Why Becoming a Leader of Managers is a Recipe for Disaster 

Imagine you’ve been in a leadership role for two years.

You reached your goal to become a ‘manager’  

“Wow, the hard work paid off”  

But you quickly found management to be a whole new world, and all your effort to succeed in your prior role didn’t translate into leading people successfully.

It’s taken two years to grasp the basic principles and navigate the intricacies of building trust and leading people.  

Then the opportunity comes for a promotion, and you think, “I’ve done this for two years, and I’m still going; surely it’s the next step”.  

Boom.

You become a leader of managers.

You’ve got this, right? 

Leaders often struggle in their first management roles due to insufficient development and support from their organisations.

This article aims to highlight the challenges leaders face at the next level, becoming a leader of leaders and suggests some simple yet impactful strategies to ensure you put your best foot forward. 

Developing Leadership Skills and Building Relationships 

From day one you’ll face similar challenges to when you became a leader for the first time.

You’re managing your peers, the people you stood beside in the same role, some of which potentially applied for the role you’re in and were knocked back, what do you do?  

The stakes are much higher now.

Previously, as a manager, when managing employees, if you upset someone, it generally only reflected in their own performance.

Now if your relationships with your leaders are struggling, it could impact the performance of their broader team. 

To avoid this, rip the band-aid off by having a very kind yet candid initial one-to-one with each direct report.

Announce the elephant in the room and ask them openly how they’re feeling.

Listen to their thoughts, feelings and concerns. This is not the time to respond, but to understand.

Take it all in and make a note to frame all short-term future discussions with their thoughts and feelings in mind.

Make the one-to-one all about them.

Find out how you can best help them succeed, how you will apply yourself in helping them achieve their professional goals and your vision for the success of the team both in the short and long term. 

The most impactful thing you can do short term is build trust with each of your team members and, in turn, show them that they have your trust.

Highlight the importance of trust in the relationship during your initial one-to-one, and what it means to you as a leader, then look for opportunities to build trust where you can.

One of the easiest ways to do this is by having integrity.

Do what you say you will, when you say you will. It doesn’t matter how big or small, always honour your word.  

Alongside trust, the greatest thing you can do for your team is be an effective communicator.

Sounds simple, right?

Nope!

According to a Harvard Business Review article, a poll of over 2,000 people, including more than 600 managers, revealed that nearly 70% of managers struggle with employee communication, highlighting a significant gap in leadership effectiveness.  

The best tip here is to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Learn how to frame difficult conversations and seek to find effective feedback and communication templates to employ within your operation.

Being an effective listener and communicator means doing things most other managers shy away from. 

Strategic Thinking and Decision-Making  

As a leader of leaders, you no longer have the issues of your team to keep front of mind, you have the issues of their team members also.

You’ll become a master of prioritisation and delegation.

By listening to your team, you’ll have a list of challenges impacting your short-term objectives, and the ones that can be put off for another day.

Understanding and reorganising this list should be the first thing you do every day. 

When deciding which challenges take priority, you should have a clear idea of your 80/20 activities, these are the activities that can be broken down into: 

• The 20% of your tasks that produce 80% of the results (highly productive) 

• The 80% of your tasks that produce 20% of the results (highly unproductive) 

Give the highest priority to the tasks that – when completed – remove a large percentage of your other problems or move you significantly further toward your objectives/goals.

Go down the list every morning and prioritise accordingly. 

When the time comes to make significant decisions or solve problems relating to the management of your team, it’s time to build trust and delegate.

You have capable adults reporting into you, it is not your job to dictate how they do things, it is your job to collaborate, delegate and guide your team to make the best decisions for the collective.

As the leader of leaders, 90% of your role involves the coaching and development of your direct reports, and the best way to do that is to involve them in the big decisions, allow them to fail safely, and as a team, learn from the mistakes. 

Driving Performance and Accountability 

Performance output should be the last thing on your mind. If you can manage to stay consistent with the first principles of masterful leadership, high performance will be a byproduct of the work you’re doing.

A productive operational cadence, effective and impactful communication, strong and trusting relationships and a collaborative culture will get you further than any dictatorship ever could.

If you find yourself telling (barking orders) more than asking (collaborating), you might be better off reflecting on your leadership ability first.  

Coaching and development objectives should be team-driven.

You need the ability to frame difficult conversations effectively, run impactful coaching sessions, set energising goals and expectations, and Identify the hidden superpowers of your team members and help them use these to their advantage.

Your focus is to guide each team member to build their own unique and inspiring leadership style. 

Conclusion  

There is nothing intricate or complicated about being a great leader. Great leadership is a blend of purpose, empathy, transparency, candour, vision, and integrity.

By integrating these first principles, inspired by thought leaders like Simon Sinek, Ray Dalio, Brené Brown, Richard Branson, and others, you can create a positive, productive, and innovative team culture.

These principles emphasise the importance of understanding and motivating people, maintaining ethical standards, and continually striving for personal and team growth.

Without them, you’re cooking up a recipe for disaster.