Have you ever been in a situation where you were asked to step in and lead a team you were once part of as a peer?
Making this transition from team member to team leader can be a tricky one. You go from being one of the group; hanging out at lunch or in the break room, to being “management” and the relationship changes. At times this feels like an overnight transformation as your once“lunch-buddy” group is now treating you like an outsider.
How do you navigate this situation? Are there some ways to make it easier?
Here are some tips for managing your former peers that can help things transition more smoothly. By the way, these tips apply to ALL LEADERS very well:
Address the change immediately and openly. Share your excitement to earn the respect of your team.
Acknowledge that your relationship with former peers has changed.
Accept that there may be mixed feelings about your promotion: people may be happy for you, at the same time, wondering what they were not selected to receive the promotion.
Meet with each team member privately and ask what issues or concerns the person may have.
Engage each team member – learn what excites, motivated and inspired him or her.
Show that you deserve the promotion by demonstrating the skills, knowledge and abilities that go along with your new role.
Focus on earning people’s respect, not being everyone’s friend.
Be your authentic self: don’t radically change your behavior.
Resist the urge to share information inappropriately. True friends will not force you to choose between friendship and career.
Be honest about what you know and don’t know.
Be willing to listen for understanding and value other’s opinions.
Do not treat your friends on the team differently than how you treat others.
Deal with tension by speaking directly and privately with former peers.
Be physically and emotionally present during interactions.
Include your skeptics in decision making; take initiative to turn them into supporters.
Be understanding. Give former peers time to adapt to your new role on the team.
How would you describe a strong leader? In one leadership study, qualities such as assertiveness, adaptability, intelligence and conscientiousness were cited as the most important. “Research clearly shows that transformational leaders – leaders who are positive, inspiring, and who empower and develop followers – are better leaders,” explains psychologist and leadership expert Ronald E. Riggio. “They are more valued by followers and have higher performing teams.”
So what can you do embrace these characteristics and become a better leader? Transformational leaders are usually described as enthusiastic, passionate, genuine and energetic. These leaders are not just concerned about helping the group achieve its goals; they also care about helping each member of the group reach his or her full potential.
Consider some of the following tips for how to become a better leader and think about ways that you can implement these strategies in your daily life.
1. Learn More About Your Leadership Style
Understanding your current leadership style is essential. What are your strengths? Which areas need some improvement? One way to start assessing your skills is to take a DiSC Assessment to get a general idea of how you lead. Once you have completed the DiSC, read about the major characteristics of your dominant style. Are these qualities helping or hindering your leadership? Once you’ve determine which areas need some work, you can begin looking for ways to improve your leadership abilities.
2. Encourage Creativity
Intellectual stimulation is one of the hallmarks of transformational leadership. Followers need to be encouraged to express their creativity. Effective leaders should offer new challenges with ample support to achieve these goals. One way to foster creativity is to offer challenges to group members, making sure that the goals are within the grasp of their abilities. The purpose of this type of exercise is to get people to stretch their limits, but to not become discouraged by barriers to success.
3. Serve As a Role Model
Idealized influence is another of the four key components of transformational leadership. Transformational leaders exemplify the behaviors and characteristics that they encourage in their followers. They walk the walk and talk the talk. As a result, group members admire these leaders and work to emulate these behaviors. If you want to become a better leader, work on modeling the qualities that you would like to see in your team members.
4. Be Passionate
Would you look to someone for guidance and leadership if they did not truly care about the goals of the group? Of course not! Great leaders are not just focused on getting group members to finish tasks; they have a genuine passion and enthusiasm for the projects they work on. Start by thinking of different ways that you can express your zeal. Let people know that you care about their progress. When one person shares something with the rest of the group, be sure to tell them how much you appreciate such contributions.
5. Listen and Communicate Effectively
Another important characteristic of transformational leadership involves a focus on providing one-on-one communication with group members. Good leaders should express sincere care and concern for the members of their group both verbally and nonverbally. By keeping the lines of communication open, these leaders can ensure that group members feel able to make contributions and receive recognition for their achievements.
