So you think the time’s right for you to step up the ladder and be a boss. Why though?
Much like society tries to tell us that success in life means being married, having children and owning a house, it also tries to tell us that being successful professionally means earning lots of money and gaining promotions all the way to the top.
Both notions are rubbish!
However I respect that, for plenty of people, these are the paths towards happiness that they want to take.
Where I’ve seen and continue to see people struggle in the workplace is that they want a promotion but for all of the wrong reasons which only highlights that they’re wholly unsuitable for a leadership role. So, if you’re chasing a promotion for a job which, once in the role, you want to keep and be a success in, be absolutely honest with yourself first and ask why you want the job.
If your immediate thought is that you want the title and the extra money then, being blunt, leadership isn’t for you and, even if you somehow convince someone to put you in the role, you are most likely going to fail because you’re selfish. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being selfish and plenty of the most successful salespeople I know are selfish but they’re aware of that which is why the idea of taking a leadership role is not remotely on their radars at all.
Hopefully you can recall at least 1 leader you’ve worked with who was great. If so, think back and reflect as to what it was about them that made them a great leader. Doing my best Derren Brown impression, I reckon you’re thinking that, amongst other positive traits, they were always available to help when you needed it, they knew and remembered lots of personal things about you, they made you feel valued and they always treated you fairly and equally.
Am I right or am I right?
If you’ve sadly only ever worked for rotters then just reflect on all of the aspects about them that you didn’t like. Again, I reckon that might be that they talked down to you, their emotional state was very different day to day which had a big impact on the team, their evident priority was their own work and getting help from them was never easy and, when it came, they made you feel a bit silly for asking.
I know I’m right 🙂
I’ve been in your shoes. When I 1st started thinking about being promoted, I asked my boss what I needed to do to be considered for one.
Their simple response was for me to start coming up with ideas for how to improve the business and to start working on tactfully distancing myself from the clique I was in as, if I got the job, my work pals (who most of were also friends outside of work) would be the people I’d be managing and, to be an effective leader, you can’t also be one of the gang.
I was warned that it was likely the majority of my suggestions would be shot down but I’d be given good feedback as to why so that I could, if needs be, revise and make better suggestions. The most important aspect of this though was starting to condition my brain to think about what could be good for the sake of the whole company and not just something that would only benefit me; an absolutely crucial trait of a good leader.
- Being an effective leader means prioritising the needs of your team evidently above your own needs.
It means leading by example.
It means sticking to your commitments.
It means treating everyone fairly.
It means maintaining a level emotional state at all times regardless of whatever chaos or issues are occurring.
It means doing everything in your power to remove all obstacles your team face towards achieving their goals.
It means not moving the goalposts.
It means being genuinely interested in the people in your team so as to understand what their interests are, what their strengths are, what their concerns are and what their personal goals are.
It means respecting and in fact encouraging different opinions.
It means identifying and nurturing future leaders in the team.
It means understanding that focusing on helping everyone in the team achieve their goals is the ONLY way you, as the leader, are going to achieve your own goals.
Simply, you need to be absolutely selfless and not selfish to stand any chance of being a successful leader.
If that’s not you then fair enough but, until something’s different for you, I suggest you focus on defining what professional success really means to you and the paths you can genuinely take to achieve it.
