Being a young leader?

In this guest blog, ARE's Lead Consultant, Tebussum Rashid, writes to young leaders of the future, outlining tips and considerations for their leadership journeys.

I believe we are all leaders in our own spaces, whether in formal or informal roles, professional or personal lives. Regardless, as leaders we develop and grow over time, we make mistakes, we fail, we succeed.

For a younger leader this is a crucial part of the journey. Being a young leader in today’s society is challenging with the world of new technologies and an increasingly cognitive learning society.?

Millennials continue to fill leadership roles in the workplace. By 2025, they are estimated to constitute about 75% of the global workforce, bringing a whole new set of demands and expectations.?

It should be noted that the current perspective on leadership is being re-assessed, with the traditional notion and workplace cultures of ‘transactional roles or where one leads-the others follow’ being gradually replaced by a transformative form of leadership where everyone is equally engaged in solving issues and making decisions.?

In this changing landscape, the gap between the older and newer generations’ approaches on leadership seems to broaden. The new environment creates new conditions for the leaders of today and, respectively, leaders of today need a different approach in order to adapt and achieve prosperous results from their teams.?

Here’s a few things to help you on your leadership development:?

Self-awareness/Emotional Intelligence (EI): Self-awareness is being aware of our thoughts and emotions from moment to moment, situation to situation. Self awareness is one key component of EI and requires reflection and time.?

Think about: acknowledging your strengths and your limitations. Recognise what you have yet to learn, and admit you don’t have all the answers. Reach out and don’t hesitate to ask for help.?

Discover yourself and your pace: You will have limited experience – fact. You were not born leading a team and you will have many situations that will be your first, and you first find yourself in charge of.?

Think about: relying on past experiences maybe sometimes helpful, but let some time to discover your own paces and always trust your instincts.?

Wellbeing:?Increased responsibility including that of others, their safety and performance means fatigue, stress and mental toll. I am not saying stress is inherently bad, but if not managed, and not leaving enough time for recovery, can take its toll.

Try this: take time out regularly. Recharge and recover. Plan your annual leave in advance. Work towards some personal goals.?

Your personal life:?Leadership means giving up parts of you for others - leading and supporting others which may mean some personal sacrifices?

Try this: get a good work-life balance. Work to live and not live to work?

Communicating: This sounds obvious but harder to implement – especially if those you lead are older than you and/or have been your peers. Having the confidence to communicate with the team about expectations or sharing issues is important for transformative leaders.??

Try this: learn and practice being clear and concise with your messaging and when giving instructions to the team.?

Generational differences and leading those who are older: Recognising the clash and often contradiction between those with years of experience vs the fresh ideas and the ambition of a young leader is important. Young leaders take the risk of ignoring generational differences or older employees’ experience.?

Try this: always take into consideration the significant assets older employees can bring to a team, as older colleagues?have probably dealt with more unexpected situations in a working environment and even within your workplace.?

Being liked: We have human instincts of wanting to be liked but remember that it is inevitable that someone won’t like you; not everyone gets along with everyone.??

Try this: being friendly which does not mean be friends with everyone. Keep away from drama, focus on how to inspire respect and avoid being biased.?

Facing criticism: Leadership itself involves making decisions and taking a position on different and difficult issues. This can lead to both positive and negative reactions, support and resistance, especially if this includes some form of change: you cannot expect that everyone will align with your intentions and ambitions or even align with your pace.?

Try this: accept that everyone will not agree all the time, there will be differences of opinions. Get to know your team – including their personalities. Utilise your Emotional Intelligence.

Leading also means inspiring others: Leadership means gauging trust, building relationships and keeping team motivation high. A good leader needs to lead by example, share passion for the work and set clear boundaries to ensure respect.?

Try this: ensuring that you are communicating clearly your vision and expectations is key to having the team onboard, inspired and motivated.

Pace yourself: There is a temptation to initiate change quickly. Especially by young leaders who want to initiate change and new ways of doing things including introducing modern technology and new systems. Change is often needed and good, but it has to be implemented at a pace that works for you, the team and the organisation.?

Try this: take time to familiarize yourself with the team, personalities, skills and? what exactly is going on before you go forward with some radical change.?

As a young leader, you have the space, power and ability to initiate change and shape society. Remember that communication is key to your success in leading teams and programmes.?

Essentially, be authentic and bring your personality and identity into your role and allow the journey to develop you both personally and professionally.?

If you've read this far, then these are the top leadership tips I'd like you to take-away from reading: ?

1. Lead by example?
2. Know yourself?
3. Know your team?
4. Admit mistakes and learn from the past?
5. Listen for learning?
6. Be human, not just part of the system?
7. Stay motivated?
8. Show trust?
9. Give credit or recognition?
10. Look after your wellbeing?

Author: Tebussum Rashid , ARE Associate & Lead Consultant

Find out more about ARE's work with young people: www.actionforraceequality.org.uk/are-community/young-people/