6. Have a Positive Attitude
Transformational leaders have an upbeat, optimistic attitude that serves as a source of inspiration for followers. If leaders seem discouraged or apathetic, members of the group are likely to also become uninspired. Even when things look bleak and your followers start to feel disheartened, try to stay positive. This does not mean viewing things through rose-colored glasses. It simply means maintaining a sense of optimism and hope in the face of challenges.
7. Encourage People to Make Contributions
Let the members of your team know that you welcome their ideas. Leaders who encourage involvement from group members are often referred to as democratic or participative leaders. While they retain the final say over all decisions, they encourage team members to take an active role in coming up with ideas and plans. Research has shown that using a democratic leadership style leads to greater commitment, more creative problem-solving and improved productivity.
As a small business owner, I’m always trying to learn from the experience of other entrepreneurs, and that happens most often through reading their books.
If you find yourself with some downtime over the holidays, here are the top 10 books I buy in bulk and regularly recommend to clients and colleagues. Read them in any order – this just happens to be the order that I discovered them!
1. Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham
One of my all-time favorites, Small Giants changed the way I looked at growing my company and inspired me to connect with owners of like-minded companies to learn how to create a culture of ownership, trust, and passion for greatness.
2. A Slice of the Pie: How to Build a Big Little Business by Nick Sarillo
Many entrepreneurs feel tied to every element of their business, because they can’t seem to let go and trust in their employees. This book taught me how to build a culture of trust and accountability through education, training, tracking, and process – and changed my way of thinking about my responsibility as an employer to educate and nurture the development of my team.
3. The Great Game of Business, Expanded and Updated: The only Sensible Way to Run a Company by Jack Stack
Most business owners would never dream of opening the financial books up to their employees, but this book may change your mind! Creating a culture of financial intelligence can cultivate a sense of ownership and responsibility in every employee. We started implementing Open Book Management at Whole Brain Group in 2011, and it has transformed the efficiency & profitability of our company.
4. A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business (Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading) by Ari Weinzweig
The first of three books written about leadership, this book teaches the power of creating a clear, shared vision of greatness in your company. Once everyone is clear about where you’re going, you can make faster and better decisions – following the 12 “Natural Laws of Business” that every leader should embrace when trying to build a great business.
5. Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow
If you’re seriously thinking about selling your business, or just fantasizing about it after a particularly bad day at work, Built to Sell will help you take an objective look at what needs fixing before others can recognize the value you’ve built in your company. Once you make your punch list and start fixing things, you may find that you don’t want to move on after all!
6. Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman
Most of the drama and lost productivity inside companies is due to the lack of a clear vision and misalignment of teams. Gino’s book outlines a process for defining your company vision, clarifying priorities, and maintaining traction to move your company forward. Implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System was so successful at Whole Brain Group that it’s now the foundation of how we work with our clients on marketing & sales strategy.
7. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
It’s nice to read a book that honestly discusses the experiences of women in business, and the feelings many of us have about leading. I’m used to being in the minority at conferences and business meetings, so I had stopped noticing some of the things Cheryl points out. This book made me think about the culture at Whole Brain Group, and take steps to make sure we aren’t inadvertently perpetuating learned behaviors among men or women.
8. Why is Everyone Smiling? The Secret Behind Passion, Productivity, and Profit by Paul Spielgelman
Think that having fun at work and caring for employees is bad for your bottom line? Think again! Paul’s book describes the culture at Beryl, a company that was built on the principle that employee loyalty drives customer loyalty, which in turns drives profits. Applying concepts from this book helped Whole Brain Group improve our level of service and increase revenue from existing customers by 50%.
9. Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series) by Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan
If you can’t seem to generate the leads and sales you need to support your revenue goals, inbound marketing may be the answer! Dharmesh and Brian describe how to develop a strategy and process for attracting prospects, converting them to customers, and encouraging them to become evangelists for your company. This book is required reading for all of our customers!
10. Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into A Sales Machine With The $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com by Aaron Ross
If you’re frustrated with your sales team’s performance, it may be because your structure isn’t aligned with the strengths of your team members. Aaron’s book describes how to reorganize your sales roles and revamp your process & tools to align with how buyers are making decisions today. This book is a great companion to “Inbound Marketing” by Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan (above).
