How To Go From Manager To Leader

admin

4 years ago

You’ve been a great manager for a long time now, but are you also a good leader?

The skills and behaviors required are different, but you can progress from manager to leader. It took me about 2 years as a manager to realize where I was going wrong. I realized that, while my team was meeting all their objectives and deadlines, they required a lot of my time and didn’t communicate much with each other to get important information. I finally learned that — to be a leader — I needed to behave very differently than I did as a manager. A lot of the leader behaviors were very counterintuitive at first, but once I just trusted it was the right path, I saw an immediate change in the behavior of the people on my team.

Let me show you how…

How To Go From Manager To Leader

1. Focus on Improvement (not Perfection)

As a manager, you often feel the need to always be perfect and show no weakness in front of your team and others. You are the boss, after all! What will your direct reports think if you mess up?!

Well, trying to be perfect all the time is exhausting. So much focus goes to meeting artificially high standards and not showing weaknesses.

However, everyone makes mistakes. Even a manager. Even the CEO. Everyone. So, all this effort is a waste and detracts your focus from where it needs to be!

Great leaders demonstrate how you pick yourself up when you fail, how you admit your errors and learn from them with grace.

By doing this, you make it safe for others to bravely take on their development areas, choose riskier projects, and allow them to focus on doing great work (instead of pretending to be perfect all the time). You’ll turn good employees into great ones. THAT is leadership!

2. Ask (vs Tell)

One of the biggest areas of growth from manager to leader is the art of coaching. As a leader, you should not be simply telling someone how to do their job. And, certainly, you should not be doing the work. Even if it’s easier just to tell someone what to do, or to do all of the work yourself, that is not your job as a leader. Your job is to help employees learn how to succeed on their own.

How do you do that?

Well, you that by letting them figure things out for themselves. I know, I know. It sounds very counterintuitive…let me explain…

If one of your direct reports needs help or guidance, managers often simply tell them what to do to get it done. While that may be helpful in the short term, in the long run, you’re preventing him or her from learning how to solve their own problems. To go from manager to leader, you need to teach your direct reports “how to fish.” They need to learn how to solve their own problems and get access to information they are seeking from you.

To do that, you should avoid telling them the answer to their questions. Instead, ask them some guiding questions such as:

What have you done so far to learn this skill?
Who else could you talk to about this?
What information would be helpful to you?

If you ask these questions, you promote the employee’s ability to fish for himself or herself. Over time, the employee will become more independent, which benefits both the employee AND you.

For me, this was the hardest thing for me to learn on my leadership journey. It’s so hard to “sit on your hands” while you see others struggling or being inefficient. It’s just so easy to say “just do this” or “let me do it for you.” But, in the long run, you will find how much harder it is when you take this route. You end up with employees who are dependent on you and, ultimately, this makes your life harder.

3. Focus on Tomorrow (not Today)

Managers tend to be focused on what needs to get done today and ensuring everyone is on track with their deliverables. While that is necessary, focusing too much time on the work your employees are doing today may result in your neglecting planning for the needs of the future.

Leaders pave the way for his or her team for the future. If you’re not focused on how your team will meet future challenges, secure resources, and grow important skills, then you’re not setting your team up to be successful in the future.

Take some time to reflect every month (say, the first of the month). Think about how you spend your time, perhaps even track it in the coming month. See how much time is focused on today’s work vs. future planning and re-adjust accordingly.

4. Solve a Problem (instead of Complaining)

Is there something you’re not happy about at your company? Do you not have enough resources? Does a cross-functional team never meet their deadlines?

That is pretty common in many companies. Often, you find yourself complaining about it. Managers simply focus on the gaps and figure out how to get the work done accordingly (which is important). To be a leader, you should do something to solve it!

Leaders need to rise above challenges, not get bogged down in them. They need to lead the way through unchartered territory. So, instead of complaining about an issue, become a leader and do something to solve it!

5. Influence (vs. Dictate)

Often, managers feel the need to “tell people what to do.” They get caught up in assigning work and deadlines to people.

Well, most great employees can decipher what key things need to get done and prioritize accordingly. So, your job as a leader is to influence them in the right direction (not tell them what to do). You need to give the right vision, context, and support the employee in determining his or her path forward.

Leaders need to get many people to believe in them and follow their direction. The basis of their success depends on influencing others.