8 Ways to Crush Your New Leadership Role
Growth requires change. Change requires growth.
Organizations that are either growing rapidly or in the midst of crisis are often in a constant cycle of change, too. It is a delicate balance to keep going forward and not overwhelming your team with too much change.
Years ago, I was in that very situation. The organization was growing rapidly and we had actually outgrown a lot of our infrastructure. Our business had outgrown our available talent and suddenly we were adding people at a rate that surpassed my team’s capacity to meet demand. It’s exciting to grow, but sometimes the change that it requires engulfs the very people creating the growth.
The leader is often caught in the middle. The organization commands growth, but your team is struggling to keep up with the work growth requires and the changes that growth creates.
What can the leader do?
Listen. Commit time to listening to the ideas and the concerns of your team. They need to know they are heard and they feel they are part of the solution. In the midst of listening, they are also going to offer some good solutions that you can act on to meet the goals and demands of the organization.In height of the change, I recommend a 15 minute virtual call or stand up gathering every day and reducing the frequency to once a week as communication strengthens and demands subside. Be sure that you update the team, but then ask good questions and let them talk. Don’t consume the meeting with your own rhetoric.
Limit change. This is especially true if you are a new leader to a team. There is enough change already happening without you piling on more. Prioritize the changes that are absolutely necessary as a new leader and practice patience on the rest of your agenda until the timing warrants more change. It’s extremely important that you understand what is happening currently and the consequences of the actions you plan to take before committing to large scale change.
Be transparent. Tell the team exactly what is happening. Be both truthful and as positive and optimistic as you can. If the growth is creating great success for the organization, help them to focus on how their efforts are contributing to that success. If change is occurring because of crisis, try to give them a vision of how much better their job will be on the other side of the crisis.
Require pauses and rest. Regardless of how dire the circumstances, people can only perform well for so long. Insist on breaks from the work, time off to re-energize. You need to do the same as the leader.
Advocate for your team. If they need resources to meet the demands and deadlines, be sure they get them.
Take responsibility. If the team fails to meet the goals, the leader is responsible. If the team succeeds, the leader gives them the credit.
Celebrate success along the way. Keep the team motivated by celebrating milestones along the path to achieving the bigger goals. Every win is a win. Minimize focusing on setbacks and keep looking forward.
Change is hard. Leaders do hard things. Leaders help their team do hard things, too.
Change is hard. Leaders do hard things. Leaders help their team do hard things, too.CLICK TO TWEET
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By Dee Ann Turner
