Leadership Tips for New Managers
15 June 2021
Leadership Tips for New Managers – 3 Essentials
No matter where you are on your career ladder, an unexpected opportunity can come your way at any time. Today you may be minding your own business, just going about your job. Tomorrow you may be put in charge of your team, asked to lead them to achieve their goals. But we’re not all born leaders, even if such a thing really exists.
Good leadership qualities are highly prized by recruiters who want to hire the best talents to manage their organisations. And there is no doubt that top-performing businesses hunt for employees with proven leadership experience. But many organisations promote from within, and look for leadership potential in their junior staff.
Whether you’re taking your first steps in management, or dreaming of becoming the CEO, developing your leadership skills can be the key to success. Here are our three essential leadership tips help make sure you’re ready when those management opportunities come knocking.
Remember relationships
It’s easy for leaders to think they don’t need to be loved in the workplace. This may be true to some extent, after all real leadership is not a popularity contest. However, every great leader will want to build healthy relationships with their subordinates. And this is certainly true if Dwight Eisenhower’s quote is your choice of leadership definition:
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
Learning how to build effective relationships is a critical leadership skill. Relationship building is one of John C Maxwell’s qualities of a leader. It’s also the bedrock of high-performing teams. Creating effective relationships develop a sense of cameraderie, purpose, commitment and, perhaps most importantly, engagement. In one Gallup study on employee engagement, it emerged that one of the key benefits was a 21% increase in productivity.
Prioritise passion
Leaders who step up to top positions with the sole intent of enriching their wallets risk running into trouble, including failure. So, the second of our leadership tips is to do it for other reasons, such as intrinsic rather then extrinsic benefits. Sure, tangible rewards are important, especially when you are starting out as a manager. But to get the most from your career you need to remember, the most rewarding management jobs aren’t all about the money. For example, seeing the benefit in simply helping others develop will give you far more job satisfaction than that bigger, corner office.
Passion-driven managers embrace their responsibilities with open arms because to them, the welfare of others comes before anything. On the other hand, money-minded leaders may show selfish attitudes to work, and their behaviour can make other team members unhappy, de-motivated or disengaged. Even worse still, you may lose the people you really want or need. But never forget, they are probably leaving bad managers, not the companies they work for!
Learn to love learning
Of course, understanding the demands of the position and learning more about how to do it are important for new leaders and managers. But developing a learning mindset all through your career is the last of our leadership tips. At the very least you’ll want to keep abreast of developments in leadership and management in general, and in your specific field in particular. You can do this in several ways, such as by networking, reading reliable sources, or joining professional and trade bodies. Don’t overlook the informal learning to be had from within the organisation you’re with. For example, one of the key elements of our ‘T-Break’ model is talking through ideas with others. This aimed at getting valuable feedback on specific projects but can also provide valuable insights into broader management and leadership issues.
Lifelong learning will also probably involve formal professional development. This can take the form a range of activities offered by HR developers within your organisation, such as:
- Continuing employee education
- Training & development
- Certifications and diplomas
- Software education
- Workshops and courses
- Coaching and/or mentorship
Your continuing learning may come via programs offered outside of your employment, such as a standard or online MBA, offering a good grounding in the basics of management and leadership. Or you be in need of a more specialised qualification, to help you develop more specific skills and knowledge. For instance, learning about the latest digital marketing techniques, or getting up-to-speed on emerging tech threats via cyber security courses. Since much is expected from managers and leaders in the modern workplace, adopting a lifelong learning habit is essential. The advanced knowledge this brings will help you harness your leadership skills, making you more effective and proficient, and helping to future-proof your career.
Leadership Resources
For more leadership resources look at our great-value guides. These include some excellent tools to help your personal development plan. The best-value approach is to buy our Leadership bundle, available from the store.
We’ve bundled together these five e-guides at half the normal price! Read the guides in this order, and use the tools in each, and you’ll be well on your way to achieving your personal development plan. (6 guides, 167 pages, 27 tools and 22 insights, for half price!)
- Leadership Essentials
- Defining Leadership
- Leading Insights
- Leading with Style and Focus
- Transformational Change
- Making Change Personal
>> Return to the Leadership Knowledge Hub