notes.
But as a leader, you can’t possibly know and keep up with all the details of each and every project that the members of your team are working on. Trying to do so will turn you into a micromanager—which isn’t beneficial to you or your team.
Don't make promises you can't keep
Leaders can be eager to please their team and prove themselves as an effective leader—which is admirable.
What’s not so great, however, is when those leaders try to do that by making grand promises to their employees—like switching to a new company-wide software system or immediately changing an intricate implementation process.
Learn how to make decisions
Some leaders can experience something called decision paralysis. It’s when an individual over thinks a situation to the point that he or she never actually makes a decision.
In this type of position, the choices you make don’t just affect you—they affect your entire team and department. With the weight of that knowledge, managers don’t want to make mistakes or bad calls. So instead, they often delay, never making the decision at all.
Become a well-rounded generalist
Leading is all about marshaling your resources and stepping out of your comfort zone. You will be valued for understanding the business and how various pieces of the business integrate into the whole.
In addition, start networking outside your team, looking for people like yourself who are subject matter experts trying to broaden their exposure to other areas of the business. As you begin to trade knowledge, you’ll become each others’ go-to people.
Own your failures, not your successes
You’ve probably made a point of showcasing your accomplishments and promoting your value up the chain of command. It’s how you got recognized as a high-potential leader in the first place. Well, get ready for that to change. In the transition from doing to leading, you’ll have to re-evaluate how you deal with successes and failures.
Most of us work on high-powered teams, but every team needs a leader. You have to be willing to put yourself out there, take risks, and take responsibility for both successes and failures. That’s what makes a great leader.
The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, "We did it ourselves." To be a great leader, you’ll need to get in the habit of letting your team own the wins, while you assume responsibility for risks and failures.
True leaders are humble enough to apologize publicly and gloat privately. You don’t see leaders bragging about their success. They talk about their team and their team’s contributions. And if they feel really good about themselves, they boast at home or with a close friend, but not publicly. What’s more, a leader will apologize and take accountability for his or her actions when things go wrong.
Turn your to-do list into a to-lead list
Your challenge is this: Identify a task or a project that is currently on your to-do list, such as an assignment at work or, if there’s nothing suitable on-site, a project outside of work, such as a charitable drive or a professional association event. Then, try to achieve the end result by leading—not doing—the work.
To do this well at work, you’ll need to get to know your peers, the things that motivate them, and their career aspirations.
Get clear on the goal or end result of the project, share your goal, and offer to include colleagues who would be excited to get involved. Tie your request to your colleagues to something that you know would benefit them, like “It’s not just another presentation; we have the opportunity to change the way our company handles flex working” or “Here’s an opportunity to show off your graphic design skills.” They key to success is to make it personal and meaningful.
Don’t tell them what to do, but work together to create clear goals, expectations, and accountability by asking questions like “How will we measure success?” “What steps do we need to take to make that happen?” “How will we hold ourselves accountable?” and “How will we celebrate when we achieve this?” By shifting the focus away from yourself and onto a team member, you’ll learn the valuable art of leadership while still working one-on-one with a trusted collaborator.
