New Leader? New me? Things you should watch out!
Feeling blessed about growing into your step or level, but not equally sure about your next steps?
Or even more, are the questions "What should I do now?" , "Do I have to do the same work as I was doing till now?" , "What should I watch out?" , "How do I get better now?" relentlessly crashing your head?
BELIEVE in me, you are reading the right article.
Either being recently promoted, or starting a new initiative having to lead others into it, there are standard behaviours and common pitfalls, that you should learn to spot early enough, in order not to do them at all, or at least learn ways to get out of them or avoid them, or even solve them in a leadership fashion, leaving everyone stunned by your ability to overcome challenges that way, that easy, that SMART!
Did you know that?
Nearly 50% of promoted people underperform up to 18 months after
assuming their roles.
Imagine adding to this fact, the high exposure that is coming hand by hand with a promotion, the responsibility of others under you, and the association and impact of your actions, now on others, quite enough aren't they? Ohhh, excuse me, I forgot the most common one.. even if all the above did not catch your attention, what about that overwhelming inner feeling of proving to everyone that you were deserving that promotion?
To avoid falling into this trap, we have to know your enemies, as also which weapons to use, and finally to choose your battles wisely. But, first things first, let's start with..
Common pitfalls of a new Leader.
What's the most common pattern recognised?
Most new leaders experience post-promotion unease.
Being a competent contributor, will may earn you a fast lane ticket towards your promotion. And that's a fact and is just okay. Although, a pretty well known research shows that the Peter Principle is more than real!!
But, who is Peter? and what is his principle?
So, Peter is Dr. Laurence J. Peter, and his book "The Peter Principle" (co-author with Raymond Hull), explains in depth a phenomena, which eventually became a principle (from wikipedia):
"..employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another."
Fun fact:
Despite the fact that "The Peter Principle" book has ended up being a subject of so much commentary and research, the very first goal of it was to SATIRE! Yes, satire!
But, as the promotional case scenarios were everywhere around us, and even more the criteria of why somebody would be promoted, that principle faced massive popularity, as it reflected most of the shortcomings of how the wheels are turning.
Pitfalls & Ways to avoid them.
Climbing the Stairways to Leadership Heaven (like the song..), always start with knowing your values and the common pitfalls ,you are led to due to them.
Don't you know your values? The answer is YET.
Read our article on how to start your self-awareness journey, with full force!
Common Pitfalls
#No.1
||Not realising you’re on a stage.
We, all have been in situations, where we were just following orders regardless understanding why, due to the fact that someone with authority was addressing those orders.
So, ok let's accept for the terms of today, we are living in shaking ages, where things can change really quickly, BUT, hierarchy and social hierarchy are inherent to organisations, regardless of how egalitarian team members, and even yourself aspire to be.
Going one step deeper, your level of seniority at work is directly associated with the impact of how you perceive, think, and even react to others. Although, that fact is conducting another domino effect, as your status and power have risen up and naturally you are attracting more attention, your relative position of power will also influence how others perceive you. that's, HUGE!
Practice to get better and avoid this pitfall.
So, let's explore a way to avoid that pitfall and gain the maximum out of it!
Code Communication & Self-awareness
Self-awareness
After all, as a leader you’re in charge of others, as also for their development and success. The orders, yourself was following some years ago, now you are responsible for giving them, or may I say better provide instead of giving?
The difference maker here is the level of your self-awareness as a leader, as also the level of clarity your core values have (our article here will help you do so).
Sincerely, your actual job is to help them grow, and create new pathways for them to step into their personal journey of greatness. If you want to be fair, on the one hand, effective and impactful, on the other hand, you should be aware about options to measure and evaluate their wins and failures, and how to part ways those two, by providing the right level of effective feedback and by helping them to adjust the right way to it, in order to get better.
Do you feel authentic enough, to do so?
Read this, to identify your level of authenticity and question and challenge yourself the right way.
Communication Coding
Considering all above, in order to succeed in personally and as a team, to continue working as well-oiled machine, you need to think about ways to code your communication with your team in order now to decrease elimination and build rapport.
Here's a simple 3 way guide to help you be expressed better as an inclusive and trustworthy leader:
- Are you not sure if your words will be taken the way you want to ? There is a magic simple phrase to save you from disastrous misunderstandings:
“I’m just thinking out loud,” so that your direct reports don’t mistake your words.
2. The second practice, will help you mostly, when you are on the very first stages with your team, tending to start knowing each other.
Try name your facial expressions, “This is my thinking face”, "Now, it's when I want your feedback or input, desperately",
with that you will be able to not interpret your expression as a disapproving scowl, and achieve optimum levels of communication and alignment.
3. Thirdly, building rapport and trusting relationship, is maybe one of the most challenging phases a team has to pass successfully, in order to retain its structure, and the leader of it should learn to communicate properly, as the most influential member of the team.
Did you know that?
Most of the times non-verbal communication matters more than verbal one? As, according to a study, 65-93% of all communication is non-verbal.
So, every Leader has to be careful and work on non-verbal communication habits and stances and gestures he or she already has. To begin building stronger and trusted leadership presence,
ask trusted colleagues to observe you in meetings and provide you with feedback about how you can be more impactful with your verbal and non-verbal communication, as also, about your most common and used non-verbal ways,
that will end up by expressing messages to others, you have might not even thought about, before, using all of your communication arsenal, now on.
#No2
||Sticking to what you already know how to do.
