It can be professionally exciting to grow and evolve in your career, especially as you make a transition from being an Individual Contributor to a Manager role. However, as a new manager you may not necessarily know what type of leader you would like to develop into. While there are many forms leadership can take on, there are a few key traits that successful, effective, and inspiring leaders commonly exhibit.
Before getting into some of the key traits, understanding why it’s important to practice and excel in your leadership skills is vital to your success. The risk of being a manager or leader in an organization without the right guidance is one of the reasons why the Great Resignation happened. It has been cited that 57% of those that were a part of the Great Resignation was due to feeling disrespected at work, which in large part can come from ineffective leadership.
Here are some mindful guard rails and tips on how to develop yourself as a new manager and as you grow in your career.
Everyone Needs to Know their Boundaries, Job Role, and Responsibilities
As you begin to develop a team that you manage, it’s important to outline what specific role each person has and what their responsibilities are. This may be more obviously outlined in larger organizations but if you work at a smaller or mid-size company where there is potentially a less structured organization, it’s important to let everyone know who is responsible for what job duties. This can also ensure that you are setting each person up for success so that their job responsibilities align with each person’s strengths and where they’d like to grow more into. Doing so will also allow employees the chance to understand what their professional boundaries are.
Implement Realistic Workload Assessments
Having employee time keeping software will help your team identify how many hours are truly going into work. This should not be used as a way to criticize any employee but rather to allow you the opportunity as a manager to assess workload and see if there is even distribution amongst the team. Burnout is a leading cause for a decrease in workplace satisfaction and managing team hours is a simple way to help alleviate your team. This will also show others that leading with what is in the best interest of employee well-being will ultimately be what’s best for the company that you work for.
Create a Supportive Work Culture
Is there open communication between employees and management? Is the workplace toxic or is everyone a team? Creating an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their concerns about their workload is vital to successful, professional relationships and teams. Everyone should feel confident discussing challenges, workload issues, and potential solutions with their supervisors.
Have Realistic Deadlines
No one likes a tight deadline; sure, to a degree, they’re motivating, but at the same time, they’re exhausting, and no one truly benefits from the increased stress mentally (and physically) that occurs when tight deadlines are consistent. There needs to be a reasonable timeframe for projects, so no one is having to stay up late for days on end just to barely meet this demanding deadline.
While there are many dynamics to think through in workplace leadership, the above are a few universal tips for new managers to consider.
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