You’ve recently been awarded a promotion over your teammates. You’re scared to death because you’ve read that co-workers don’t respond well to those that have been promoted over them. The general mentality is that now you have a different title, you’re above them, better than them.
The great truth is that someone above you saw something in you that s/he didn’t see in your teammates. Take a second, breathe and pat yourself on the back (just for a minute) for the recognition. Now, take a bigger breath and walk into the first day of your new role, confident that “you’ve got this.”
You can promise your new team that “things won’t change.” But, that would be false, things have already changed. You can promise them that the dynamic will be the same. But, that would also be false because the dynamic changed when your title changed. What you can promise them that won’t be false is that you acknowledge the change, acknowledge their concerns and listen to their input and feedback.
Knowing your audience will help you tremendously. Even if you are in a newly hired position instead of an internal promotion, ask questions about the team. What have been the issues, what are the particulars of each member and how do they interact. Having this knowledge ahead of time will allow you to be more cognizant of all moving parts. It will also help you in learning how to adjust your leadership style to appeal to the whole as opposed to the individual parts.
You may have any one of the following personality types in your new group of direct reports: a self-discipliner, an energizer, a dreamer, a communicator, an innovator, a rationalizer, a facilitator and/or an evaluator. Within these personalities, they also may have completely different learning styles. Learning styles vary from the practical learner, intellectual learner, creative learner and intuitive learner. Now what? How will you lead them all successfully?
Hello? First, come out from underneath your new desk so you can observe, interact and empower all of the personalities and learning types to interact as a group. Second, once you’ve done this, you will be able to begin building a stronger team. Your new team. You, as the leader, are responsible to facilitate cohesiveness. Leading by example, being hands-on when possible, observation and active listening will be your best friend!
Words of advice? Don’t make false promises. Do listen, observe, remain a hands-on, active, member of the team and empower them to be their best. Through this, you will gain their respect. You will also see the team, your new team, surpass your expectations. Now you can really pat yourself on your back and do a happy dance (behind closed doors of course) because they’ll want you at the happy-hour once again.