Making an Impact as a Leader

“I have a new role as a manager and want to make an impact as a leader. How can I go about achieving this?”

Good leaders capture your attention, harness your motivation and lead you in a particular direction.

This ability can be broken down into specific attributes and behaviors to help us understand in more depth why some people make good leaders. 

What are their main attributes and behaviours you admire in a good leader? Is it self-confidence, great communicator, charismatic, knowledge and experience, ability to clearly define and articulate their vision, proactive, resilient, authentic, credible, honest, worthy of your trust, courageous and committed? It is important to understand we do not all naturally display these behaviours and attributes. 

As a new manager that wants to create an impact we can certainly adopt some very hands on practical skills that help you to lead your team which collectively will make a positive impact.

Tips

1. Establish an atmosphere of openness and honesty in all you do to promote trust. As a role model you will be watched by your team members and the behaviours you display will then become acceptable for others in your team to do the same. Being open and honest encourages others to do the same. This improves communication, understanding and promotes a more positive trusting environment. Remember, the behaviours you walk past are the behaviours you accept, both positive and negative.  
2. Get to know your team members as individuals and their role in the team. Schedule weekly or fortnightly one on ones with each team member. These meetings provide you with a wonderful opportunity to obtain essential feedback from your team members and the space for you to provide feedback to them. It can be as simple as talking about what has worked well, what needs to be improved and how. These meetings support point 1 whilst providing a constructive way to learn about and improve your leadership style.
3. Clearly and succinctly advise the team what the company’s vision, values and expectations are of you, the team and the individual team members. Then work with your team to determine and plan how this will be achieved. People typically are more committed when they know and understand why they need to do what they do. They tend to take ownership, responsibility and accountability. When clearly articulated and acknowledged by all, it provides the essential ingredients for direction and purpose.
4. Listening is the best way to gauge the temperature of your team. You learn so much more by asking good questions and listening with 100% focus on the speaker allowing nothing to distract you. This is being truly engaged and it will be felt and respected by those you communicate with.
5. Advocate your team to others. Your team will be very happy to hear you talking positively about them to others. It will give them a sense of pride and reinforce their purpose and commitment. When people hear and know a team is collaborative, cohesive and happily working together, they will want to be a part of the team.

When you actively and purposely engage in these activities in a positive and constructive manner people will perceive you as a leader. You will be worthy of their trust. You will make a positive and constructive impact as a leader.

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Tags

• Employers
• Leadership
• Workplace
• Power
• Culture