OVERCOMING 1ST TIMER SYNDROME (Sample)
Preface: Why I wrote this book
I know what fear can do to you
I wrote this book because I know what it feels like to be afraid. We all have fears of certain things, especially when exposed to them for the first time. As a kid, I remember being terrified of dark places and cemeteries. Today I don’t fear them at all. Why? I was afraid because I didn’t know enough, but knowledge tends to eliminate mystery.
Everything is scary at first. It is a syndrome we all are familiar with. Think about your first-time experiences of driving, dating, interviewing, and so on. You most probably still remember them vividly. As you increased your knowledge, improved your skills, and practiced, you overcame the first-timer syndrome in each area. You began relaxing, enjoying, and mastering these things with ease.
Likewise, to overcome first-timer syndrome as an emerging leader, you need to increase your leadership knowledge and improve your skills. For the scope of this book, regardless of your age, you’re an emerging leader if you are a first-timer team lead, project manager, supervisor, or business owner. This mini-book will help you increase your awareness. It allows you to recognize the symptoms of 1st timer syndrome and audit to see whether or not you have already been manifesting some of these symptoms. In this book, I will also share helpful insights to remove any lingering fears you might have from taking your first-time leadership position. I offer models, tools, strategies, and tactics to develop the most critical competencies that empower you to overcome first-timer syndrome.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a syndrome is “a set of concurrent things (such as emotions or actions) that usually form an identifiable pattern.” If you’ve been experiencing a set of emotions, such as nervousness, anxiety, worry, and uncertainty since being placed in your new leadership position, you have been affected by first-timer syndrome. The manifestation of these symptoms can ruin your chance to succeed and make a smooth transition in your first-timer leadership position. That is why I wrote this book. It empowers you to develop the necessary mindset and acquire key skills you need to overcome the first-timer syndrome.
To share my firsthand experience as a first-timer
I also wrote this book to share lessons I learned firsthand from first-timer leadership positions I have taken since the early ’90s. I was a first-timer:
· Youth leader in the early 90s,
· Student leader in the late 90s,
· Supervisor in the early 2000s,
· Trainer in 2007, and
· Business owner in 2010.
I wrote this practical book based on my own experience and other first-timers’ whom I’ve helped. Everything I’m going to share with you, I have practiced myself and shared with my audiences, coachees, and mentees. Of course, some of the approaches that worked for me may not resonate with you. That is perfectly fine. You may drop those you don’t like and customize others to meet your needs as you transition to your first-timer leadership position.
To share what I gained from books & facilitation
This book also came into existence because I wanted to reveal for first-timers the lessons I gained from reading a variety of management and leadership books over the years. However, I’m not going to weary you with literature reviews. This book isn’t written for academics but for practitioners, so I have attempted to be as practical as possible. I have also incorporated many of the insights, tools, strategies, and tactics I shared when I was facilitating workshops and webinars for first-timers in government agencies, corporations, and community organizations, both in the US and Africa.
I’m sharing these lessons and tools because I didn’t have a head start when I was a first-timer. I wish I’d had a tool like this book, which is dedicated explicitly to first-timers. Instead I plowed through those leadership roles described above without any guidance or preparation. Looking back, I regret not seeking help or finding growth opportunities, such as books, coaching, or mentoring before and during the first few months of my first-timer positions.
To prevent you from struggling & blaming
The same feelings are also shared by my attendees and the managers I coached. They told me they felt alone in their experience, which prevented them from revealing to others what was going on with them. Some struggled and unsuccessfully tried to hide the symptoms, while others blamed themselves and/or others.
One of my coachees described her first-timer experiences as being like crossing a busy street while blindfolded. Another told me that he regretted the energy and time he had wasted for weeks and even months. Some confessed to hurting their health and relationships as a result of the first-timer syndrome.
To equip managers and mentors of first-timers
I also had conversations with mid-level managers and senior executives who didn’t feel adequately prepared to help their first-timers. They had the first-timer syndrome themselves, and thought it would eventually go away, and their emerging leaders would be okay in the end. They didn’t know how to shorten the syndrome’s lifespan. Now, they do.
