Top Tips for Newly Appointed Leaders

Congratulations on your new role

Whether you have been recruited externally or promoted from within, a new leadership role can be lonely and daunting. These tips will keep you on track, remind you of those things you already know, and maybe some things you don’t.

13 things to focus on in your first few months

Confidence

In the first few months of a new role, it’s fair to say your confidence levels are going to fluctuate from day to day. The key is to develop a strategy that helps you reconnect with times when you've felt capable and confident. This might be a picture, a phrase or a piece of music that acts as a useful reminder.

Relationships

Determine who you need to build relationships with quickly. This will include your boss, key team members, your peers and/or certain clients.

Make sure you have regular meetings with those on your list in the first few months, build rapport, find out what is important to them, and manage their expectations.

Openness

It can be tempting to stay relatively quiet in the first few months while you find your feet and assess how the new culture, new team and new role work. Making an impact means you need to be visible, gathering information, sharing your thoughts and ideas. Although you don’t want to wear your heart on your sleeve, being appropriately open can help create the conditions for others to communicate openly with you and support the development of trust.

Winning together

Encourage your team to go the extra mile, work towards gaining commitment from everyone to strive for common goals. You will want to set goals that benefit the organisation, the team and the individual.

How will you get your team on board? What will motivate them to engage with your vision? Understanding what matters to the people around you can help you build commitment and engagement. Celebrate and acknowledge achievements with your team.

Networking

Take every opportunity to network, make connections, and raise your profile.

You don’t need to be the life and soul of the party; just be visible, build rapport with those around you, ask questions, be genuinely curious and listen carefully to find out what makes others tick. Taking a genuine interest in others can help you build stronger working relationships.

Clarify expectations

It’s better to find out sooner rather than later what is expected of you, and share what you expect of others. As you move into a leadership role, you may be expected to take greater responsibility for setting direction and making decisions. Your new team will also want clarity about the direction you are taking and how they fit in. Make sure it’s well thought out and communicated clearly.

Optimise results

The early months of a new role are an opportunity to build credibility and demonstrate how you work. During your first 100 days, consider what meaningful early priorities or achievable wins could help you and your team build momentum.

What is your success being measured on? What goals do you need to set in order to set the pace, build credibility and give you and your team confidence?

Authenticity

To be an authentic leader, it can help to understand what your leadership values are. What’s important to you in your role as a leader? For me, authenticity is about being genuine, following through and acting in accordance with your values.

Self-awareness is important, particularly in acknowledging your weaknesses as well as your strengths. Do you have the courage to say what you really think? Can you admit to making a poor decision? Are you open to others’ views and opinions?

Coaching

As a new leader, you will want to ensure your new team is empowered and motivated to contribute to the productivity of your department and achieve results. A coaching style can encourage people to recognise their strengths, take responsibility and develop their own solutions.

Listen, question and listen again. Encourage your team to think for themselves, to come up with their own solutions.

Health

You will be on a steep learning curve for these first few months; therefore, it is important to look after your energy and wellbeing. Remember to get enough sleep, take lunch breaks, eat healthily, leave the office at a reasonable time and make time for exercise. This is a good time to set your boundaries and let those around you see how you will be working to maintain good health.

Integrity

How you influence those around you will depend in part on your actions. Treat others as you want to be treated, listen with respect, be open to the views of others, act in accordance with your values, and follow through with action. Your early actions will help shape how colleagues come to understand your leadership style.

Learn when things don't go to plan

Things don’t always go according to plan. Mistakes happen, poor decisions are made. Before you get out the big stick to beat yourself up, or feel the temptation to blame someone else, it’s OK to put your hand up and accept responsibility where appropriate.

When something doesn't work, consider what you can learn from the situation and decide what you will do differently next time.

Getting balance

A new role can be all-consuming, and there will always be the temptation to take work home, work late, check and send emails in the evenings and at weekends. How you manage your workload and free time in the early days will be setting the expectations of those around you. It may be harder to change in six months.

Consider what boundaries you need to put in place now. Who do you need to communicate this to?