Starting your first leading role requires understanding and adapting to the diverse needs, expectations, and personalities of those being led. Key aspects include choosing a leadership style, effective communication, stakeholder analysis, evaluating your team, emphasizing body language, managing challenging situations, setting goals, and following the seven steps of success. Building relationships, setting priorities, planning, clear communication, seeking feedback, and continuous learning are critical components of becoming an effective leader.
Table of contents
Abstract
1. Leadership
2. Communication
3. Analysis of stakeholders
4. Evaluate your team
5. The importance of body language
6. How to manage challenging situations
7. Setting your goals
8. The seven steps of success
9. Checklist
Abstract
Starting your first leading role requires understanding and adapting to the diverse needs, expectations, and personalities of those being led. Key aspects include choosing a leadership style, effective communication, stakeholder analysis, evaluating your team, emphasizing body language, managing challenging situations, setting goals, and following the seven steps of success. Building relationships, setting priorities, planning, clear communication, seeking feedback, and continuous learning are critical components of becoming an effective leader.
1. Leadership
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” (Sinek, 2017)
With this quote from Simon Sinek, who also inspired me to become a leader while reading his book “Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t”, I want to encourage you to engage in the profession of leadership and to read the following manual, which I made explicitly for young leaders aiming for or starting their first leading position.
Leadership is a multifaceted concept that encompasses the ability to inspire, motivate, and guide individuals or groups towards a common goal or vision. It involves a combination of skills and traits, such as effective communication, empathy, resilience, adaptability, and strategic thinking. Great leaders are able to navigate complex situations, foster a positive and inclusive environment, and empower others to take ownership and responsibility for their actions, driving performance and success. Additionally, leadership styles can vary significantly, ranging from autocratic to democratic, servant, and transformational.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of leadership relies on understanding and adapting to the diverse needs, expectations, and personalities of those being led, fostering a culture of mutual respect, collaboration, and continuous growth.
In order to succeed as a leader, it is crucial for somebody who is starting their first leading role, to decide for the leadership style, which is best suited for the leader as well as the respective team.
From my own experiences I can tell that, if you lead a team of highly skilled, educated and motivated professionals, a transformational leadership style will be suitable for most situations when “business as usual” is taking place.
Nevertheless, if headwinds occur and times get rough, some more autocratic elements in leadership might be necessary to be applied in order to ensure the success of the organization.
As most often in life, it depends on the people involved and the current situation the specific organization is in.
2. Communication
Effective communication is one of the most important skills a leader can have. As a leader, you need to be able to clearly and concisely convey your ideas and expectations to your team. Here are some key things to keep in mind:
1. Be clear: Make sure your message is clear and easy to understand. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that your team may not be familiar with.
2. Be concise: Keep your message short and to the point. Rambling on can cause confusion and make it difficult for your team to understand what you're trying to say.
3. Listen: Communication is a two-way street. Make sure you listen to your team's ideas and concerns, and take them into account when making decisions.
4. Be approachable: Encourage open communication by being approachable and receptive to feedback. Your team should feel comfortable coming to you with questions or concerns.
5. Follow up: After communicating with your team, follow up to ensure that everyone understands what was discussed and what is expected of them.
It is a critical skill for leaders, as it has a direct impact on their ability to inspire, motivate, and influence their team members. Mastering various communication styles and techniques enables a leader to convey their vision and expectations clearly, foster an environment of openness and trust, and promote a culture of collaboration, feedback, and continuous improvement. Furthermore, strong leaders recognize the importance of emotional intelligence and empathy, actively listening to their team's needs, concerns, and aspirations, and adapting their communication to different situations, personalities, and cultural backgrounds. By embracing transparent, consistent, and authentic communication as a leader, one can effectively navigate the challenges of modern organizations, drive their team's performance and satisfaction, and leave a lasting, positive impact on their professional and personal lives.
3. Analysis of stakeholders
Stakeholder analysis is an important tool for understanding the interests, needs, and concerns of different groups that are affected by a company's operations.