To share the results of my informal research
I also wrote this book to make widely available the results of my informal research, which I conducted as I was facilitating workshops and coaching emerging supervisors and managers. I studied what someone can do to prepare and excel as a first-timer team lead, supervisor, manager, or business owner. My investigation revealed that the overwhelming majority of first-timers don’t begin their first-time leadership role with the right foot and proper support system.
A note of caution: this isn’t your typical book. I won’t bombard you with lots of literature and references. To begin with, there isn’t much research on first-timer syndrome. But I also wanted this book to be practical and based on my personal experience and the experiences of the first-timers I worked with in my coaching programs, workshops, and webinars. Thus, this book is packaged as a primer to help you make a quick and smooth transition in your new leadership role. It is a practical manual designed to offer you hands-on tools and approaches that you can practice right away. The more you practice what you learn, the quicker first-timer syndrome goes away and the more your confidence is increased. I wanted to give you hands-on tools, strategies, and tactics you could use immediately to overcome the first-timer syndrome. My goal was to empower emerging leaders so quickly that they excel beyond their first-timer leadership role.
If you’re interested in digging deep about the concepts I cover in this book, there are many resources out there. Just Google them. However, I will share occasional relevant quotations and books relating to some of the leadership concepts discussed.
Even seasoned leaders experience the syndrome
That said, my informal research also revealed to me an interesting fact. Even seasoned supervisors, managers, and executives experience the syndrome when they are placed in a new position for the first time. Clearly, the transition challenges everyone. It has nothing to do with being young and a junior leader; it isn’t the place nor the individual. Every transition is scary and challenging. There are uncertainties, doubts, risks, guesses, and so on whenever anyone takes on a new leadership role.
Below are the stages you may pass through on your leadership journey. Of course, depending on your industry, there may be either a shorter or a more extended version of leadership hierarchies. Most organizations, however, have these three levels of leadership progression:
1. Star employee (high performer),
2. Supervisor,
3. Manager, and
4. Executive
As you transition from being a star employee into a supervisory role because of your high performance, you will face specific challenges. Likewise, when you make a transition from a supervisory role to a managerial position, you will experience different sets of challenges that come from leading from the middle. Of course, when you progress to become an executive, you’ll also have transition challenges specific to senior leadership.
Regardless of seniority, most experience first-timer syndrome when placed in a new leadership position, irrespective of the organizational hierarchy. Seasoned leaders, however, are likely to become proactive to mitigate the effects, and may therefore be quicker than junior leaders to shorten the learning curve and lessen the impact.
One or more of the following feelings will be experienced by those suffering from first-timer syndrome:
· Anxiety,
· Confusion,
· Frustration,
· Displacement,
· Stress, and
· Uncertainty.
The science behind why the syndrome exists
In this book you’ll also learn the science behind why every leader experiences this syndrome. The mindset, attitude, personality, and many of the skill sets that allowed you to excel as a follower, an employee or a leader in another leadership position won’t serve you that well in your new leadership role. In fact, some of them may even sabotage your transition. The challenge is that you may not even be consciously aware of the full extent of the syndrome, so you may continue to think, behave, decide, and act as you used to, expecting to get the same fantastic results you got in your previous team member or leadership role.
What got you here, won’t get you there
Marshall Goldsmith, author and American executive leadership coach, said, ‘What got you here, won’t get you there.’ What brought you this far cannot help you any longer to succeed in a new leadership role. You need a new mindset, the necessary skills, and the right personality to succeed from the get-go. This book will inspire, equip, and empower you to succeed as a first-time team lead, supervisor, manager, or business owner.
A smooth transition to future leadership roles
Reading this book will provide you with a strong foundation as you advance in your leadership. You will appreciate that you read this book as you become a mid-level manager, executive, CEO, and beyond. Whatever you learn and practice here will translate into making your future first-timer roles, no matter how challenging they may be, easier and smoother.
The tips you get from this book will equip you to make a smooth transition from your current role to your next leadership assignment. You will also be given insights, tools, and methods to mentor first-timers in your organization, especially your successors, as you help them make a smooth transition by sharing your experience. Finally, everything you learn here will empower you to succeed in your other endeavors outside of work and business. Let’s dive in!
