Congratulations! You have been promoted to a managerial position. This promotion is most likely the result of your ability to deliver exceptional and exemplary results. Now you are ready to assume a new role with its challenges and move towards becoming a successful leader.
But where do you begin? As a first-time manager, the skills needed will be very different from your previous role. You will need to move towards a leadership mindset, learn to hold people accountable, and empower a team of diverse individuals to collaborate towards shared goals.
Transitioning from an individual contributor to a managerial role is probably one of the toughest changes in your career. To help you make this transition, here are three areas you need to focus on to avoid common pitfalls and succeed in your new role.
1. Self-Awareness – The Leader Mindset
Learning how you need to change from doing to leading. Most new managers struggle with re-prioritizing their mindset from individual contributions to facilitating contributions from others. They struggle with the challenge of doing what they need to do vs. how they can lead others to accomplish the work.
Changing to a leader mindset is challenging and requires constant reflection on daily responses to different situations arising at work. To help you make this transition, here are some necessary skills:
- Have a long-term perspective provide structure and set policies
- Prioritize and channel actions in the right direction and find opportunities to capitalize on the strengths of your team members
- Listen and empathize to motivate, energize, and increase employee engagement
- Offer guidance, support, and resources to team members encouraging innovative thinking and using effective delegation to empower people and bring accountability
- Provide constructive feedback, show appreciation, and offer growth opportunities
2. Others Focused – Your Role in Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is the level of emotional and mental commitment people have towards their jobs. As a new leader, you now drive employee engagement to drive organizational growth. Companies whose leaders create confident, empowered, enthusiastic, and inspired team members enjoy increased collaboration, productivity, and retention rates. However, simply knowing how to keep team members engaged is not sufficient. As a new leader, you must focus on daily engagement and prioritize every interaction to develop trust and build strong relationships. Some important focus areas include:
- Confidence – allows you to set clear expectations and goals and define paths to help team members focus on core areas to get the job done in the best way on time
- Empowerment – ensures you do not micro-manage your people and allow them to work in their own styles giving them authority and flexibility while providing guidance and support when required
- Enthusiasm – fosters an environment where team members are motivated and willing to come to work and make meaningful contributions to achieve personal and organizational goals
- Inspiration – appreciates efforts and contributions ensuring people know that their work plays an important role in contributing to the overall organizational success
3. Accountability – Holding Yourself and Others Responsible
In simple terms, accountability is holding yourself and others responsible for completing projects while meeting deadlines, achieving organizational goals, and making important and accurate decisions. Companies that get this right often have policies in place that encourage growth and innovation and this begins with the leadership.
New leaders must transition from personal achievements to successfully leading team goals. Understanding how to make team members accountable plays a pivotal role in your success as a first-time manager. Some ways to achieve this include:
- Setting clear and compelling expectations of every individual’s responsibility
- Effectively communicating with the team members
As a new manager, it is very likely that you will feel overwhelmed with all the new tasks and skills needed from a leader. An effective leadership training program can be an excellent opportunity to develop new skills and acquire knowledge about effective strategies to become a successful leader. With the right mindset and support, new managers can evolve into successful leaders leaving a long-lasting impact not only in terms of results but on people too.
Ready to make the transition? Check out our first-time leader training program to make your transition easy and smooth.
