When you are young and new to leadership it can be not only challenging but a daunting task to earn respect in your new leadership role.  You might not fully understand the ins and outs of your department, you might be managing employees who are twice your age, or you aren’t fully aware of the nuances that come with the job you just accepted.  If this sounds familiar here are 5 things you can do right now to position yourself as a true leader and gain the respect of your staff:

• Be Humble: Just because you are the leader of your department doesn’t necessarily mean you know everything about each and every role within your department.  It is wise for you to stay humble and understand that you may still have a lot to learn before you become the “go-to” person within your department.
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• Learn From Your Experienced Team: Along the lines of staying humble, take time out of your day to sit with your tenured staff and learn how they do their job.  Take notes and be curious. Not only will you learn a lot about them along with how their jobs contribute to the overall success of the department, but you will also earn their respect by showing your willingness to learn while not displaying a know-it-all attitude. Learning from your most experienced, tenured team members who have been through thick and thin with the company and can be relied upon in the most difficult situations will help you better understand the “why” before quickly jumping to change things in your new role.
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• Roll up your sleeves: Get your hands dirty and learn every job within your department.  You don’t need to be an expert, but it is important to understand how each job relates to one another within your department and how your departmental performance relates to and affects the organization as a whole.  By spending a little time each day learning and understanding each role, you will become more aware of issues that pop up, you will understand how to solve problems and you will be able to field your staff’s questions intelligently.  Your efforts won’t go unnoticed, and you will earn their respect as a leader.
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• Always ask why: As you embed yourself within your department and begin to connect and learn from your staff, make sure you are asking a lot of questions.  You will not only learn faster but you can gain an understanding as to why things are done the way they are within your department.  Maybe there are technology deficiencies that are forcing your staff to do their work in a specific manner.  Maybe everyone does things their own way because they had to learn on their own without any standard procedures available.  This type of knowledge is imperative to have because it will set you up to be able to improve processes, make changes to procedures that can increase your efficiency, and help your department and organization produce at a higher level.

Standardize with Training: Once you understand where some of the process improvements can happen and you have worked with your team to make those changes, make sure you prepare training or standard operating procedures for your new staff to follow.  Many times, employees are doing work in certain ways because that is how they were trained “back in the day” or without reasons other than “that is just how we have always done it”. If you want to make lasting change you have to build rapport with your team, establish yourself as the leader and introduce changes that everyone can adapt to and follow.  Then, make sure any new team members are trained in accordance with the SOPs for their position which will reduce their learning curve and get them producing faster. 

By implementing these 5 simple ideas over the next few months, you will advance as a leader in your organization and will gain the respect of your staff no matter your age or your skill level. If you’re having challenges in your role as a new leader, Contact Us today for a customized development plan to help you achieve the next level of success in your career!