When an employee gets a leadership tag in his profile, i.e., becomes a team lead or an assistant manager, he experiences a significant transition. No, it's not just the financial benefit of promotion we are talking about here; it's the psychological change in his career. Organizations need to look into this emotional shift since it could be overwhelming for new leaders at a point. See, the existing structure of a corporation does not usually put forth any focused training to help these new leaders take on their roles proactively! It's a trial and error strategy they put in place to lead people under them.
But do we realize the authenticity of it?
Every job requires training so that employees head on their roles with convenience and technique. So, why not new leaders? New Leaders get an indirect responsibility to manage employee productivity, work procedures, customer retention, and satisfaction. Also, the first-level managers tend to be the torchbearers of inflicting leadership quality, and let's not deny, their decisions are noticeable. So to ensure the overall growth of the firm by directing future leaders, organizations must find an easy solution through a New Leader Mentoring Program.
New Leader Mentoring Program and the Relevant Topics within
A New Leader Mentoring Program is an economical solution to assist new leaders (first-time or entry-level) in building on their skills and preparing them to take on their leadership roles effectively.
A mentor is an experienced individual who understands the basic nuances of business and people management. Following are some topics that they should cover for a new leader mentoring program:
Change in Ideology
Most leaders begin their journeys through assumption and a structured ideology. They feel they know the answers to future problems, but they fail to make it through the challenge in times of action. Why does it happen? Because of the fixed mentality. It's like they assume leaders do what they do without knowing why they do it! It rings an alarm for change. They must look forward and be ready with a growth mindset to embrace uncertainties and take criticisms positively.
Mentors here must be high-level managers who can give real-time examples of their failure stories for new leaders to learn from them.
Technicality plus People Skills
Leaders newly promoted often get the notion that their performance is the crucial factor of their promotion. For example, An employee with a brilliant track of projects gets promoted as a team lead. Similarly, a professor becomes the H.O.D with an excellent overall performance of her students. While it is partially true to consider the technical skills, the new role always demands more than that. It is the set of soft skills that makes a new leader a great one.
New leaders must approach the employees under them and genuinely take an interest in their careers and aspirations. Mentors must show these leaders the way to gain the trust of people through motivation and effective communication.
Clarity of Responsibility
The new leadership responsibilities often confuse these new leaders as they decide how to lead their colleagues. Some even feel weighed down by the already established relationships within the team.
Mentors can direct new leaders in prioritizing their work. They must support open conversations with these leaders to help them deal with people efficiently and understand what drives them.
The Right Attitude
Leadership is mainly about the right attitude. New leaders must find the positive of every outcome and use the lessons of failure. Their performance leads them to the position, but they can enhance their skills and attitude to influence others with the examples they set.
Mentors can assist leaders in establishing the norm of giving and receiving feedback. New leaders must understand and preach the value of constructive criticism to aim for better work culture.
Impact of their position
Leaders influence a lot of people, and hence their work is visible through the strategies they make. A great leader is someone who tries to reach every nook and corner of his duties. He understands the goals of the organization and breaks them into fragments to frame a practical policy.
Great Mentorship implies showing the effectiveness of the win-win policy to new leaders. They should help leaders look into the work from a fresh perspective and modify the outdated policies of the firms.
Importance of Ethics
Leaders are the face of the teams and the organizations. Hence they must conduct their duties genuinely and ethically. Mentors must instill this aspect to the new leaders, so they don't lose track of their leadership journey. In these challenging times, mentoring through social distancing is the norm.
Making a Big Difference
If given the proper training and guidance as they embark on their paths, new leaders can be more prominent examples in the future. They will make a big difference through their strategy as much as their status. Vince Lombardi rightly said,
"Leaders aren't born; they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work, and that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal."
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