by Nick Roud, Multi Award Winning Leadership Coach.

Summary. Today’s leadership blog will support emerging leaders.

The definition of ‘emerging leader’ for todays leadership blog is

‘a person that has been identified by an organisation and or senior leadership team as a future leader’

Unfortunately we see a number of professionals not reaching their full potential due to the lack of time and investment given to them by an organisation. The scenario I hear many times over the years when coaching CEOs and Executives continues to be,  we don’t have a strong leadership pipeline from within the organisation and will need to look outside to attract the right leader. 

A global survey concluded that 76% of newly appointed managers were given zero or little support when they moved into a people leadership role. To me that’s like giving a person the keys to a car without them passing their driving test. The car might get a few dents in it, worse still the driver and those in the car or others could get very hurt. 

Future leaders who are given time, tools, investment and support will successfully transition and serve the organisation way beyond expectations. That’s what I want to see in emerging leaders who are coached.

Trap 1 Not Letting Go!

As you transition from subject matter expert to leading people, the emerging leader must let go of what got them to today pretty quickly. Those skills are no longer relevant nor are they what the organisation needs from you as you start to lead people. I’d encourage you to pass all those skills you have gained onto your team and help them become subject matter experts. Your focus now is getting the very best out of those you lead. 

Peter Drucker spoke about what got you here won’t get you where you want to go.

The emerging leaders focus must be to strenghten;

*communication skills 

*motivational skills

*active listening skills

What will eventuate if you are not willing or can’t let go is the organisation will ask you to move back into your subject matter role and no long lead people.

Emerging leaders need therefore to let go!

Trap 2 Time Management!

Effective leaders have to understand where his/her time is going. Emerging leaders must therefore be totally ruthless with their time. That will mean saying no to others.

Future leaders will need to firstly understand the expectations of the organisation and then put together how and where their time must be spent. This is not up for negotiation, get clear, get an action plan together and grab back control of your time. So many emerging leaders share with me at the beginning of our 6 month coaching work together how little time they actually have to do their job. Having weeks full of meetings possibly isn’t the very best use of time.

Leaders who make the biggest impact know where their time goes, what time needs to be spent where and focus in on those aspects. They are not afraid to say no to demands put on them by others. The emerging leader must therefore

*create space and time for themself (daily)

*ensure enough time is given to those they lead (weekly)

*create a routine that is forward focused

Emerging leader need to be very clear about where they are spending time and ask themself

‘am I effective with my time’?

Trap 3 Doing To Much!

One common theme I notice when coaching emerging leaders is that they take on too much and are unaware of the things they should now be doing. It’s a slippery slope when emerging leaders spread themselves to thinly. When an emerging leader does to much they burn out quickly. If the emerging leader doesn’t build his/her confidence and focus they may be taken advantage of by others who want to off-load work!

The effective leader knows when to say no and how to say it appropriately 

Emerging leaders are the future of organisations and will require support as they transition into a bigger position.

If you would like to confidentially discuss my 1:1 Emerging Leaders 6 month coaching then reach out to me on +6421375630.

Nick