Starting a new position in a company always comes with some level of uncertainty. You have to adapt to the style of work, understand the processes, and possibly learn new skills.
What if this new position is now a leading role you did not have previously? It's a chance for personal and professional growth, a journey that may bring pressure and uncertainty but also immense learning.
Here are some tips on what helped me when faced with a similar scenario.
1. Rethink Your Responsibilities
Moving from a team member to a team leader does not usually happen overnight. However, it is still a big change in your responsibilities and expectations.
For me, the most important thing to understand was where my new priorities lie. As such, I had to sit myself down and think about the process by answering questions such as:
- How much of the work I did previously am I supposed to output now?
- How much time will I spend on leading my team?
- What type of support do they expect from me?
- Which types of tasks should I pass down to the team instead of handling them myself?
It is all quite self-explanatory, but when moving from a functional to a leading role, things might get a bit mixed up. Being a team leader is a multiple-hat role, but this does not mean e a doing-everything role.
And from personal experience, it is really easy to go down that slope. All you need to do is say, 'I’ll handle that' one too many times.
2. Adjust Your Process
Once I had a clear understanding of my new responsibilities, I needed to review and set up a process that would fit them.
It took me a few tries and even going on a short vacation to gain perspective on how things should be done. But I think I am slowly getting there.
The keyword being 'getting there'.
What I would love to have done differently? I should have spent more time on this in the beginning instead of trying to continue with my old tasks on top of the new responsibilities.
As a new team lead, I will still need more time to feel fully confident in the process or will likely learn that it is never perfect, just right for right now. And that is what I am working with.
Of course, having a visual collaboration tool on hand is quite beneficial and helps me see how things are or aren't moving along.
3. Expand Your Skillset
My last piece of advice is to continue learning and improving.
Again, this may seem too simple, but too many of us forget how important it is to keep on learning past that initial phase of change.
What helps me in this case is keeping the learning diverse. You have multiple resources such as courses, conferences, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other channels for people leading their own teams.
Most importantly, do not forget those working within your own company. They have immense knowledge of your industry and operations. Which gives you quite an advantage as a successful leader.
Also, here is a handy post on developing timelines and roadmaps.
To sum up, I am still on the path of learning to be an inspiring and efficient leader to others, and surely there will be many challenges ahead. But for now, these are the tips that helped me feel more confident in the first few months and I hope they will help you too.
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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