To those who worked on my 1st team... IāM SORRY! Advice I wish I had at 25 managing my first team!
"The true test of leadership is not how many followers you have, but how many leaders you create" - R. Sharma
Recently Lynn & I were talking with a manager who's struggling to get engagement from her team & feeling like she has to constantly be micromanaging. Our discussion quickly shifted to the difference between leading, managing and when to use either skill. We realized two very important things:
First, reflecting on our 20+ years of leadership, one of the most impactful shifts in our careers was learning the difference between managing & leading. Both are very important skills to understand & master. Knowing when to use one, the other or both will set you apart as a leader.
Second, we realized this is advice we REALLY wish we had as 25 year old, bright eyed & bushy tailed managers, who didn’t realize there was a difference.
Management is a title. Leadership is your influence & presence. You don’t need a title or even a team to be a leader.
When developing & coaching your team:
Managers tell more than they ask & leaders listen more than they speak.
Getting things done:
-Managers make sure the team knows what to do & how to do it.
-Leaders ask questions & give guidance to empower their team to make decisions about what needs to get done & how to do it in their own style.
Problems & challenges will come up. How you find a solution is handled differently:
-When you are managing someone, it is easier to teach or 'just solve the problem'.
-As a leader your role is to ask questions to clear a path for them to find solutions & address challenges in their own style.
With guidance they will find solutions in ways you could never expect.
Don’t let your ego fall prey to the glory of being the ‘savior’.
Knowing when to help & solve vs guide & be present is key to your evolution as a leader:
-Managers are often seduced by the need to be the savior for the team.
Solving the problem yourself, doesn’t encourage them to come up with creative solutions in the future.
-Leaders know the difference between solving problems with, not for, their team. Making yourself available and present with them, encourages your team to come up with solutions, allowing them to stretch, grow & hopefully prevent the same situation again in the future.
It may not feel natural at first, it's like learning a foreign language:
-Managing is like learning Spanish, easier in the beginning & gets harder if you take on more of your team’s challenges yourself.
-Leading is like learning French, if done correctly, it's a little more confusing & more time consuming in the beginning, but gets easier as you allow your team to prosper & grow.
Don’t rush the process, have patience with yourself.
Lynn & Katie
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Post NOT written by AI