Introduction: Who will benefit from this book?
Everyone will benefit from the book
I firmly believe that everyone is born to lead. Of course, I’m not saying that everyone is born into leadership and becomes a great leader right out of the gate. Becoming a successful leader requires work. One cannot simply assume a leadership role without preparing for it and expect to succeed. Fortunately, everyone has the potential to become a leader, at least in the area of their passion. But we are all expected to release and maximize this potential by developing the right mindset, the necessary skill set, and character.
The 21st Century workplace and marketplace have changed. Everyone is expected to pay their dues regardless of where they are in the organization’s hierarchy by taking leadership, at least within their job description. In this era, many organizations have become flat, allowing every team member to create, innovate, and take leadership, even if they are at the bottom of the corporate ladder.
That means if you’re reading this book, you’re a leader, even if you do not have a formal leadership title. And if you’re a leader, you will benefit from this book. The antidotes shared here will empower you to succeed wherever you are today, and in the future when you take your first leadership position.
If you already have a team, you’re expected to get along and lead successfully from the get-go. If you stumble right away, your people may complain or even leave your team, and that isn’t good news for a first-timer, or for that matter, for any leader. “A Gallup poll of more than 1 million employed US workers concluded that the No. 1 reason people quit their jobs is a bad boss or immediate supervisor…People leave managers, not companies...in the end, turnover is mostly a manager issue.” You don’t want to have such a reputation, especially right out of the gate.
The primary beneficiaries of this book
While it’s true that everyone can benefit from the content of this book, below are the primary beneficiaries:
1. Recently promoted team leads, supervisors, project managers, and business owners. This book will enable this group to overcome the first-timer syndrome within a reasonable period.
2. Those who have been in their current first-timer position for a while. This book provides help for this group to succeed in their current position. They will gain the latest empowering nuggets to implement right away to achieve quick results. It will also help them appreciate what they have been doing right and not so right, and the changes they should make to address the latter.
3. Aspiring first-timers. Even if you are not in a new leadership position right now and don’t belong to one of the above primary beneficiaries, this book will prepare you to take your next leadership position.
4. Seasoned leaders. This book is also beneficial to senior leaders who are coaching and mentoring first-timers in their organizations.
As you can see, this book is relevant to every leader, regardless of their position and seniority, though its purpose may differ.
The three focus areas
Admittedly, this book cannot cover everything first-timers need. The focus is on three major mandatory leadership development areas:
1. Mindset,
2. Skill set, and
3. Character set.
These three areas are mandatory to overcoming first-timer syndrome. One needs to have the proper mindset, the necessary skill set, and a solid character set and personality in order to make a smooth transition. In fact, these three leadership development areas are foundational for any leader at any level. As you take on more leadership responsibilities, you need to simultaneously work on these three areas to serve your people and organization with leadership excellence.
This book isn’t written for ‘managers.’
This book isn’t written for those looking for shortcut management tricks to manipulate others. There is a vast difference between ‘managing’ and leading people. Grace Murray Hopper, US Navy rear admiral and pioneer in computer science, put it beautifully: “You manage things; you lead people.” This book is written to raise leaders who lead by influencing and setting examples, not through tricks and manipulations.
However, I don’t want you to misunderstand me. I’m not one of those experts who attempts to wage war between leaders and managers. As much as we need leaders, we also need managers. Besides, managing is an important aspect of being a leader. All leaders are managers, but not all managers are leaders. A leader cannot be successful without the competencies that enable him/her to manage:
1. Self,
2. Resources,
3. People,
4. Projects, and
5. Change.
Leaders who don’t manage their own time, emotions, and problems cannot be influential. They cannot delegate these to others to manage for them. As emerging leaders, they also cannot delegate to others management of their scarce resources, team members, projects, or change. I don’t want emerging leaders to say, 'I'm a leader, not a manager!' and neglect development of their management competencies.
Of course, when you advance in your leadership, you might hire (delegate) someone who is great at managing so that you can focus on the functions of leading, some of which are:
· Articulating the mission,
· Clarifying the vision,
· Aligning the people alongside the values of the organization,
· Creating and nurturing coalitions.
