REWARD
“The art of leadership isn’t only about showing how well- informed and competent you are but needs to focus far more on building trust by helping your team members realise their full potential and unique individual strengths”
establish a different kind of relationship. All too often new, inexperienced team leaders face up to the challenge of establishing their credibility with old peers in two equally ineffective ways. They either resort to “command and control” tactics, such as the “just do it, I’m the boss” style of leadership, or act as if nothing has changed. First-time managers who successfully navigate this transition, do so by being honest about the change of role. And rather than seeking to justify or ignore it, make clear that their focus is on the needs and aspirations of the team, and the individuals within it. Talking to all team members individually, and actively seeking out their thoughts, perspectives, feelings and needs will help to air any tensions and difficulties. This also highlights the manager’s ambitions as a leader, using a collaborative, consultative approach to do so.
trust among team members. Leaders need to show transparency and encourage it in team members, so that specific and constructive feedback can be offered. The result of this is greater commitment and goodwill among team members, and very often, an enhanced degree of confidence and self-awareness among them, including the new leader. Those are the elements which help people develop and learn as individuals, and support and understand each other better as a team. In essence, this is the ultimate measure of a new leader’s credibility and success, not just their ability to meet individual targets and show competence and subject knowledge. It’s equally, if not more, important to have the understanding and skills to engage with a variety of individuals with varying personalities, needs and challenges, and to help them come together as an effective, collaborative and powerful unit. In other words, a high-performing team.
F or many people, being promoted into a management position for the first time can be daunting. Consequently, they may find themselves facing a series of significant but often unforeseen challenges that leadership presents to the inexperienced. These are challenges which, if left unresolved, can result in high stress, seriously damaged relationships with team members and a great deal of wasted time. Gaining credibility Leadership isn’t necessarily about knowing more than your team. Of course, it helps if new team leaders, or in fact, leaders on any level, know their stuff. However, being an expert on any area of knowledge isn’t what leadership is about. It’s not difficult to see why the “expert” as leader may very often run into difficulties within just the first few weeks of occupying the new job. While having informed ideas and being able to provide in-depth analysis of any problems on the horizon is certainly an asset, it isn’t the same thing as running a motivated, high-performing team. The art of leadership isn’t only about showing how well-informed and competent you are but needs to focus far more on building trust by helping your team members realise their full potential and unique individual strengths. Without that focus, team members become rapidly demotivated and disengaged – after all, if the boss provides all the answers all the time, what more is there for any of them to do? And how will they ever learn anything or prevent themselves from getting bored? While it’s tempting to be the “know it all” leader who fixes everything, it can be a turn-off and demotivator for others. Sooner or later, they’ll detach and withdraw their energy and effort. At which point, they may find that they’re now a team of one. Managing old peers Another challenge new leaders face is building trust when the people they’re managing were once their peers. They must now redefine their role with them and
Listening to, reflecting on and giving feedback
Leaders who learn to listen well, reflect openly and take on board team members’ perspectives and ideas are leaders who’ll excel in motivating their team to give their best. Skills such as providing specific feedback, and inviting new ideas and perspectives through explorative questioning, require humility, self-reflection, versatility and a strong ability to work in collaboration with others. More importantly, leadership isn’t just about communication with team members to encourage and energise them. It’s also about acting upon the feedback given. This can be frequently overlooked. Inexperienced leaders who welcome their team members’ ideas on the surface but are secretly thinking they don’t agree, or that they have a better solution, may often quietly “park” those suggestions and deliberately ignore them. The opposite of this can be just as damaging. Some new leaders forget to acknowledge and recognise team members’ input, or worse, publicly take credit for the ideas as their own. It’s not hard to see how this can erode
PROFESSI NAL in Payroll, Pensions and Reward
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June 2025 | Issue 111
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