Die 3 Säulen der digitalen Transformation

Congratulations – you did it. You made the transition from team player to team leader, and you are ready to prove yourself in your new managerial role.

As you probably have already realized, your new position will require a different skill and mindset than your previous one. Your “soft skills” will be put to the test as well as your ability to keep your eyes on the bigger picture while motivating those working under you. You’re up for the challenge, but also a little weary –  how can you ensure you are living up to your leadership potential?

The good news is that leadership skills can be developed. Research shows that coaching interventions can result in a 20-30% increase in critical leadership competencies. But even without coaching, self-awareness and education can go a long way in shifting your mindset and preparing you for leading a team.

So, where should you start? What are the things you should pay attention to as you ease into your new role?

Read on to discover:

• The role of a manager today
• The essential skills of an effective manager and how to develop your capabilities
• How to plan for your first few months
  

The role of a manager today

At first glance, the role of a manager may seem obvious. Managers steer the ship while leaders set the course. But in today’s rapidly changing world of work, the line between leadership and management is blurring, and managers are being called on to lead in the face of unprecedented transformation. That means having a handle on the skills needed to embrace these changes will be key.

What’s important to remember is that what got you “here” won’t necessarily get you “there”. Rather than being tasked with a project and delivering results, you will need to mobilize people around a vision and guide the execution of that vision.

Mobilizing the vision entails:

1. Taking a stand and embracing change
2. Sharing and communicating the vision
3. Using relationships to engage the team

Executing for results entails:

1. Using data to develop a strategy
2. Implementing the strategy by pacing actions and aligning operations
3. Tracking results and offering praise and feedback

As a new leader, your actions – or lack thereof – will be visible. All eyes are on you. That means self-awareness is a good starting point. Before you schedule one meeting, take stock.

Ask yourself:

• What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What is my preferred leadership style?
• How effective am I at giving feedback?

Once you understand where you have room to develop your leadership potential, your skills training can begin.

Six essential management skills for new managers

1. Technical skills

First and foremost as a new manager, you need to have a solid skillset foundation when it comes to understanding KPIs, management processes and methodologies, and the tools, services, or products that boost your company’s sales. Spend some time acquainting yourself with every part of the business you will be managing. If you identify areas where you lack knowledge, seek out team members or trainings to help you improve.

With that as the basis, the next crucial factor is time management. A report by Deloitte demonstrates the importance of time management activities, stating that “unusual time pressure can make even the smartest person seem incompetent”, suggesting managers are more likely to make mistakes or poor decisions when feeling up against the clock. If you’re keen to demonstrate competence and management skills to the board to justify your promotion and instill confidence in your team, working on your time management skills is key.

You can improve these skills by:

• Making a list of both core business activities and complementary tasks. From there, prioritize what’s urgent and note what can wait or be delegated.
• Mapping your week visually on your calendar, creating specific blocks of time for specific tasks. Of course, the unexpected can pop up, but having a plan puts you in the driver’s seat.
• Getting to know your team’s strengths and weaknesses via a skill gap analysis. Knowing the capabilities of your employees enables you to delegate the right tasks to the right people, balancing your and their workload and avoiding micro-managing.
• Challenging the status quo. Don’t be afraid to use your fresh eyes to reduce inefficiencies and find your own time-efficient ways of managing your team, taking into consideration the different personality types in your team and how each person prefers to work.
• Minimizing distractions when possible. University of California Professor Dr. Gloria Mark’s research into workplace distractions found that managers typically spend just three minutes at a time on a task due to interruptions, and it can take more than 23 minutes to resume work. While it may sound difficult to do at first, try switching off your email and phone during designated times of the day – letting people know about it in advance – to help you succeed.

2. Trust skills

One of the most important management skills is trust – since this becomes a clear bottleneck for transitioning new managers. A global survey of nearly 4,000 employees and business leaders in 11 countries found that 63% of employees and business leaders think that trust at work must be earned.

Building a culture of trust starts by embracing curiosity and asking open questions. When people answer these questions, not only do they feel that their opinion is valued but also what is voiced leads to an idea or proposal that is theirs, not a charge from the leader.

Here’s a few powerful questions for your toolbox:

• What if?
• What do you see that I don’t?
• What needs to be done from your perspective?
• Why this idea?
• What else?
• How do you think this plays out?
• What makes this hard?
• What can I do to help?

As a new manager, it might be tempting to fall back into the old way of doing everything yourself, but building trust also means giving your employees the leeway to grow and make mistakes. Once you understand your team’s strengths and weaknesses, take a breath and delegate appropriately. If you don’t get the desired results, then you have an excellent opportunity to give feedback.

Feedback not only allows team members to gain clarity and improve the quality of their work but the dialogue also strengthens interpersonal relationships. Valid feedback is relevant to behavior and situations that can be changed. To be helpful, course-correcting conversations or expressions of praise or appreciation need to be timely and tailored to how the recipient can best receive the comments.

3. Adaptability skills

Gone are the days of top-down management, where managers serve as generals barking out orders.

Today, the most effective leaders engage their employees. They work to understand them and the situation at hand to find the ideal leadership style that will help guide them to success. In fact, Gallup estimates that around 70% of employee engagement can be attributed to managers, and highly engaged employees are shown to be 23% more profitable.

Whether you take a coaching or visionary approach to leadership, by being adaptable you are ensuring your team is getting the customized support and motivation they need to reach their goals.

Imagine you have a big stakeholder presentation that needs to be completed by Friday. A traditional manager might say, “This needs to be done by Friday.”, while an adaptable manager might ask, “What do you need from my side to be able to deliver this on Friday?”