The point I’m making is that you should be a leader who is skillful in managing, not manipulating. To help you succeed in your leadership, I will provide some management tips in the above five management areas. But the focus of this book is to equip you to ‘become’ an impactful leader who leads by example. You cannot ask your people to become better in their attitude, skills, and character without you first doing it. Effective leadership begins with self. No one can lead others successfully without first leading self. If that is your desire, you’re in for a special treat.
This book isn’t enough
Of course, this book by itself isn’t the end. You will certainly find some helpful principles, methods, and approaches that will guide you in your journey as a first-timer. You will also learn about fresh perspectives that inspire, challenge, stretch, and equip you as you lead your people and serve your team and organization with excellence. However, you must practice and continue to monitor and evaluate your progress at the end of the day. What is more, you should also read other books and sign up for relevant programs to complement the teachings of this book.
Goals and objectives
To recap, below are the specific objectives of this book:
1. To help configure/reconfigure the mindset of first-timers, which will allow them to demonstrate the right attitude from the get-go.
2. To equip first-timers with the necessary soft and people skills to lead their team effectively and get along with their managers, peers, internal and external customers, and other key stakeholders.
3. To offer practical tools, models, templates, and approaches first-timers should use to lead their team with excellence from the start.
4. To empower 1st timers to develop the personality they need to overcome the first-timer syndrome with ease.
It is an honor to be part of your journey as you overcome first-timer syndrome. I look forward to hearing your feedback once you have read this
book. I am also eagerly looking forward to working with you as you develop yourself to become a great leader and serve your community, team, and organization with leadership excellence. Thank you for allowing me to be part of your life and leadership journey by picking up this book!
Understanding the 11 Antidotes
Overview on the 11 antidotes
Below are 11 antidotes you need to make a smooth transition in your first leadership position. They facilitate your healing quickly from the syndrome. If you take enough doses of these antidotes, not only will they cure you now, but they will immunize you for your future first-timer leadership positions.
1. Antidote 1- Know Your Place increases your awareness. It provides you areas where you need to improve your self-awareness, tells you what kinds of questions to ask, and where to find them so that you ‘know your place’ by profoundly knowing yourself, the organization, its people, and key stakeholders.
2. Antidote 2- Own Your Place boosts your confidence level. It equips you to translate your knowledge from the first antidote into a positive
attitude, emotions, and bold actions, which in turn increases your self-confidence to be in charge and ultimately to ‘own your place.’
3. Antidote 3- Build Your Team multiplies your efforts exponentially. It enables you to understand how team dynamics work, the team-building model, and approaches that build and transform your team to function like a well-oiled machine.
4. Antidote 4- Communicate with Stakeholders Effectively connects you with others. It assists you in recognizing what it takes to communicate effectively with your supervisor, team members, and other critical stakeholders by understanding their communication
preferences, coming up with a communication strategy, and improving your communication competencies.
5. Antidote 5- Deliver Quick Results immediately heightens your productivity. It empowers you to deliver results by setting goals, managing your time and energy, and quickly increasing your and your team’s productivity.
6. Antidote 6- Make Timely Decisions encourages you in the face of problems and challenges. It prepares you to make tough and timely decisions, even when you don’t have enough time and data to rely on, by understanding the problem-solving model, sources of decision-making, and more.
7. Antidote 7- Engage Your People elevates your influence to the next level. It teaches you how to inspire and engage your people from the get-go by recognizing how motivation works and creating a culture that engages, offers proper appreciation, and employs effective delegation.
8. Antidote 8- Strive for Excellence magnifies your performance. It educates you to realize the place of excellence, how to manage performance, create and sustain a culture that promotes giving and receiving feedback, and how to deal with poor performers.
9. Antidote 9- Articulate Your Leadership Philosophy makes you predictable. It introduces you to a critical leadership concept - Leadership Philosophy, and explains why it is essential, how to articulate your philosophy, and how to share it with your key people.
