Six Guidelines for Future Team Leaders

Our updated list of tips for prospective team leaders now includes additional information about leading teams and working remotely in 2024. These tips will help you develop your leadership skills and build and maintain a productive, cohesive team.

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You could have a lot on your plate as a new team leader.

Whether you’re taking over an existing team or beginning from scratch, managing a team for the first time might be scary. Personal experience isn’t a good starting point for anything. If you’re a new team leader, you’re probably either thrilled about the chance to take charge or considering quitting, or perhaps a combination of the two. Furthermore, more and more teams are embracing a hybrid approach that combines remote work and in-office and at-home work. The new leaders of today have a great deal of work to do.

1. Allow ample time for leadership

To be effective, team leaders need to dedicate time to their positions. Too often, this task is just added to someone’s already long list of things to accomplish, which sets up the new leader for failure.

A team leader needs to be present and eager to help the group. Creating a pleasant work environment and community is part of your new leadership role. If you’re too preoccupied with crucial, practical tasks for yourself, you won’t be able to assist your colleagues as much. Therefore, take sure to assess and renegotiate your workload before taking on a leadership role in the first place.

2. Get to Know Your Group

At the heart of leadership is the ability to influence people to achieve objectives. You’ll have trouble with this if you don’t learn about your team members’ motivations. Remember that your objective is not to flaunt your ego, despite the temptation to jump straight in and make brave choices right immediately.

Take the time to get to know your team members; find out about their aims and concerns; share ideas; and identify potential benefits and drawbacks. You can only then develop a leadership plan that has a chance of succeeding. Getting to know your coworkers is the first step to developing a solid rapport with them and gaining their respect and trust. The adage “listen twice as much as you speak” still holds true in this situation.

Speak with your team, especially the those who might be struggling. Once or twice a week, brief check-ins lasting ten to fifteen minutes are effective for new team leaders. Additionally, you may schedule “office-hours” on your calendar so that others can come to you for help or simply to chat.

3. Continue to communicate. Continue to communicate.

After your team is operational, communication is crucial for building relationships, assessing results, and recognizing risks and challenges. This is extremely helpful for managing remote teams, as employees may get separated in their own little work bubbles. When new team leaders communicate often and clearly, they usually observe an increase in team engagement. They do this because they see how much time you devote to them and how interested you are in their interests.

Keeping in close communication may also enhance the quality of the conversations on your team. For instance, you have more authority to specify roles and responsibilities precisely so that everyone knows what has to be done, why, and by when. Even though it might seem obvious, don’t assume that everyone knows as much as you do about the project.

Encourage and welcome new ideas. The more your staff can contribute to the project, the happier they will be. Tell your team members that you value their contributions when they do well. In the future, your team will react faster, be more content, be more productive, and feel more capable of taking the initiative on tasks and projects.

Engaging with your team is a process that has to be balanced and carefully thought out. It may be simple for new team managers to check in too frequently or overcompensate for the remote work environment, which can erode team productivity and foster mistrust. Offer true and truthful assistance.

4. Lead by Example

Think about the behaviors you want and expect from your team members. Make sure you exhibit these traits. As the team’s leader, you set an example for the group, and your actions and words will affect their attitudes and work habits. That being said, it is essential to be genuine and self-assured. If you fake it, you risk losing credibility and trust as soon as your genuine identity is exposed.

Be passionate, honest, and direct. You will receive the same treatment in return if you treat each team member fairly, politely, and without favoritism. Be courteous to the other members of the group as well. In front of the group, never insult or denigrate other individuals or departments. Make it clear that everyone is working toward the same goals and success in the end.

5. Acknowledge the negative (and ugly) and express gratitude for the positive.

Reward and recognize outstanding effort when it is due. Giving your employees verbal praise may go a long way toward letting them know you appreciate and acknowledge their achievements, even if you are unable to offer them promotions or pay raises.

Respond with the same promptness to complaints about poor performance. The longer you leave them, the more difficult it will be to repair them. Recognize the positive aspects of everyone and acknowledge that mistakes will happen. When they happen, learn from them and try to steer clear of them in the future. Additionally, refrain from placing blame in everything you do.

If necessary, have unpleasant talks privately; do not embarrass someone in front of others via group emails, conference calls, or meetings. Also, don’t try to win a popularity contest. Even while not everyone will value all of your suggestions and criticism, your career and ethics will suffer if you prioritize being everyone’s friend above being a great leader.

6. Assign

Have confidence in your employees’ work. Micromanaging every decision or doing other people’s work for them is not what it means to be a team leader. Give them clear instructions and then let them to continue. Helping your team members become self-sufficient enables them to advance in your organization in ways that suit their preferences. Instead of adding every new issue to your own to-do list, give the team the freedom to figure out a solution on their own with your help when opportunities or obstacles arise.