5 winning strategies for new team leaders
A high proportion of people we work with are transitioning from one management level to another.
With company owners it’s often that tricky stage when their team reaches the size where they absolutely must delegate. Being the best person at everything gets you started but as your organisation grows it becomes a rate-limiting factor.
Likewise, with employees our support is frequently targeted at new team leaders. Directors and team managers making an exciting career step into a shiny new role.
The common theme for both these groups is that they are rarely given the full toolkit they need to succeed. If they are lucky, help is called in when things have gone wrong.
There’s still truth in the adage that your career forges ahead until you are promoted to the level of your own incompetence!
By giving people the skills and approaches that help them through these transitions we aim to smooth those career steps and help people make more of them.
What are the 5 things you need to do more of when you inherit a bigger team?
Focus on the goal
Operational jobs are usually focused on results and short-term delivery. In a sales job this might mean hitting your target this month or achieving x orders this quarter.
At senior levels there’s a bigger emphasis on the context. What’s happening in your industry as a whole and what are competitor trends? Where is the customer likely to be in 3 years’ time and how will you anticipate their needs?
As a new team leader, being able to horizon scan like this and connect it back to the targets your team are aiming for helps them understand the Why behind their activity.
It motivates your people and helps them feel better about ambiguity or changing tactics.
The power of many
This is a concept many founders find really hard to grasp. The reality is that an employee or new team leader will rarely commit to a job the same way that a founder does. They probably won’t work the long weekends and truthfully might not care as much as you.
But a scaling business needs a team. And that team is most effective when the individuals in it are allowed to be the best version of themselves. Not when they are a second-class version of you.
This can be uncomfortable for leaders – but you’ll get the best out of people if you can step back, encourage them to approach things in their own way and yes, allow them to make mistakes. It might even hold you back in the short term, but in the long run the power of many will transform your business.
The power of one
This too is a tricky transition for new team leaders. Very often your success has come because you’ve been great at your job. Maybe you worked alone or had a small team around you. Either way you got your head down and delivered better than your peers.
As a new team leader, your aim is to balance individual contributions with team outcomes. You want brilliant individuals – maybe with unique skills – but everyone needs to be pulling towards the same goal.
One of the clearest examples of this is in the leadership work we do with schools. A brilliant geography teacher inspires children in their subject and delivers great exam results.
That skillset can see them end up as Head of Department for geography. But it won’t help them build a school leadership plan with experts in economics or maths. Subject matter doesn’t count at that level, it’s about influencing and leadership talent.
The power of one needs help to transition to the power of many.
Feedback loops
At lower management levels feedback is usually a one-way thing (if it happens at all). It usually comes in the form of a “good job” message when you’ve delivered something well.
It might come from your line manager or maybe it’s in the form of a recognition award – but either way it’s a message weaving its way down the management hierarchy to someone doing the job.
If you’re a new team leader this one-way messaging is problematic. Yes, it’s encouraging to give these messages out to the team in those golden moments of success. You might even pull the team together in the office for cake or give out annual awards.
But what you really want is for everyone to be contributing to great work. And this needs feedback loops.
How you choose to approach it can be formal or not. Some organisations still like suggestion boxes or creativity sessions. Others rely on drinks after work and active listening.
The important thing is that you are picking up on what people are saying, thinking and feeling. Our many years of experience suggest the new team leader is often the last person to know!
Breathe deeply
When you’re taking on a bigger team it’s tempting to think you need to run faster, when actually you need to work smarter.
It’s tempting to “make your mark” or “stamp your authority” as a new team leader by making early changes and setting new targets.
Yet what your team most likely needs is recognition from their new boss of all the things they’ve done well. Given that, they are then likely bursting with enthusiasm to tell you about all the ways they want to drive improvement.
Create that safe space for them by listening and exploring and you can harness the power of many to build a culture of continuous improvement.
Taking time to breathe rather than wading straight in will probably prove to be less stressful for you and the team. Read more about why purposeful leadership matters.