New Leader Tuesday at Management Excellence

This New Leader Tuesday series is dedicated to the proposition that one of the most critical tasks we have is developing the next generation of leaders. If you are new to leading or if you are charged with the development of new leaders on your team, please join the discussion, ask questions and share your insights! Join our mailing list for our forthcoming New-Leaders e-News.

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You will be tested many times during your first go-round as the new leader. Know that everyone is watching your responses to these tests.

Handle them properly…even adequately, and your credibility for leading will rise.  Get them wrong and you’ll become just one more faceless first-time supervisor in the process of being turned into grist inside the organization’s cultural mill.

Tests come in many forms ranging from indirect, passive aggressive attempts to devalue you as leader to attempts to derail your agenda. Or both.  Other tests will come in the form of “the rules don’t apply to me” behaviors from rebels and self-anointed superstars.

The early days of a first-time leader are disorienting at best. My prior posts in this series, “Gaining Critical Context for Your Team’s Mission,” and “Beware Under or Over Managing” both offer important start-up guidance. Lacking context for the team’s mission and fit, you will be left to your own designs or the designs of others to begin managing. Almost inevitably, this lack of context will lead to an over or under manage scenario as you attempt to find direction for yourself without visibly flailing in front of everyone. The tests are the next part.

5 Ideas for Successfully Navigating Your Early Leadership Tests:

1. Get to know your team members and let them get to know you. If you are new to the group, one on one and group listening sessions (you’re the one mostly listening) during your initial week or two are essential. Keep them simple and use these basic questions:

  • What’s Working?
  • What’s Not?
  • What Should We do about it?
  • What do you need from me?

2. Communicate Context and Ask for Input. Share what you’ve learned about organizational goals and the team’s role in helping achieve those goals. Instead of offering them as dictates, describe them and ask for input.

  • Does this make sense?
  • What does this mean for us?
  • For our priorities?
  • For our resources?
  • How should we move forward?
  • How should we measure our performance and progress?

At the end of the day, you are on the hook for clarifying final goals and approaches, however ensuring that people have a voice in defining them is important.

3. Run, Don’t Walk to Build In Accountability. For “the rules don’t apply to me tests,” seek these out and refute them immediately. Don’t make them personal attacks, but do describe the unacceptable behavior in the context of its impact on the business and the team. Indicate the need to change and ideally, jointly develop a plan to change. Check in regularly and offer reinforcement, encouragement and praise as needed. This emphasis on accountability will be quickly recognized by everyone on your team.

4. Use Finesse First with the Politicians. For the passive aggressive resistors, finesse is in order. As much as you would like to, you cannot demand fealty. If the resistors make themselves visible, channel their resistance into “What would you do?” opportunities. They may very well have a better idea. Give them an opportunity to put it into play (and become accountable for an outcome), and they’ll be too busy showing that they were right to spend much time countermanding your other initiatives. And hey, if they succeed, you should be the first one in line to applaud and reward their success. Then give them the next challenge.

5. Don’t Fear the Toxic Ones. For those who are resistors and are toxic…they undermine and complain without offering an approach, call them out on this as they become visible. Armed with the example of others who are being given opportunities to put their complaints and concerns into action, these people have no choice but to rise to the opportunity or metaphorically crawl back under the rock they came from. They’ve been outed and are visible to all for who/what they truly are. They’ll either shut up and do their jobs or embark on a program to ensure that you have the evidence to get rid of them.

The Bottom-Line

As the new leader, you’re guilty until proven innocent and the only way to prove innocence or to build credibility is to begin forming and framing this working environment of accountability, visibility, transparency and involvement. You’re not off the hook for final decisions, but your pro-active work to engage others will work wonders for creating a favorable environment.

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