Always Remember, as a new Leader:
Your job is now to develop other people.
You must learn how to hold them accountable for the team vision, coach them to success and provide them with feedback to help them develop.
It’s more than usual and easy to default to the strengths and habits that got you promoted. But as a brand new leader, your former strengths may hinder your effectiveness.
Busyness does not help, too, as it's the easiest way to remain in your comfort zone and not think about what your actions reflect to others. Most new leaders understand this, but struggle to adjust their behavior.
Practice to get better and avoid this pitfall.
Avoiding that can be really straightforward on how to, but it varies depending on the personal leadership style:
- Learn how to delegate.
As a leader, you have to be patient with people and let them grow on their pace. Also, you have to find the right amount of work you are able to delegate in order not to get your people overwhelmed. As, an individual contributor, you may have been rewarded for your speedy and strong heads down work. As, a new Leader, that same process is going to set your entire team up to fail.
Try to follow the below practices to get better on delegating:
-Understand each team member's strengths and weaknesses.
-Clarify team's priorities to work on.
-Understand what type of work you can delegate. All tasks are not delegable.
-Provide enough context and clear end goals.
-Create a sharing atmosphere in your team, based on questions and feedback, in order to be easier to track pain points, ways to improve and the general progress on tasks. - Consider the long-game.
Instead of practically do by your own all the tasks you can, spend that time strategically aligning your team's vision and mission to your team members key strengths and interest, keeping everyone energised, motivated and inspired! This, will enhance, your leadership presence, as also, will make crystal clear how everyone's day to day work is tied to a bigger vision or purpose, raising accountability as everyone will feel as a useful gear, pushing your team's productivity to new stakes.
Were all those going to happen if you had completed the tasks by your own?
Although, that's not the end point, you may have to, also:
-Coach them when they’re struggling, do not mentor, keep the balance between those two stances.
-Check in with them regularly to keep them on track.
-Provide them with all the resources needed, aiming to create the right pathways for a next step or a way for them to showcase their great work. Let them feel that they did everything, let them own it.
#No.3
Failing to ask for feedback.
Despite, feedback could be considered free consulting, that could save you from loads of failed efforts towards false directions, by just adjusting to it based on your needs and desire, some people fear critical feedback or view it as a sign of
weakness.
Others, have just had negative experiences asking for feedback, from people that didn't know how to give an effective and productive one, leading to a massive judging result, preventing them from perceiving the actual effect of it.
Most of new leaders are remaining extremely busy executing their tasks, remaining just unaware of feedback's significance for their own and their team's performance and growth.
That fact is considered, even more, valuable to a new leader considering a survey from StaffCircle revealed that, 73% of the youngest generation in the workforce say they will resign, if they don't get regular feedback from their managers.
Practice to get better and avoid this pitfall.
Many people feel truly uncomfortable providing feedback or constructive criticism comments. To build in that and create a habit asking for feedback more frequently and easier:
- Create a feedback process, adding a feedback template, a personal one and a team's one.
Even more, a 360 feedback pathway would be even greater, trying to build in a habit with monthly events for your team (food and great music will help) aiming to destroy barriers and communication silos in your team, raising the psychology safety factor, too, by promoting vulnerability as a team value. With that, you will make everyone understand that asking and providing feedback is a truly normal case and should happen regularly.
Reminder tip: start first, be vulnerable, provide an effective feedback to a team member. You are the leader, showcase and model the proper behavior, and build on it. - Always start with the positive feedback. It's easier for others, when you are in a feedback habit creation phase, as a team.
Key tip: You can skirt this, by asking some sincere and simple questions, easy to understand, and start getting deeper and deeper by asking further bull's eye questions, like:
“What are one or two things I’m doing well so far?”
Now, try to push it a little bit further, by asking:
“Thanks, that’s great to hear. Can you tell me a few
specific things you’ve been really pleased with, so I can continue
down the right path?”
Now, solicit ideas for improvement going forward,
during this step your aim is to decrease people’s hesitations to provide critical feedback. So ask , in a complete calm way and with a steady voice:
“What’s one way I could be more effective in this role moving forward?”
Or ask your team,
“What’s one way I can further support you in your work?”
Steady voice is a must, by adding a smile, will help others to escape the maze you have created for them.
Also, steady voice is a characteristic that we people tend to resonate with figures that aspire respect, that's the difference maker, as you are raising your level of respect as a leader, too.
HUNGRY for more?
Another impactful practice to follow is to:
Always choose humble and humility over Ego and hubris.
That, SPEAKS VOLUME for your character and values, too!
You are working that hard to set your team up to success and you may worry too much, that by admitting what you don’t know will reveal a lack of confidence or expertise.
Although, here, is what happening when a person with authority and leader tag is showcasing humility and humbleness:
YOU SET AN EXAMPLE that encourages your team members TO DO THE SAME, ultimately inspiring! Exemplify greatness, and lead others to it with that! Everyone seeks for a hero!
Humility, requires, integrity and knowledge of your value drivers.
READ this article and set yourself up to greatness by following answering the questions by the end of it to create your own integrity leadership style.
Article Quote:
The great leaders are not the smartest; they are the ones who admit how much they don't know.
BONUS section💯
Growth gift: The 3X6 matrix!
Your INFLUENCE and PRODUCTIVITY BOOSTER is here:
A template with your next 3 strategies to follow and the 6 best questions to ask to WALK THE TALK.
