21 Things New Leaders Should Do
Leaders must make tough decisions, and the most successful leaders understand there will be consequences from those choices.
One of the best ways to motivate and inspire your team is by being willing to show vulnerability. Show them you’re human and accept that mistakes happen – this will show they trust you more!
1. Know Your Value
Leaders must recognize their worth to others and communicate it clearly through actions like results-focused efforts and showing humility. Leaders without confidence in their skills won’t be effective and may struggle to be successful.
Leaders must take time to get acquainted with all new team members as soon as they join. Leaders should listen closely and consider all ideas presented by team members; too often leaders assume they know everything without listening properly to what their teammates have to say.
Personal values are an effective way for new leaders to define themselves and establish themselves. Values help set priorities and set long-term goals; for instance, a new leader might decide that flexibility and creativity are among their top values that they wish to embody in their job responsibilities; additionally, leaders must always be willing to sacrifice for these ideals.
2. Know Your Role
Leaders are those who help others overcome challenges. That holds true whether you lead a large corporation, lead a small group or an entire organization.
But in order to succeed, it is essential that you clearly understand both your role and expectations associated with it. For this to work effectively, a clear, manageable, and well-communicated vision of expected outcomes from team members must exist.
At the core of it all lies an acknowledgment that no single individual may possess all of the answers. Your team members probably possess more expertise than you in certain areas; be open-minded enough to listen and absorb this new knowledge. That is how great leaders emerge: by accepting both their weaknesses and strengths while not being afraid of questions and change.
3. Know Your Responsibilities
Roles and responsibilities definition is essential to workplace success, as it allows employees to understand their work scope more clearly, leading them to greater productivity while decreasing errors or mishaps.
Clear responsibilities help teams to focus on what they are responsible for without spending unnecessary time trying to do everything else. They also prevent team members from trying to take on additional tasks outside their remit and creating confusion or conflict within the group.
At Trainual, we review each team member’s responsibilities twice each year to ensure all responsibilities remain up to date and meet company goals. In doing so, it helps identify any areas where team members may be having difficulty fulfilling their responsibilities and make appropriate adjustments as necessary.
4. Know Your Team’s Needs
Acknowledging your team’s needs may seem like extra work at first glance, but it is absolutely crucial for the success of any leader. Doing this will allow you to form a powerful group who are working toward common goals while being content in their workplace environment.
As part of one-on-one meetings, ask your team members what they require from you in order to be successful at their jobs and what assistance might help them overcome obstacles that are keeping them from reaching their goals. Doing this also shows them that you’re human too and have personal struggles of your own.
Encourage your team members to open up about any personal matters with you in an open and supportive manner, which can build trust between both of you. This will lead to stronger bonds.
5. Know Yourself
Understanding yourself can be one of the most powerful assets in your leadership toolbox.
Before diving in to identify your core values and personal strengths and weaknesses through journaling or consulting a therapist.
Make time to listen to those around you, including team members. Listening will enable you to gain valuable feedback and information that will improve your leadership abilities and ultimately help make more effective decisions; listening also builds stronger relationships among team members who will more readily respect and trust you.
6. Know Your Value
Recognizing your value helps you form strong opinions and develop a moral compass, keeping true to your principles even during difficult times.
Leaders that inspire team members to innovate, test new ideas and push themselves out of their comfort zones are key components to team success. Additionally, great leaders ensure their team feels safe experimenting and making mistakes; teams hesitant to do so are unlikely to achieve long-term success.
Leaders often must make difficult and often agonizing decisions, sometimes with life-altering consequences. Leaders must live with the outcomes of these choices and be unafraid of taking risks to further organizational goals. Leaders know their own personal success is tied directly to that of their team’s, so when things don’t go according to plan they take ownership for any mistakes that happen and move forward without fearing the repercussions.
7. Know Your Purpose
Establishing a clear purpose is integral to effective leadership. It helps you focus on what’s important while sidestepping distractions. Furthermore, it enables you to identify passions that motivate you towards reaching them.
Leaders driven by purpose don’t allow fear of failure or insecurity to hold them back from taking calculated risks and exploring ideas, even if some fail; they simply take lessons learned and try again later.
If you don’t know your purpose in life, think back on times in which you felt an inner sense of meaning and fulfillment – such as childhood events such as playing on your school basketball team or helping a lost tourist find their way – as well as volunteering and helping those in need. Consider looking to world leaders, celebrities or public figures as sources of guidance as inspiration.
8. Know Yourself
Acquiring an understanding of yourself is an integral component of leadership. Understanding your personal values, strengths and weaknesses are crucial in moving forward successfully in any leadership journey. Personal assessment tools like StrengthsFinder test or consulting with a therapist may help provide more clarity as you gain more of an idea of who you are as an individual.
Great leaders spend considerable time cultivating self-discipline. Additionally, they recognize the value in learning from others; therefore they take full advantage of seminars, coaches, networks and other resources available to them to further their growth.
People are naturally drawn to charisma, so it’s vital for leaders to demonstrate their personalities. Unfortunately, pride, insecurity, moodiness and cynicism can hinder charisma. A positive outlook and the right mindset are keys to overcome such roadblocks to charisma. By making personal development a priority, you will become an even more effective leader!
9. Know Your Value as a Person
Leaders who understand their value understand their impact on those they lead, such as understanding their strengths and weaknesses in order to address any areas where there may be areas for improvement, as well as sharing knowledge so that everyone benefits.
Leadership requires having a healthy sense of self-worth and believing they are equal with their peers, whether that’s at work or in their personal lives. This is essential for effective communication between team members as it enhances leadership by enabling leaders to clearly and effectively articulate what their message is, inspire others through mentoring or training programs or simply by listening – which are all vital for project or organizational success. When recruiting new team members it’s best to hire for attitude and culture compatibility rather than specific skillset.
10. Know Your Value as a Leader
Keep a clear understanding of your values to streamline decision-making faster and simpler. Check every action, decision or plan against your leadership values schema to make sure they align.
Good leaders accept full accountability for their actions and decisions, even when things go awry. Instead of assigning blame or offering excuses, they know leadership should focus on meeting goals while helping others do the same.
Wise leaders understand their own strengths and weaknesses, which allows them to confidently delegate tasks that don’t match up with their expertise. Furthermore, they recognize team member talents and give them opportunities to expand upon them – this creates a collaborative and supportive work environment where all parties involved have an incentive to succeed. Leadership is all about giving and receiving value; therefore the more aware one becomes of oneself’s worth the better off they will be in leadership.
