Hey, congratulations, you’ve made it. Now you are a leader, how does it feel? Exciting, a little daunting? Maybe you have been around a little while and are still feeling rather unprepared for the leadership task ahead. Then again, perhaps you have just landed a job with a new team and are still trying to decide how to lead them successfully.
That’s okay, because as you learn how to lead there are always going to be times when you feel a little uncomfortable. And here I thought I would share a few ideas that may help you to make somedecisions and get moving ― the sooner you unlock all that leadership talent, the better!
So, if you are new to role, new to the team or new to leadership, here is an outlined decision process you can follow…
- Gain perfect clarity on what it is you are expected to achieve by your key stakeholders. These are the people above, around and below you who have an interest in what you are doing. Watch out because their expectations may differ.
- Gain perfect clarity on what you want to achieve. You have hopes, dreams and goals and they may not fit perfectly with stakeholders. That’s fine provided you handle it well.
- Reflect a little on what has gone on before you arrived. What has happened to the team in the last six months? Have they been “restructured” or was the last leader fired? Maybe the team’s performance is lacking or so good it is off the scale.
- What else is going on around the team? For instance, how are other teams impacting what your team does? How does your team’s work fit in with the strategy of the division or company?
Time-Out
The purpose of these questions is to get you thinking clearly about all of the vested interests and the context in which you have to lead. Some of the answers may be difficult to get, so you may need to take a few weeks talking to lots of people. I use the word “perfect” to stretch your enquiry and am not expecting you to reach that perfection. So, don’t take too long about it ― your team is looking for leadership and it is your job to deliver that!
- Given all of the ideas you generated above, what does your team need to deliver in the next six to twelve months? This is about setting the short- to medium-term goals — the strategic direction if you like. Yes, I know strategy is usually viewed with a three- to five-year-time horizon, but be realistic; you’re new to role, so get it moving fast.
- Pressure-test these goals. Make sure to informally discuss them with team members, individually at first. What you need to test is that if these goals are achieved, they will satisfy the stakeholders who are most important to your team. They also need to satisfy your team, but that is secondary.
- Are they acceptable to your team? As said, they don’t have to like them, but they do need to accept these goals and be willing to play their part. If they reject them, are you really in a position to drive through? Probably not, so be sensible.
Along the way, you will also have been collecting ideas about how to achieve these goals. Now your job is to quickly pull all the threads together around your decision and create a one-page document to summarise the vision, goals and actions you believe to be necessary in order to deliver the performance required.
Now you are ready to lead, so go to it!
The Gautrey Influence Blog
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