This shift from directing to collaborating facilitates two-way communication that allows you to understand the needs of your employee and empowers them to make their own decisions.

4. Active listening skills

Active listening is a critical skill you will need as a new manager. Active listening is when you are truly invested in what your employee has to say.

Ask yourself:

• Am I fully present?
• Am I open to taking a step back and staying silent?
• Am I ready to listen more?

Half the battle is giving people the space and attention to feel seen and heard. When you truly listen, it becomes easier to resolve issues and generate more buy-in for your ideas.

5. Nurturing skills

As a new manager, you may feel pressure to deliver impact through productivity. Solid facts, figures, and metrics that you can show to the board. As a result, you may be tempted to overlook things like social chats, breaks, rest periods, or fun because you don’t see the direct connection to the bottom line, and you don’t want to seem like a push-over early on.

However, while it may seem counterintuitive, these are the nurturing aspects that in the long run will help you build the type of team and company culture you’ve always envisioned – and one that also delivers results. Countless studies show the connection between taking breaks and productivity. Two recent ones found that workers were most productive when they took 20-30 minute breaks for every 90 minutes of work.

Not sure where to start? Try hosting lunch talks, introducing optional book clubs, setting up free coffee/ tea stations, etc. Anything that sparks a smile or a good thought in an employee’s daily routine. Make sure the activity is representative of your company’s values and supports the type of culture you want to create. For example, if community is a core organizational value, a neighborhood clean up would help strengthen that ideal. While work is serious business, we don’t have to take ourselves so seriously every second of the day.

6. Inspirational skills

Having a managerial perspective also means being fully aligned with your organization’s values – and making sure your employees are as well. People want to be part of a valuable mission, which is why purpose is key to cultivating a positive culture.

Recent McKinsey research found that the top two reasons employees cited for leaving (or considering leaving) their jobs were that they didn’t feel their work was valued by their company (54%) or that they lacked a sense of belonging (51%).

As a new leader, it’s your responsibility to model your organization’s core values and exemplify how a positive culture of belonging looks and feels. That looks like walking around, touching base with people, and aligning with multiple departments to ensure everyone understands the why behind the what and the purpose behind the objectives.

Developing a plan for success

Mit diesen Fähigkeiten geht es nun an die konkrete Aufgabe, einen Plan für Ihre ersten Monate im Job zu entwickeln.

Die Anpassung an Ihr neues Umfeld ist ein Prozess, der sorgfältige Planung erfordert. Und jede gute Führungskraft sollte vom ersten Tag an einen Plan haben. Ein solider Plan hilft Ihnen, Ihre persönliche Agenda innerhalb der Organisation festzulegen und gibt Ihnen Selbstvertrauen in Ihre eigene Führung.

Bei Krauthammer empfehlen wir die Entwicklung eines 30-60-90-Tage-Plans, der Ihnen hilft, Ihre persönlichen und Teamziele in den ersten 30, 60 und 90 Tagen im Job zu identifizieren und zu strukturieren.

So funktioniert es im Überblick:

• Tage 0 bis 30 stehen ganz im Zeichen des Beobachtens, Zuhörens und der Vorstellung im Team. Diese Phase legt Erwartungen fest und ermöglicht es Ihnen, Beziehungen aufzubauen und Vertrauen zu schaffen.
• Tage 31 bis 60 sind der Informationsbeschaffung und dem Lernen gewidmet, wo Sie einen Beitrag leisten können. Ihr Vorgehen wird weiterhin „zurückhaltend“ sein, während Sie mit einem Fuß in der Lernphase und mit dem anderen in Ihrer neuen Rolle als Führungskraft stehen. In dieser Zeit agieren Sie wie ein investigativer Journalist, der die Stärken und Schwächen Ihres Teams ergründet und so viel wie möglich über jeden Bereich des Unternehmens lernt.

• Tage 61 bis 90 sind die Zeit, in der Sie Ihre Rolle als Führungskraft voll ausfüllen können. Nachdem Sie Beziehungen aufgebaut und ein umfassendes Verständnis für Ihr Team entwickelt haben, sind Sie in einer besseren Position, um Änderungen vorzuschlagen und konkrete Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, deren konsequente Umsetzung zu überwachen und Feedback einzuholen.

Fazit

Der Übergang vom Mitarbeiter zur Führungskraft ist keine leichte Aufgabe. Er erfordert Geduld und Lernbereitschaft.

Um einen guten Start zu haben, ist es wichtig, die Führungsrolle zu verstehen, die neue Manager in der heutigen sich wandelnden Arbeitswelt übernehmen müssen – eine Rolle, die das Mobilisieren von Menschen um eine Vision herum und die Steuerung der Umsetzung dieser Vision umfasst.

Dazu gibt es mehrere praktische Fähigkeiten, die es zu entwickeln gilt, darunter Zeitmanagement, Vertrauensbildung, aktives Zuhören und die Inspiration Ihres neuen Teams für ein gemeinsames Ziel. Nicht zuletzt können Sie sich als neuer Manager mit einem klaren 30-60-90-Tage-Plan auf Erfolgskurs bringen, der Ihnen hilft, schrittweise Vertrauen in Ihre Führungsfähigkeiten aufzubauen.

Wünschen Sie gezieltere Unterstützung? Entdecken Sie das Krauthammer First Level Management Training, speziell entwickelt für Führungskräfte, die zum ersten Mal eine solche Position innehaben und ihr Führungspotenzial entfalten möchten.

Laden Sie unser E-Book „Manage your mindset“ herunter, um mehr darüber zu erfahren, wie Sie als Führungskraft positive Veränderungen umsetzen können.

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