Key to success for a new manager
Being new to a management role can be both an exciting and daunting experience. The key to success lies in building strong relationships with your team, understanding the group dynamics and communicating your vision clearly. It is also important to be open to learning from your team and to be receptive to feedback. It’s about finding a balance that works for you and your leadership. Finding the leadership style that suits you and your team.
First steps as a new manager:
Building relationships:
Schedule individual meetings with each team member to get to know them. This includes talking about their professional background, current role in the team, and their future ambitions. Focus on understanding each member’s unique strengths and weaknesses. This can help you better allocate tasks and create more effective team constellations. It is also important to know what your team members aspire to in their careers so you can support their professional development and increase their engagement and job satisfaction.
Set clear goals:
Make sure that each team member understands the overall goals of the team and their individual goals and how these contribute to the success of the organization. For example, use the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) criteria to formulate and communicate goals. This makes it easier for team members to understand and achieve their goals. Regulate and encourage continuous feedback on progress towards these goals, which helps to keep the team focused and motivated.
Remain accessible:
Encourage a culture of openness where team members feel comfortable approaching you with questions, concerns or ideas. Schedule regular meetings or check-ins with your team to discuss ongoing projects, challenges and opportunities for improvement. Be not only a manager, but also a mentor and advisor. By actively supporting your team members’ development, you create a strong and loyal team.
Taking these first steps as a new manager will help you build strong relationships with your team, set clear goals and create a culture of openness and accessibility. This lays the foundation for successful leadership and a productive work environment.
Sustainable leadership: Building for the future
Sustainable leadership focuses on building a work culture that supports the long-term growth and well-being of both individuals and the organization. This means creating a work environment that is both productive and healthy.
Strategies for sustainable leadership:
Promotion of work-life balance:
Encourage a work-life balance to prevent burnout. It is important that you as a manager respect the boundary between working hours and your employees’ private time, as you as a manager set the tone for your work group. Establish that there is no expectation that your employees are available outside working hours.
Establish a learning culture:
Promote professional development and growth within the team by focusing on continuous improvement and everyday development in their professional roles. Learning does not have to involve full-day courses, but can also be done on a smaller scale on an ongoing basis. Help your team define their development goals and find ways to promote continuous development in their daily work through podcasts, webinars or books, for example. Of course, courses can also be booked, but a lot of learning can also be done on a daily basis.
Responsible decision-making:
As a leader, you should always aim to make decisions that are ethically sound and benefit both the company and its employees in the long term. This means avoiding short-term gains that could have negative consequences in the future.
Positive leadership: Inspire and motivate
Positive leadership is about creating an environment where team members feel valued, engaged and motivated. It is a leadership style based on encouragement, recognition and support.
Elements of positive leadership:
Uppmuntra innovation: Skapa ett klimat där nya idéer välkomnas och uppmuntras.Give constructive feedback: Give regular feedback in a way that is encouraging and forward-looking.
Building team spirit: Fostering a sense of belonging and community within the team.
Avoid bad leadership: Recognize and fix
Poor leadership can have a profoundly negative effect on a workplace. Not only does it undermine team morale and productivity, but it can also lead to higher staff turnover and lower engagement. It is important to be aware of the signs of poor leadership and take action to correct such behaviors.
Signs of poor leadership:
Lack of communication:
One of the biggest challenges of poor leadership is the lack of clear and regular communication. This can range from organizational goals and expectations to feedback on individual performance. When communication is insufficient or unclear, it can lead to confusion within the team. This in turn can result in wrong decisions, duplication of work and a general sense of insecurity among employees. To combat this, leaders should strive to be open, transparent and consistent in their communication. Regular meetings, clear instructions and an open door policy can be effective methods.
Weak decision-making:
Leaders who are hesitant or uncertain in their decision-making can quickly lose the trust of their team. This can manifest as an inability to make decisions or a pattern of constantly changing decisions. Inconsistent decision-making, where similar situations are handled in different ways for no clear reason, can also be a problem. This leads to uncertainty and legal uncertainty among staff. Developing a clear and consistent decision-making process is crucial. This includes gathering relevant information, consulting with key people and communicating decisions and their reasons clearly to the team.
Ignore the needs of the team:
Ignoring or under-prioritizing the needs and opinions of the team is a clear sign of poor leadership. This can include anything from not listening to feedback to failing to recognize and appreciate employee contributions. Leaders who do not take into account the opinions and well-being of the team risk creating a work environment where employees feel undervalued and ignored. An effective way to address this is to regularly collect feedback from the team, either through meetings, surveys or informal conversations. Acknowledging and acting on this feedback is crucial to building an inclusive and respectful work culture.
Management vs Leadership: Balancing the roles
To be a successful leader, it is important to understand and balance the distinct roles of management and leadership. While managing focuses on handling tasks and organizing resources, leadership concentrates on inspiring and motivating people.
By effectively balancing these two roles, you can maximize your effectiveness as both a manager and a leader. This means having the ability to manage daily tasks and challenges, while inspiring and motivating your team towards common goals and visions. Such a balance is essential to create a sustainable and successful work environment.
Closure
Being a new manager means navigating a complex role with many dimensions. By integrating principles of sustainable and positive leadership, and avoiding common pitfalls of poor leadership, you can build a strong foundation for both personal and professional success. Remember that management and leadership complement each other, and that success often lies in skillfully balancing these roles.
