Transitioning to a Leader

by Nick Roud, Founder Nick Roud Coaching

When a professional moves from a team member to a team manager and then into a leadership position, the focus needs to shift. If behaviours do not shift quickly it is likely that the individual will start to fall (back) into what got them to today i.e doing the do! producing, completing etc.

A healthy transition is one that builds momentum not only for that person but for the organisation. Unfortunately these rising stars are given little to no support and left to fend for themselves.

Ultimately its about the things you need to (stop) doing.

Leadership is more to do with your heart, how are you loving your people, nurturing, helping, pushing them forwards. Leadership is not about pulling people back. To become and or be a great leader you must be looking at every single opportunity in which you are ensuring (you) are getting the very best from those you serve.

Leadership is not micro management a phrase which will need to be irradiated from your toolbox. Leadership is listening, deeply listening to those around you. Leadership is building trust, trust in yourself, trust in your team and trust that you are going to make mistakes, take ownership of those mistakes, learn from them and quickly move on.

As you transition to a management / leadership position the question to consider and work on isn’t what are you going to do its what are you going to (stop) doing. My encouragement to all would be leaders is not to get to ahead of yourself, start by getting comfortable with letting go. Letting go of everything that has allowed you to get to where you are today. Letting go of control. In letting go of control you are exhibiting trust, that trust is gained between you and your people. It starts with your clear lines of communication, what are the expectations, what support does the individual and or team actually need from you, what actions are going to happen and or take place now and over the coming weeks, are you listening to your people not just the words, the body language, these tell signs of agreement, or signs of frustration, get comfortable reading the room, what is the mood like, is it up beat, somber what are you noticing.

If we take a step up and out for a moment, what we are really looking at is how are you using your 5 senses? Touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell. As a leader these need to be fine tuned and fully alert to the signals. We rarely develop these senses but if you narrow in on sight and hearing you will gain much more value from your people than any data report could or does tell you.

Leadership is getting out of your comfy chair and sitting alongside your people. As you move into a people leadership role this should be a priority of yours. Don’t wait for people to come to you, go see them, go meet them on in their happy space. I observe many leaders waiting, waiting for people to come to them as if they are lord or lady muck! Don’t lead this way, go out and get to know really know your people, only when you demonstrate and lead with authentic heart will you get the results you are looking for. Lead by example.

I wrote at the beginning of the blog about the number of rising stars who are not supported as they transition into a people leaders role. Investing in your rising talent and ensuring they are well equipped to transition is more important than ever before. The cost and damage caused by losing great talent is hard to replace, losing talent to your competition will damage not only your bottom line but your culture. Our emerging leaders programme supports future leaders. There are many benefits to coaching not least the value felt by that individual, that support given from the organisation that cares, that shows they want you to be successful. Coaching is not about fixing or a last ditch effort to change someone. Coaching is an enabler and gets lasting behaviours results that are measurable.

So my closing point is this.

Don’t promote great talent into people leadership roles and assume they will make a success of it. Invest in supporting them to be a great leader show them you want them to be great and that you want them to be part of your organisation.

Look after yourself and look after each other

Much love, Nick x