Taking a look at scientific literature concerning the stakeholder analysis, David Krips divides the stakeholder analysis into 9 steps:
1. Identify all stakeholders
2. Identify the interests and goals of all stakeholders
3. Identify the characteristics of all stakeholders
4. Analyse the stakeholders and prioritize them
5. Analyse possible coalitions
6. Analyse strategies of the stakeholders
7. Set your strategy and evaluation
8. Set up an iterative monitoring
9. Check your achievements
(Krips, 2017, p.12)
In my opinion, this extensive approach by David Krips can be applied in complex projects with various stakeholders and be crucial for success within those projects.
However, when it comes to leading teams I want to narrow it down for you to the following five steps:
10. Identify stakeholders: Start by identifying all the groups that have a stake in your company, including employees, customers, suppliers, investors, regulators, and local communities.
11. Prioritize stakeholders: Once you have identified all the stakeholders, prioritize them based on their level of influence and interest in your company. This will help you focus your efforts on the most important stakeholders.
12. Understand stakeholder needs: For each stakeholder group, try to understand their needs, interests, and concerns. This can be done through surveys, interviews, or focus groups.
13. Analyze stakeholder relationships: Consider how different stakeholder groups interact with each other and with your company. Are there any conflicts or areas of overlap that need to be addressed?
14. Develop a stakeholder engagement plan: Based on your analysis, develop a plan for engaging with different stakeholder groups. This may involve regular communication, consultation on key decisions, or partnerships to address shared concerns.
Stakeholder analysis, as a crucial aspect of leadership, plays a significant role in the success of projects and business ventures. A leader must accurately identify, evaluate, and prioritize the various stakeholders involved, taking into consideration their interests, expectations, and potential impact on the outcome. By engaging in open communication, fostering collaboration, and balancing the diverse needs of different stakeholder groups, a leader ensures that all parties are actively involved in the decision-making process. Moreover, an effective stakeholder analysis enables a leader to mitigate risks, leverage support, and allocate resources efficiently, ultimately paving the way for smoother implementation of plans and strategies.
In conclusion, stakeholder analysis is an invaluable tool for leaders aiming to attain their organizational and personal objectives while maintaining strong relationships with all relevant parties.
The stakeholder analysis is an ongoing process that should be revisited regularly to ensure that your company is meeting the needs of all its stakeholders.
It is advisable to repeat the stakeholder analysis, after decisive involved parties change.
4. Evaluate your team
As a leader, evaluating your employees is an important part of managing their performance and helping them grow in their roles.
What really helped me was again a quote from Simon Sinek, who describes the difference how to look on skills and attitude in his book “Start with why: how great leaders inspire everyone to take action” as follows: “You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.” (Sinek, 2011)
By following this quote I managed to gain some highly motivated career changers for my team, who others within my organization would have rejected due to their currently missing job skills. But as it turned out, those skills could be taught very quickly by the existing team members and myself as a team lead. The career changers performed very well and became highly respected members of the organization.
To set a guidance, here are some key things to keep in mind when evaluating your employees:
1. Set clear expectations: Make sure your employees understand what is expected of them in their roles, including specific goals and performance metrics.
2. Provide regular feedback: Regular feedback is essential for helping employees understand how they are performing and where they can improve. Schedule regular check-ins to discuss progress and provide constructive feedback. Personally, I recommend to do this once every month. This has been one of the first things I did introduce after becoming a leader within my teams.
3. Use objective criteria: When evaluating employee performance, use objective criteria such as sales numbers, customer satisfaction ratings, or project completion rates. This will help ensure that evaluations are fair and consistent.
4. Identify strengths and weaknesses: Identify each employee's strengths and weaknesses, and work with them to develop a plan for improving their skills and addressing any areas of weakness. In my experience, most employees are eager to learn and thankful for appreciative feedback when carried out in a trustful environment as in a confidential monthly meeting.
5. Recognize achievements: When employees meet or exceed expectations, recognize their achievements and provide positive feedback. This will help motivate them to continue performing at a high level. Never underestimate the power of positive feedback when it comes to employee motivation and always keep it sincere and straight.
Remember, that employee evaluations should be a continuous process, rather than merely an annual occurrence. Through consistent feedback and guidance, you can foster growth and success within your employees' positions.
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- Quote paper
- Christian Kohnle (Author), 2023, A short manual for young leaders. How to start with your first leadership role, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1339790
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