Dear Tony,

I have been promoted to lead our group. Not only am I now responsible for the team I used to be on, but it’s my first supervision job. I believe I deserve the promotion, but I am concerned about impacting relationships on my team. How can I successfully transition from being “on the team” to “leading the team”?

-Distressed in Denver

Dear Distressed,

Congratulations on the promotion – it sounds like your company is recognizing you for your hard work. The transition from being on a team to leading a team is a catch-22. You will know more than ever about the group and its capabilities, but it will also be a significant challenge to lead them, hold performance reviews, and be their biggest cheerleader at times as well as their worst critic.

Here are a few suggestions to help manage a successful transition:

1. Determine what you can live with and what must change in the first couple of weeks, before if possible. Talk to your team, talk to your boss, talk to your predecessor, and find out in your mind what must stay the same, what must strop, and what must start. Make any necessary changes as fast as possible, but not until you have gained the right input and are sure it’s the right direction to go. Make sure and not overpromise and underdeliver.
2. Talk to each of your new direct reports, and get on the table any concerns or questions they have as individuals. Tell them you will be working hard to earn their trust as their supervisor, and that a special part of your new relationship will be to hold them accountable to deliver results, just as they will hold you accountable to lead them.
3. Create trust in the new relationships. A big one is making sure your direct reports can confide in you. Conversations that were held in confidence when you were part of the team may take on new meaning. Be careful not to abuse that confidence, but also seek new, deeper, but different relationships with your team.
4. Upend the pyramid – you work for them, they work for customers, your boss works for you, etc. In other words be there for your team and each of them as individuals. Get to know their strengths and opportunities to improve, and develop your team from there. This will put you and your team in the best position to create maximum value as a group.
5. Build in a feedback mechanism ahead of time. Tell them you want their feedback to make sure you are showing up as the leader they need. Check in every 2 months for 6 months. If available, ask a transition specialist (“manager onboarding”) from your company to help objectively run these meetings.
6. Lastly, if you haven’t done this already, get yourself a mentor who has experience in the firm and with leading teams. They will accelerate your development, and you and your team’s success.

If you do the above, and position yourself to adapt to the needs of your team, you will find yourself not only growing into a great leader, but also a builder of strong teams.

-Tony

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