“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
– Jack Welch
Taking over as a new leader can be a big challenge, whether it’s your first time, or simply your next time. These posts will ensure that your first steps are ones that set you on the path to a great leadership experience.
“Have you experienced New Manager Nightmares?” You are going about your business when suddenly a new manager walks in. A dark cloud seems to blot out the sun, reality distorts, work grinds to a halt, and nothing seems normal anymore. What you may be experiencing is a new manager nightmare. …
New Manager Nightmares: 11 Creepy Leaders and How to Avoid Morphing Into One Read More »
“In any leadership interview, they are going to ask about your experience. What if you don’t have any?” Everyone has to start somewhere. Moving up in the organizational hierarchy often involves taking on a formal leadership role. But if you haven’t had one before, how you respond when they ask …
Leadership Interview: 7 Ways to Talk About Leadership Experience When You Don’t Have Any Read More »
What is it about leading experienced people that makes it so challenging? They know more than we do. They have been there longer. They already have their ways of doing things. Then we walk in and we’re expected to tell them what to do, and when to do it. We …
Leading Experienced People: How to Overcome 3 Dilemmas That Make it Hard Read More »
Why should we care about the difference between manager and leader? I was having coffee with a new friend last week. He had been recently promoted to his first supervisory position. As we talked about the challenges he would face, we found ourselves discussing the differences between a manager and …
What’s the Difference Between Manager and Leader, and Why Does It Matter? Read More »
What’s the secret to building influence? Becoming more influential is actually a pretty simple matter. But simple doesn’t mean easy. One evening not too long ago, someone gave me a brief demonstration of how to go about building influence, and showed that any of us can do it, if we …
Whether it’s your first leadership position or your fifty-first, taking over can be a challenging business. One key to success? Don’t start out by answering questions; start by asking them. Today we’ll talk about four new leader questions you should ask, and how to get the answers so that you can lead …
New Leader Checklist: 4 Questions to Ask if You Want to Lead Effectively Read More »
Your first days as the new leader of a team can be a challenge – new faces, new places, the fire hose is on and you are definitely drinking in as much as you possibly can. And even as all this is happening, you are anxious to make a good …
They made you a new manager. Now what? Whatever you did to become a new manager is probably not enough to help you be successful there. Leading well is a skill set of its own. To help you make the adjustment successfully, it helps to have a plan. In this …
6 Steps You Should Take Immediately as a New Manager Read More »
On a chilly Sunday evening recently I watched a young man take his first successful steps as a leader. It reminded me that leadership doesn’t need to be complicated or hard. And if you follow the same five simple steps to lead that he did, your chances of success are …
Congratulations – you’ve just been promoted to Team Lead! What’s the bad news? It’s the same team you’ve been on. How are you going to lead your friends? One of the hardest things to do as a leader is to lead your peers. When you all come from the same starting …
Leading Your Friends: 9 Ways to Lead Your Former Peers Read More »
The air is screaming by outside at 120 miles an hour, the ground is receding in the distance, and the weight of your parachute and equipment seems to be pulling you down. Your heart rate is up, there’s a little tremor in your hands. The risks seem real, but everyone …
Leadership is challenging enough when you know what you are doing. But when your teammates happen to have more knowledge or experience than you do, it can get a little tricky, especially in the early days. It’s OK, though – it turns out that there are lots of ways to …