I’d love to hear your thoughts on these books, or suggestions you may have for my list!
Q: What is the best way to transform your workplace?
A: Inspire your workforce.
When people hear the word innovation, they often think about game-changing, market-creating inventions such as personal computers or smart phones. But innovation can encompass any new idea that positively influences a company’s bottom line–including incremental improvements in ordinary operations.
Your front-line employees, steeped as they are in day-to-day processes, may be your best source of such innovative ideas. How can you empower them to create change without causing chaos? Here are a few tips for putting the wheels in motion:
Align employee contributions to shared goals. Before you can even elicit solutions from employees, you must underscore the importance of their role in making your company’s strategic plan a reality. Share these goals at every level and show employees how they can contribute to their success. Telling a factory worker, “You need to increase sales by 10%,” isn’t very motivating, but by saying, “We need to find ways to optimize production to reach our sales goal,” you’re helping to inspire innovation through teamwork.
Give employees permission to question the status quo. Innovative organizations embrace a culture of open communication, in which employees are encouraged to offer ideas and question inefficiencies and rewarded for their suggestions. In such a culture, “because we’ve always done it that way” is not an acceptable response to questions. These companies encourage not only vertical interaction but horizontal as well by forming cross-functional teams to break down silos and solve problems.
Provide a conduit for ideas. It’s not enough to have great ideas. There must also be a process for gathering, evaluating, funding and implementing them. Team members must know how to propose ideas, and groups–often a cross-functional committee–should convene on a regular basis to give each idea consideration and determine which ones merit funding (if necessary) and implementation. The decisive factor should, of course, be their effect on the bottom line and how closely they align with overall strategy.
The rewards of empowering your workforce to become agents of change go beyond just process improvement and innovation, allowing your employees to experience a sense of shared purpose that can invigorate the entire organization.
What strategies have you utilized to empower your employees? Please share in the comments below!
Zig Ziglar was an iconic expert on complete and balanced success, and in Born to Win! Find Your Success Code,his last book before his passing, he shared his winning philosophy: that you have to plan and prepare to win, to succeed-and the strategies to go with it.
In this excerpt, he shares a short list of the characteristics that he believes comprise success:
What Success Is:
1. Success is knowing that you did a great job when you close the door to your office at the end of each workday and head home.
2. Success is having a home and people to love who love you in return.
3. Success is having the financial security to meet your obligations each month and the knowledge that you have provided that security for your family even when you are no longer around.
4. Success is having the kind of faith that lets you know where to turn when there seems to be no place to turn.
5. Success is having an interest or hobby that gives you joy and peace.
6. Success is knowing who you are, and whose you are.
7. Success is taking good care of yourself and waking up healthy each day.
8. Success is slipping under the covers at the end of the day and realizing with gratitude that: “It just doesn’t get much better than this!“
You can see straightaway from this list, that success is defined by more than one sentence. Success involves the whole person, and if you skimp on one area, you will limit your success.
As important as it is to think about what success is, it is also very important to think about what success isn’t.
What Success Isn’t:
1. Success isn’t missing dinner with the familyseveral times a week because of working excessively.
2. Success isn’t rushing home from work and hiding out with the TV thinking: “After the day I’ve had, I need my space!”
3. Success isn’t about how to make more money when you already have more money than you can spend.
4. Success isn’t about going to church and ignoring everything you hear.
5. Success isn’t all work and no play.
6. Success isn’t about being so busy that you live on unhealthy fast food, served to you through little windows.
7. Success isn’t spending mental energy worrying about late projects, being home on time, your health, missing your child’s school play, being able to pay your bills, or finding joy in your life.
8. Success isn’t texting while you drive to catch up on your overloaded schedule.
Question: Which of these do you do? Be honest with yourself!
Have you ever been in a situation where you were asked to step in and lead a team you were once part of as a peer?
4. Success is having the kind of faith that lets you know where to turn when there seems to be no place to turn.