Effective Leadership Strategies for New Managers

The first management job can be a milestone for a career but the next pivots might not be so easy. For senior leaders and talent chiefs, seeing new managers graduate into evolving leaders is not as simple as a traditional one-size-fits-all approach will allow.

Strategic leadership can facilitate qualitative changes for frontline employees, helping them align with the goals of the company. Here are five tips for new managers to become more effective in their roles.

Communicate openly

Without going too far, the new manager needs to be encouraged to be open and direct with their team – discussing issues, giving feedback and sharing organisational news. The employees feels assured that the suggestion has been heard, even if the suggestion was not implemented at the exact moment. It is always more productive for employees to work in a welcoming environment that pays attention to their ideas. New managers should be cautious with their vocabulary, however, and remember to avoid the customary work slang or idioms that may not be familiar to team members and could become a barrier to the collaborative process and stall open dialogue. It can be difficult to avoid such nuances entirely, but being reflective in your attempts to be clear will likely help. New managers could also plan regular one-on-one meetings for formal discussions with employees that can reduce miscommunication and help ease tensions.

Build trust

Working in any kind of environment requires trust. When there’s no trust for leadership, employees feel threatened by their security and can’t focus fully on their jobs – which leads to drama, miscommunication, and conflict in the office, and, ultimately, fewer results. Good faith helps them, especially new managers, to create an environment in which it is safe to have suggestions and express opinions without fear of negative feedback. Second, keep promises. Do what you say you will do, or say what you will do, but don’t make vague promises. Be as specific as possible. Third, set meaningful goals for them individually, so that everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing. New managers must become what is called a situational leader, in which they adjust their style to the needs for the team in the moment. It means keeping an understanding of the present culture and politics of the company, and knowing how to delegate tasks and allocate resources to projects.

Empathize

One must Know thyself Aptitudes indispensable: · empathy: to appreciate the feelings of other persons, to walk in their shoes, is invaluable for leading teams made up of staff who are able to empathise with their workmates, thereby compelling all the staff to give of their best to the team dictum. The best leaders are capable of empathy and responding to it. They are therefore sensitive to signs that one or more of their team members is suffering because of mental health or family issues, establishing open communications channels, increasing transparency and – when confronted with difficult decisions – chopping off heads indiscriminately because, while not fun, they deserve to be done well. Empathetic leaders can then expand from the empathy to compassion when they take concrete, practical steps – such as giving the employee extra time off, or just listening in an affected co-worker through a period of grieving – to reduce the suffering of the individual who is experiencing hardship. Their ultimate goal is to help the employee grow through, not simply get past, adversity.

Listen

In an effort to engage employees and create a team atmosphere, new managers learn to listen and demonstrate empathy. Listen for words, tone and body language that will help you gauge whether someone’s words are more than just wordy. Revisit the same points in every conversation to signal to them that you are not only paying attention but also trying to follow them, and then try to take advantage of anything they may say again to ask clarifying questions on points that still did not make sense. Employees who feel that their leaders are receptive to their comments will be more willing to engage in discussion, and provide a manager with frank feedback, which can ultimately help the leader make better decisions and address business problems. For instance, if an employee constantly shows up late to work, it would make more sense to address the problem at its core, than to just punish the employee itself.

Encourage personal and professional growth

Any new manager should also see themselves as new in a leadership position, and take a proactive approach to understand how their presence in the office affects employee morale, productivity and satisfaction with their job. Lastly, for new managers, any kind of formal management training offered by the organization should be grasped and taken in as they learn all the ins and outs, but also mentoring outside of the organization. New managers should take decisions in an open-minded, listening way and seek as much relevant team feedback as possible when making them, which both increases the likelihood of team buy-in and allows decisions to be made on the best possible information. Nor is it a good idea for managers to get too personally involved with employees under their charge. Building up deep personal relationships with subordinates may affect the nature of the relationship, blurring the boundaries of what is to be seen and addressed as professional vs personal in a way that demands a greater level of maturity than many new managers are likely to be in possession of yet.