On Becoming a First-Time Leader

Every year, thousands of books and articles are written about leadership. Most are written for the benefit of seasoned leaders. Few tackle what is required when transitioning into a leadership role for the first time.

New leaders can feel anxious, confused, overwhelmed and insecure. This struggle that new leaders face is the norm, not the exception. When confronted with these realities, many conclude they have risen to their level of incompetence. They fear being ‘found out.’ The truth is, they are great people in new positions just struggling to make the transition.

Organizations make a common mistake – they promote to leadership roles based on effective individual performance. The assumption is that great individual performers make for great managers. That can be true but often it isn’t.

We see this time and time again in professional sports. Often the best coaches were not the best players; and the best players don’t always become great coaches.

It doesn’t take long for new leaders to discover that their new role is a stretch assignment. It’s harder than first anticipated and more demanding than ever imagined.

New leaders find out very quickly that the skills enabling them to succeed as an individual performer and those required for leadership are radically different. The pain point is noticing the gap between current competencies and the overwhelming requirements of the new role.

Here are three shifts new leadership need to embrace for their new role.

Shift from Doing to Delegating. The best individual performers are doers. They set goals, clarify objectives, develop a work plan and make progress. By contrast, leaders accomplish results through people not from individual effort and expertise. Delegating is much more than assigning tasks. It requires getting to know the strengths and passions of your people and assigning responsibilities that will be intrinsically motivating.

Shift from Clock to Compass. Individual performers try to beat the clock every day by getting more done in less time. Efficiency is the name of the game. Leaders focus on the compass, not the clock (thanks Stephen Covey). The leader’s responsibility is setting the right direction and course correcting as you go. Leaders know that making more and more progress while heading in the wrong direction isn’t helpful and can be disastrous. As such, leaders keep their gaze fixed on the direction the organization is heading and collaboratively course correct as needed.

Shift in Time Horizon. One of the hardest things to do when you take on a leadership role for the first time, is to focus on a longer time horizon. Employees work on the sustaining operational agenda and execute their work within the normal increments of time – daily, weekly, monthly. Leaders, however, focus on the strategic agenda which means working on the system not in the system. Leaders work from a longer time horizon because the nature of their work is organizational change and change takes time.

Taking on a leadership role for the first time can be an overwhelming experience. It’s easy for new leaders, especially young leaders, to interpret the experience as a failure or evidence that one is not capable of the new role. That’s often not the case. Usually, the adversity new leaders go through is the normal and healthy period of transition necessary to go to the next level. If that’s you, embrace it and see this time of your life as a gift from God and an incredible opportunity to grow and learn and become more of who He created you to be.