Making the Shift from Individual Contributor to People Leader

Making the shift from an individual contributor to a people leader is a significant career transition that should be a time of celebration and the beginning of a new pathway into future leadership opportunities. However, the roadmap for this role is often unscripted or nonexistent, and because of this, many contributors on the rise who are amazing and hardworking performers, have the tendency to continue to use the same approaches and behaviors that got them into their first leader role which often compounds stress, overwhelm, and maybe a bit of imposter syndrome as they attempt to maneuver in this new unknown. Here are my top seven recommendations for navigating the initial phases of the move from being a contributor to learning to thrive as a successful leader of contributors.

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1.?????? Level Set & Realign: take a heartbeat to appreciate that you are now a “people leader” and begin the process of shifting your focus and mentality from “yourself," and "your results,” and think in terms of how to best support your team in their delivery and execution. Take time to spend time with each direct report to connect, understand their current business challenges and how you can support them, as well as what their career aspirations might be. Taking time to understand the landscape of your immediate team will help you with building trust and moving in the direction of shaping your leadership footprint and competency as a new leader.

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2.?????? Take a Self-Assessment: think about the things that you may need to support you in performing the role well. Reflect on your strengths and weaknesses from a leadership perspective. Seek out readymade training available through the company and consider a LinkedIn Premium account to enable access to the suite of LinkedIn Learning leader development courses to help you get your bearings. Take courses on communications to hone your verbal and written capabilities, and learn the art and skill of communicating effectively across and with upline levels of leadership.

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3.?????? Establish a 1:1 Check in Cadence with Your Leader: set a regular rhythm of either weekly or bi-weekly meetings with your immediate leader which will support obtaining real-time feedback, discussing your own challenges, and remain calibrated with the expectations that your leader has for you and how you are meeting their requirements for success. Use this time to ask your leader to provide insights, observations, and context about your business unit and the company’s overarching goals to assist you in connecting the dots between what is occurring at the organizational level and close any operational knowledge gaps that you may have. Learning to see the business through the lens of a people leader is a new and different vantage point and having an ongoing conversation with your leader supports your ability to communicate down to your direct reports in real time and provide them with insight on direction and focus to support the execution of their day-to-day work.

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4.?????? Develop & Deepen Emotional Intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, relationship management, and empathy are a few of the domains of Emotional Intelligence (EQ.) Being a leader requires more from an individual because of the influence and impact that they have on the people directly executing work and for setting business direction. Growing your soft skills acumen is a muscle that has to be developed through engagement and practice. Also having the ability to “read the room” in all of the rooms that you may find yourself in with peers, collaborative & cross functional meetings, and encounters with senior leadership require evolved EQ. Being acutely aware of your emotions, the emotions of others, and knowing the right approach to address whatever comes up, along with the ability to handle conflicts with empathy and understanding, are vital for effectiveness and is essential for credibility building.

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5.?????? Decision-Making Skills: Practice making informed and timely decisions. Understand when to involve the team in decision-making and when to make decisions independently. Make every effort to gather the right amount of data to support where you land on any decision, make note of all of the considerations that went into the decision while accounting for whether it is a unique set of circumstances or a routine action and feel good about where you arrived on the final outcome once you have done your due diligence. Confidence is built over time as you learn to trust the process and your instincts on the best path forward. Reach out to a peer or speak with your leader as sounding boards if you feel that the input of another leader is helpful to gain additional perspective in your rationale, but don’t let “analysis paralysis” keep you from getting to a “go/no go” decision.

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6.?????? Delegate Effectively: learning to delegate is arguably the number one thing to shift and learn how to do (and well) as a first-time leader. Letting go of “control” and trusting your team members with the “ball” is sometimes difficult, especially when you believe that you can do a task faster and to your obvious specifications “right the first time.” Although you may feel that delegating will slow you down, resist the urge to not lean into this activity. The gift and opportunity that delegation brings are 1) you will accelerate the growth and will level up the skills of your team members and 2) you will buy back valuable time in your schedule to focus on bigger rocks by allowing others to support business execution. Additionally, the higher you ascend up the chain of command will require more delegation ability and trust in your team to drive strategy & vision. There is less doing and more organizational planning to learn as a leader and a tip to get comfortable with the process is to set clear direction for what you want, how you want it, when you want it, and request a review of the deliverable before it is finalized to provide feedback. Your coworkers will begin to learn your style and grow, which increases their capacity for more too. Take time to learn the strengths and specialties of each team member so that you can support them “playing to their strengths” which builds the confidence of everyone as you shape and develop a high performing team.

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7.?????? Time Management: is a critical skill, and learning to manage your calendar optimally will be a must do as you continue to grow your career now and take on more leadership responsibility in the future. Prioritize tasks and notice where you may be losing time in the day. Observe meetings that show up on your calendar and determine whether they are ones that you must attend or those that are optional and determine a balance for how you will participate and whether or not to send a delegate. Learn to time block personal working time on your calendar to get specific deliverables completed. Understand that your time will now be divided between individual tasks and leadership responsibilities.

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Making the shift from individual contributor to people leader is not an overnight process and requires observing best practices from more experienced leaders as well as cultivating your own signature style of leadership. Have patience with yourself in the process, keep a curious and open mind, and have fun while you do it. The seven steps shared are starters on the journey, and know that there is a lot more to learn as your knowledge of the business grows, your team grows, and you evolve in the process. Seek help when needed and know that all of the leaders up the chain of command were once first-time leaders and that you can be successful in your current role and also aspire for more in your career future too.

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Sheryl Brinkley is a Women's Leadership Pipeline Builder & Sustainer and a Career Acceleration Catalyst Specializing in Hi-Potential & Mid-Level leader progression into Sr. Level & C-Suite positions. She is an Executive & Positive Intelligence Mental Fitness Coach supporting her clients in their holistic self-actualization pursuits while deepening self-awareness for maximal leadership impact.