10. Antidote 10- Become Authentic and Credible enhances your trustworthiness. It shows you the place of authenticity and credibility in leadership, the importance of demonstrating immediate authenticity and credibility, exhibiting consistency, and eagerness to learn.
11. Antidote 11- Develop Yourself and Your People allows you to tap into your and your peoples’ potential. It discusses the significance of leadership growth, how to craft your and your team’s development plan, and discusses how to help vulnerable team members.
The flow of the book
i. Antidote 1 – 3:
The first three antidotes are designed to start your first-timer role on the right footing. The first two empower you to increase your self-awareness and self-confidence to overcome anxiety and worries and, in turn, to stop hesitating to lead boldly from the get-go. They are designed to clarify and help you develop the right mindset and attitude from the start. The first two antidotes focus on self-leadership, while the third is essential as you transition from self-leadership to leading others. Building your team is the first antidote to becoming a successful first-timer leader who mobilizes others. The third antidote sensitizes you to have a mindset that believes in teamwork and equips you with some approaches to build your team sooner. You should be convinced that you cannot do anything meaningful and succeed as a first timer if you cannot develop and lead your team successfully and quickly.
ii. Antidote 4 – 8:
The next five antidotes equip you to develop certain leadership competencies to effectively fulfill your first-timer leadership responsibilities. They will empower you with the most essential skill set necessary for emerging leaders. As a first-timer, once you lead yourself and build your team to deliver results, you need competencies, such as communicating effectively, making timely decisions, breaking impasses, and attaining excellence. Developing these skills empowers you to increase your productivity to succeed in your first-time leadership role. You can’t sustain your first-timer position without delivering results, and these competencies enable you to lead your team to meet its goals.
iii. Antidote 9 – 11:
The last three antidotes are focused on developing your character set, personality, and helping you grow to solidify and sustain the results you have accomplished by working on your mindset and skill set. They equip you to craft and introduce your leadership philosophy, become authentic and credible, and constantly develop yourself and your team. As much as you need the right mindset and skill set to overcome the syndrome, you cannot sustain your success and continue to succeed in your first-timer position without character. You should be authentic, credible, caring, dependable, and a servant leader.
The antidotes are not in order of priority
You may choose to work on the specific antidote(s) you need right away. When you reach those you feel you don’t need as much, you might decide to read quickly, but when you get to the antidotes you find more important to your circumstance, you might wish to read more carefully, take notes and answer the questions.
To fully benefit from reading this book:
1. Take each antidote seriously. Even if you think you already have enough knowledge about a given topic, don’t allow that to stop you from treating each chapter seriously.
2. Set the right tone. Consider the upcoming weeks transformational, because they are. This foundational book is beneficial well beyond your current first-timer position.
3. Engage throughout the book. Learning happens in many forms. On top of reading each chapter and answering questions, you should immediately practice what you learn.
4. Share what you have learned. The more you share, the more you retain. For instance, share with your peers on your intranet or social media the answers to these questions: What are the three top takeaways from each chapter? What is the one action you will take because you read that particular chapter?
Antidote 1: Know Your Place
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.” Sun Tzu, Chinese military strategist, author, and philosopher
You might have heard people say ‘he/she doesn’t know his/her place.’ People often use this phrase to belittle someone; to tell them they don’t belong there. People sense when we don’t know our place of leadership. If we don’t prepare well for our first-timer leadership position, some might use this phrase against us. The good news is that they also sense when we do know our first-timer place of leadership and this increases their confidence in us. That is why this chapter will equip you to know your place in the best sense. The more you know your place, the more you will 'own your place', which we will cover in chapter 2.'
Knowledge areas as first-timer
The most urgent antidote you need as a first-timer is knowledge. You need to ‘know your place’ to overcome the first-timer syndrome. This knowledge will be the foundation to build on as you overcome the syndrome expediently. This knowledge should begin from:
· Knowing who you truly are,
· What it takes to succeed in your first-timer position,
· The people with whom you work, and
· The organization, its history, mission, vision, values, strategies, and culture.
Implications and impacts of what you don’t know
What you don’t know, you cannot:
· Capitalize on,
· Control, or
· Manage successfully.
What you don’t know can also:
· Affect,
· Hurt, and
· Sabotage you, your team, and the organization.
