New To Leadership? My Lessons In Becoming A Better Leader

Leading others is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Stuck Between a Rock and Regained Time

At the crossroads of too many things on your plate and knowing others won’t be as effective as you at getting these things done?

Well, I hope so. Otherwise, I don’t know why you clicked on this article 😂

Jokes aside. Most people in my shoes always envision themselves as a leader.

What kind of leader you’ll be is up to you.

How you lead, will be as well.

Some things that come with the territory are working with a team that’s looking to you for guidance; Needing to delegate to that team; Keeping people motivated and invested; and Being the person who has to make the tough decisions sometimes; Among many other things.

Another thing you may realize is that you’re often the one best suited to take on most tasks.

That doesn’t mean that you should do all of those tasks.

That brings me to the thing that terrifies me every time.

“But if I let someone else take the task it likely won’t be up to my standards.”

Recently, I learned a lesson on how to combat that.

It’s more of something that you have to accept than do.

Things are going to get a little worse before they get better.

The task may take a little longer. It may not be up to your standards. They may have to go back and try multiple times to get it right. These are among a list of many things that may go wrong.

With time, this will go away.

You’re building an extension of yourself. Your ideas, your philosophies, your ideals, your standards, your way of doing things.

They’ll learn what you’re looking for and be able to contribute in their own way with time!

Trials of Becoming a Leader

If you’re like me, you’ve likely realized that the position unfortunately didn’t come with a manual. There are many different types of leaders as well.

Some are lead-by example types. Forging the path and showing others how to follow suit.

Some are micromanagement types. Staying on top of the task at hand and making sure that all of the components are on target.

I’d like to think I’m the former. Although, neither of these types is essentially “right”. They have their strengths and weaknesses.

There are also several other leadership types. Servant leaders, authoritarian leaders, ones that love team social events, some that you never see.

For all of these, there was a period of time when they needed to start delegating tasks.

Personally, I don’t like telling others what to do. I’m not the type to accept help unless I really need it either.

I know, two great qualities of someone who needs to direct others 😅.

I’ve been working on this, and my pivot point was a great piece of advice that I got from one of our Technical Executives.

Ask for favors.

This plays with a few things from my perspective. For me, it lets me get around “Telling others what to do.”

I also have the ability to let the person get personally invested. Let them know why I need this, rather than what and how to do what I need.

Give them the ability to make the task their own. Let them express their individuality. Guide them. Don’t reprimand them.

You’re not just getting a task done. You’re helping another person add to their achievements and skills in their own career.

We’re learning how to empower others, not boss them around.

What Do I Give Away?

The golden question.

I’m not 100% sure to be honest with you. I can tell you what’s been working for me so far and why.

Tasks that might be a little out of their comfort zones — I want to be personally invested in the careers of the people under me. I want them to grow to get better and be able to take on more complex tasks. This way as I grow they can grow under me.

Tasks that will allow them to shine — I remember getting cool projects from my mentors and being so happy that they let me execute their plans. Now, I have the chance to return the favor to others. Have a great idea but don’t have the time to execute it? Let them take it and advise them. Pivot your focus to selling the idea to those who may need it while it’s being built. Work as a tandem.

Things that highlight their strengths — If there’s anything that anyone likes, it’s doing things that they’re good at. So, let’s give them just that. Give them something they personally would want to do.

Something that you’re good at — This one took me a little while to understand. I love doing proof-of-concept work and building an application from there. What I can do instead is come up with the proof of concept and hand it off from there. I can also bring them through my process of coming up with a proof of concept for something useful. My favorite is someone telling me something can’t be done or is too difficult to do.

As awkward as delegating can be. It can also be a super powerful tool to wield if you get the opportunity.

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