Five Keys to Good Leadership Every New Manager Must Learn

If you've been in leadership a while, it's fun to meet people in the early stages of their management careers—those who have been managers and supervisors for less than a year. They know twhat leadership is. However, because of their lack of experience, they’re fuzzy on how to be a good leader.

 

Here are five keys to good leadership:

Key #1 – Understand who you are

Great teams are led by people whom others know and trust. All managers should do a self-assessment on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT Analysis). By understanding yourself better, you’re comfortable in your own skin and ultimately, at peace with who you are. When you reach this stage, you can earn the trust and confidence of others.  

First though, create your SWOT Analysis by examining the four following things:  

A. List your strengths. What skills do you bring to the job and what are you really good at doing? Don’t be shy and list as many as you can.  

B. List your weaknesses. This is a hard step because people don’t like to think about areas where they don’t measure up, but it is crucial to list them.  To help, ask trusted colleagues and former managers who will be truthful and not just tell you what they think you want to hear.   

C. Look at your opportunities. Look for chances to enhance your strengths or minimize your weaknesses. Are there special projects you can ask to work on that let you work with different people or learn new skills? Be forward thinking and reach out to other departments for opportunities for your department as well.

D. List your threats. These are external factors that can be standing in your way of living your dream as a supervisor. Are your weaknesses holding you back? Is your company in a time where salaries and promotions are frozen? Maybe your company is in talks for a merger and you don’t see what place you’ll have in the new company? Is your threat coming from the top or are you constantly challenged by a colleague who wants what you have?

Finally, once you’re finished with your four lists, create an action plan for helping you reach your professional goals. This is where many managers fall short. It’s vital that you become a lifelong learner to continue to hone your skills and set the right example of those who follow you.

Key #2 – Choose people over processes

In this day and age, servant leadership is arguably the most potent and effective management and leadership style. The irony is that the concept is one of the oldest known to man and has been featured in The Bible, ancient writings from China and Japan, and more. In order to maximize this style, a leader must not only focus on and prioritize people but must also gain a good understanding of their talents so that he or she can provide the resources, tools and support necessary to give that employee the maximum opportunity to succeed.

Further, too many managers spend their time trying to strengthen weaknesses rather than maximize strengths. The facts show that the ROI is far superior for enhancing strengths over weaknesses. Having said that, it depends on the weakness as well. Being a shy introvert can be considered a weakness, but if it doesn’t affect the employee’s job performance, don’t worry too much about it. Instead, concentrate on your introvert’s genius at setting production schedules and keeping 30 different projects on track.

You can’t build a great team without knowing your people, so work on building relationships with every member of your department. You can help them develop their own SWOT and also help them understand their critical roles in helping the department and the organization meet its goals. This gives them a sense of ownership in the company’s success, which I have found to be essential to moving the organization forward.

Additionally, plan team events where they can get to know their teammates better. Celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, life events (birth of children or grandchildren, marriage, maybe even a divorce if appropriate) and work events (promotions, important work on a critical project, reaching department goals) will help your team grow closer.

Key #3 – Be agile  

The only constant in life and business is change and, generally, people often don’t react well when it happens. The tough part of the job is guiding your team through the volatile world of budgets, resources, priorities and people. Your team will look at you to see your reaction to the change, and then they will look to you for assurance that things will be okay. It doesn’t matter if the change is positive or not, because they’re not sure how the change will affect them. Staying calm when change happens tends to keep things on course.

Resilience, from a business viewpoint, is the ability of an organization to quickly adapt to disruptions while maintaining continuous business operations. Some refer to this as business continuity planning, but resilience, to me, is founded on your people. Many companies don’t put enough importance on the human element of the business because people in chaotic situations must be prepared—and trained—on how to respond. As manager and leader, that’s your job.

Key #4 – Create a culture of leadership at all levels    

To have a great team means to have most, if not all, team members carry the ability to step up into a leadership role at times. As manager or supervisor, you are the alpha team leader, with everything ultimately landing on your shoulders. However, you need to occasionally take a step back and let others step into the spotlight.

A great way to do this is through the art of delegation. For one thing, it takes some of the work off your already overflowing plate, and more importantly, it gives your employees a chance to step into that spotlight which is what cultivates leadership inside.

There are, however, certain best practices of delegation you must follow or else the opposite effect will happen for you and your employees. Delegation is a conscious management decision to give autonomy and the accountability to do the job assigned, but in order to hold the employee accountable, fairly, the manager must clearly and specifically identify measurement criteria and what constitutes success for the work. Then, provide the necessary tools or information to measure and move toward the stated goal.

Key #5 – Talk the talk and walk the walk

To be an effective, respected leader, you have to walk the talk. Or, put another way, consistently and openly practice what you preach. Employees can spot inauthenticity a mile away.

If you do nothing else except follow these five steps, you’ll be way ahead of many managers. Good luck on your journey!