Knowing your place is relevant everywhere
Knowing your place is the first antidote. Other antidotes won’t be effective unless you have this one first. It is foundational.
Don’t buy into the tempting idea that you already know yourself and your current workplace. Go through this chapter patiently, even if you think you already know yourself reasonably well and have been in the current organization for a very long period. On top of knowing your first-timer position better, as well as the organization, its industry, and all stakeholders, the process of knowing your place makes you a better person and leader. Not only do you succeed in your current position, but you also excel when you are placed in future first-timer positions, whether in your current organization or elsewhere. In addition, what you come to know in this chapter will positively impact your personal life, business, and relationships.
Advantages of knowing your place
Knowing your place adequately:
· Allows you to start your first-timer position on the right footing.
· Paints a positive first impression in the mind of the people you work with.
· Positions you to begin your leadership from high ground.
· Prevents you from too much guessing, inadvertently stepping on other people’s toes, crossing red lines, bashing boundaries, and committing various ‘sins’ and offenses. As actress Toni Collette said, “The better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world.”
Pause and review the above list, and evaluate which of these is true in your case (or in the case of your first-timer you’re coaching and mentoring).
Worth investing time to know your place
Regardless of having other great competencies as a leader, you will struggle to make a smooth transition if you stumble as a result of not knowing yourself and your place. However, I have to be honest with you. You may not immediately harvest tangible, quantifiable results. It takes time and effort to begin enjoying the fruits of knowing your place.
The good thing is that once you dealt with symptoms that come because you don’t knowing your place, you will know the key questions to ask for future leadership positions in which you are placed. You’ll also know where to go to get answers for you and others when you take a first-timer position in the future. Whether you are an aspiring first-timer, have just been placed in your first-timer role, or have been in the position for a while, the time is right to know your place very well. And this chapter will provide you with the necessary insights, strategies, and tactics you can employ to know your place well, which will help overcome first-timer syndrome.
Why is it the very first step for a smooth transition?
This is the first antidote to overcome the feeling of frustration, displacement, stress, uncertainty, and consequences that come with it. ‘Knowing your place’:
· Takes away any mystery,
· Dissipates ‘darkness’, and
· Positions you to overcome the syndrome quickly.
Knowing your place is especially critical if you are just being brought in to lead a team in a new organization. Even if you have been in that organization long enough and already know all or some of the people, taking this antidote is foundational to succeed in making a smooth transition.
Where to start?
Once you appreciate why it should be the first antidote, the next question is: Where do you start? The knowing should begin with:
· Knowing yourself,
· Your work environment, and
· Key stakeholders.
Diagnostic questions
Let me ask you a couple of questions to figure out whether you have the symptom of not knowing your place.
· Have you felt that you don’t belong in your current leadership position? Have others directly or indirectly expressed that you don’t deserve it? Did you believe them?
· Have you felt as if you are a stranger in your first-timer position?
· Have you been feeling misplaced in your current leadership position?
If you have said yes to any of the above questions, you have self-doubt. Questioning yourself reveals the lack of knowing yourself very well. If they promoted you, they must have seen some great things in you. It seems you believed your own and/or others’ doubts about what qualifies you to take your first leadership role. If you’re feeling misplaced, it shows that you’re not yet familiar with your environment. These symptoms call for a antidote. And this chapter immunizes you to develop unshakable self-knowledge and elevated awareness of your immediate work environment.
Learning Objectives
The main goal of this antidote is to help you ‘know your place’ and be comfortable in your new role. Below are the specific objectives of the chapter:
1. To know yourself and increase your self-awareness.
2. To know the main characteristics of your organization.
3. To know the key facts about your job that are necessary to succeed in the organization.
4. To know the key stakeholders, their needs, and priorities.
1.1. Know yourself & increase your self-awareness
Before we succeed in leading others, we should first manage ourselves. Leadership begins with self. Self-leadership starts with self-awareness and ends with personal mastery. In my book ‘Soft Skills That Make or Break Your Success,’ the first soft skill is Increasing self-awareness.
