Being promoted from an employee to become a leader is probably one of the best experiences.  From a simple follower, you become someone in the forefront as you lead a specific number of employees.

Although you will never have to be productive yourself, you are answerable to someone higher if your employees are not as productive as expected. On the other end, you become the representative of the upper management and any concern of your employees about the management should run by you. You are practically a middle man now that you are a leader.

Handling employees and the upper management is often a big task for the new leader. If you find yourself in this situation, you will often feel the pressure. But do not make this as an excuse for underperformance in your team. You have been promoted for a reason and the company has seen your ability to lead. Now you are given a chance to prove them right and seal your career early on.

Being A Leader

Stepping in as a new leader should be considered as your testing ground on who you are and what you can do. Upper management in your organization will take a closer look on how you handle pressure; provide leadership and ensuring productivity at the same time. This is a very tough task but it is the only way that you can prove that you can actually make things happen.

But being promoted is more than just being a leader; this is also your sole chance in improving your career. If you do well in this position, then you can take comfort on the fact that the only way you can go is up. On the other hand, if you cannot make things happen, you might be terminated on your job.

For that reason, as soon as you step in, you have to work as a leader and get the team behind you as soon as possible so that you can be productive as a team. Their success is also your success which could only be possible if you work together.

Ensuring Team Reception

Being a new leader is not only a significant change on you but on your team as well. When you are promoted, you are taking someone else place which means it is a brand new experience for your employees. But it does not have to be an awkward and unfruitful experience. Here are some tips on how you can easily reach out to your new employees so that you can work together as soon as possible.

• Get Out of Your Desk – Desk jobs will always be part of your day but it does not mean you will be behind your desk all day long. Get out and move around the office so that you can interact with your employees. Learn more about them so that you can go beyond the numbers they provide. Through this, you can effectively work on individual skills and help them do what they do best.

• Solicit Feedback – Developing as a team means you need to know their concerns and problems. This is not only based on their job but also their concerns on you as a leader. This will also give you the idea on how you progress as a leader. This is often challenging since you have to deal with the fact that there are things that you cannot do. But the beauty about it is that you will be able to learn new things and force cooperation if you see something wrong in your group.

• A Leader is a Leader – Although decision making is not yours and you need your employees to significantly improve (and vice versa), you are ultimately still the leader. That means when trouble is brewing, you have to deal with difficult decisions and execute them as soon as possible to avoid drastic failures.

This is probably one of the hardest challenges for a new leader as they will have to deal something drastic and often bad news to their employees. But you have to be prepared for this situation. Remember to be professional and listen to your employees intently so that you will know your options.

Being a leader for the first time will not only affect you but your employees as well. Always work with your employees individually and as a group so that mutual progress could be achieved.