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How many of you have had the goal of landing a leadership position? When you finally achieved it, what was the first thing you realised?
The pay is certainly better and you have more responsibilities. You might not see it at first, but being in that role is not the end of your journey. You made it to that stage, but in the grand scheme of things, that is just one step towards new and exciting possibilities. You found out that there are bigger challenges ahead. Challenges that you might not be prepared for. Challenges like leadership pitfalls.
Being a leader presents a new set of challenges. Most will immediately examine their teams and come up with new strategies and processes to make them more efficient with their roles. While that is a step in the right direction, shouldn’t you examine yourself first? What challenges are you currently facing or expecting to face? Do you have the right mindset for the tasks ahead of you? Remember, leading a group of diverse individuals is a whole different ball game. Identify leadership pitfalls as early as possible so you can be more efficient in leading your team.
Stress and having bad days
Everyone, even leaders, has their bad days. When there is so much responsibility on your shoulders, bad days can and will happen. Stress will eventually get to you which will cause your emotions to go out of control. However, no employee should have to deal with it. They should be focusing all of their energy on completing their tasks and not dealing with a tricky working relationship. Letting your negative emotions get to you will inadvertently set a negative mood on your daily dealings with the team.
Thinking that leadership is a talent
Leadership is not a talent. Effective leadership is a skill that needs to be learnt and honed. It is a skill that is honed over years of study and experience. You might have heard of being a born leader or a talented leader. They are describing a person’s charisma. Don’t get me wrong, having charisma is a great quality to have as a leader, but that is just putting value on the surface level. Think of charisma as like a house or a car’s paint job. It is what attracts you in the first place, but what’s inside is what matters the most. It may look awesome on the surface, but can it perform? Can it serve your needs?
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