FIRST-TIME LEADERS – TRANSITION TO MANAGER

“My expectation is my team member work, and I will enjoy the designation. I will make only boss around. I’m the Manager. I’ve worked enough to reach here. I no more intend to slog further.” 

The failure of a leader is because he fails to lead by illustration. You can’t be a leader only by giving advice. You should be able to stand up to demonstrate when required and handle the psychologies of the team member well.

Self-discipline is hard to sustain when people look at you as a leader. 

Punctuality, Body language, choice of words, Attitude, Integrity thoroughly, knowledge, interaction, motivation – a sustained approach in all these is a challenge for the leader unless it is his way of life or he is willing to adopt it without the downtime.

Further, leadership transition should possess the maturity to choose between speaking and silence at the right time—the topics for silence and the issues to speak about. The thought process should rise to talk about integrity and efforts essential in the job and company to peers and subordinates.

An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.

It applies in all contexts.  Engaging an employee in productivity is very important. Else he will engage in office politics and life outside the office and prioritize them over time. The control is lost. The employee is reluctant to involve entirely in the job. But the root cause is not known by the Manager.

Again micromanagement is not the solution. But micro-level analysis and emotion management are. A manager’s role is more time-consuming than an individual contributor’s.

Sucheta Gour

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