In looking back on my career as I transitioned from an independent contributor to a people leader role, I wish I knew then what I’ve come to learn in the nearly 10 years since that time. I, like many others, fell into the typical traps of being a new people leader and thinking I had to be perfect or my way was the right way or leading by fear was effective. While I cannot undo the past, I can continue to learn and evolve as both a person and a leader. As Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
The traditional approach in most industries is those who perform well in their role are promoted to managerial or leadership roles. While strong performance in a functional role is helpful as people become leaders, simply being a high performer does not translate to being a quality people leader. New people leaders face many pitfalls, and they are entitled to patience as they learn how to lead people in the midst of learning a new role, their team, and possibly a new company or new manager, as well.
As I’ve grown and developed as a people leader throughout my career, I’ve found the below areas of focus to be the most valuable in fostering a collaborative team environment built on trust and mutual respect. While perhaps not groundbreaking areas of focus, they have proven effective in helping me evolve as a leader of people.
Commit Time to Your Team
Whether a new people leader or seasoned leader, we are all busy and it is easy to get pulled in many directions. There are demands of the day-to-day job and leading people can feel like an entire second job at times. It is important to remember giving five minutes of your undivided attention can be incredibly meaningful to an employee and help them feel heard, seen, or more confident in their abilities. With a consistent commitment over time, they’ll feel safe enough to think differently or test out new ideas resulting in more innovative problem solving. It may not seem like much to you, but it could mean a great deal to that employee.
Setting aside this time can be difficult despite best intentions. Leaders, especially new leaders, are also focused on performing well in their role and developing their own careers. Even when committing to this focused time is an important initiative for a manager, it is so easy to postpone, cut short, or cancel these meetings due to pressures and time constraints that we all face. If possible, it is helpful to create a system that will make keeping these one-on-one meetings as easy as possible. One potential solution would be to schedule these as coffee meetings or over lunch. For any Ted Lasso fans, think biscuits with the boss.
Be Relentless on Issues and Soft on People
This principal can be challenging as we are all human and emotion is natural. I first learned this principal as part of an extensive negotiation training. This was reserved for negotiations where two parties were committed to a long-term relationship, and it was important to preserve the relationship. In thinking about the concept, it made so much sense to deploy in all aspects of life, not just negotiations.
When leading, it is inevitable, difficult discussions will be needed. Leaders owe it to their teams to coach them through their mistakes. Focusing on the issues versus the person can help your employee better absorb the coaching while maintaining a positive rapport with your employee. Too many times, a manager reacts emotionally which only serves to raise the temperature of the conversation. By staying focused on the issue and remaining compassionate towards people, it improves the likelihood of having a fruitful discussion that truly helps to develop people and help them learn from their mistakes.
Authentically Share Your Own Mistakes
Perhaps one of the most challenging things to do as a new people leader is admit you have flaws. When put into this new role, it is natural to want to be viewed as the authority and the one with all the ideas and answers. As a result, it is natural to want to hide any imperfections from your team so as to appear as an authority or expert.
This insight clicked with me when I had a leader share example of his past mistakes with me. As I reflected back on that conversation, it became clear that I had been more open to absorbing the coaching than at other times in my career because I had made a similar mistake as someone in a position of power. As my manager showed himself to be human and flawed, it created a vulnerability in me and a sense of calm knowing it was acceptable to not be perfect.
It is easy as a leader to perceive vulnerability as weakness, but I’ve found vulnerability to be a source a strength 100% of the time. It allows people to connect on a deeper level and share much more if they feel safe. Think about a time someone opened up to you about something and it made it easier for you to share more deeply as a result. That’s the power of vulnerability. Practicing vulnerability on a regular basis will eventually improve the level of psychological safety among your team. It is not easy to do, but worth the effort. A team that feels comfortable sharing authentically or asking questions without fear of being judged will be likely have a deeper dialogue around issues and increase the chances of identifying unique solutions to problems.
As mentioned above, these ideas are not necessarily new, but they have helped me grow and develop as a leader, especially in the past five years. I’m still learning every day and fall short many of those days but hope this will spark an introspective look at the way people lead their teams.
Stephen Sisti
VP of Sales, Food and Consumables – Infinity Worlds
*Title and company of the author reflect their position at the time article was written.
The opinions expressed here by guest bloggers are their own, not necessarily those of Stout Executive Search.