I wrote:
“…Leadership is elusive for many because they think that the places where they become better leaders are public arenas as they lead others. Unfortunately, the foundation of impactful leadership is self-leadership.
• Understanding who we are, our strengths, and limitations,
• Conquering our thoughts and regulating our emotions,
• Managing our time and energy,
• Overcoming obstacles and solving problems, and
• Making wise and right decisions and demonstrating a commitment to our decisions are where we learn to lead ourselves first. Without first conquering self, the chance to prevail upon anything else outside over which we don’t have control is a huge hurdle, to say the least…”
Thus, to know your first-timer place very well, begin the journey by understanding your ‘true self.’ I like what Greek philosopher, Thales, said, “The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.” The more you know your true self, the more you can see your unique role in the leadership position in which you’ve been placed and the more you can lead others successfully. Follow the guidelines of Visa Card Association founder Dee Hock: “If you seek to lead, invest at least 50 percent of your time in leading yourself--your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct. Invest at least 20 percent leading those with authority over you and 15 percent leading your peers.”
Rate your knowing
From 1 to 5, 1 being clueless about who you truly are, and 5 being incredibly self-aware, how do you rate yourself?
If you scored less than 3, you should spend time discovering your true self by asking the following questions:
· Who am I?
· Why am I in this organization?
· What makes me unique?
Many organizations embraced self-awareness
I know it looks like these questions are philosophical and have nothing to do with supervision, management, and leadership. That isn’t true anymore. Many corporations now arrange programs to increase the self-awareness of their leaders. They make them take personality tests to know themselves, their strengths, limitations, and uncover their blind spots and recognize their leadership styles. These smart organizations realized that individual self-discovery is the foundation of corporate identity. These organizations also came to appreciate that the more they know their people, and the more their people know themselves, the easier it is to place them where they are passionate and where they can be productive. It is a win-win for both the greater good and individual members.
Knowing that each person in an organization is indispensable in the 21st Century, many organizations encourage their people to contribute toward corporate goals based on their uniqueness and strengths. Trust me. If this theme isn’t yet appreciated in your organization, it will soon be relevant in your work or marketplace.
Regardless, recognize that the more you know yourself, the more you know others and the environment and know how you can serve them better. When you know your strengths, you leverage them properly. When you discover your limitations, you become intentional in improving them. The more you uncover your blind spots, the more you will stop sabotaging yourself and begin to get along better with others. When you recognize your leadership style, you will have a chance to adjust it to align with the kind of people you lead and the corporate culture.
a) Who are you?
You can use this question for your life as a whole for general knowledge and clarity and then zoom in to answer it in the context of your workplace. This question will empower you to succeed well beyond your first-timer position. The more you know yourself, and most importantly, the better you can articulate it, the more you feel confident. This will position you to own your first-timer place, which we will discuss in the next chapter.
Here are some questions to consider answering, for your personal life, but in particular in your first-time leadership position:
· From where did I come?
· Who am I?
· Why am I here?
· What am I supposed to do here and now?
· Where am I going?
b) From where did I come?
Let me give you some pointers as you answer these questions for your current first-timer position. For this particular question, go back and review your work history. It reconnects you with your past. Don’t be humble! Review your strengths, performances, and achievements. Going back down memory lane may boost your confidence, knowing that you have come a long way.
When we are overwhelmed with new responsibilities and feel inadequate, we forget that we felt the same thing in the past and overcame a lot. We forget how resilient we are when we are under pressure. Reacquaint yourself with your past. Pause and think about your past successes before you took this position.
c) Who am I?
For this question, forget what others may think. Ask yourself what makes you unique to qualify and take this leadership position.
In one statement, describe to an imaginary person in 60 seconds who you are. Do you feel the person is convinced of who you truly are? If you’re not sure, take note and make it one of your growth development areas, which we will cover in the last chapter.
Remember, if you fail to eloquently narrate your own story, others will do for you. When you allow others to define you, they will mostly misrepresent you. When that happens, it can create insecurity.
Now, stop and ask this question: Have you been in charge of defining yourself? Have you successfully communicated that to your people and stakeholders? If not, you have allowed others to describe who you are, and these narratives may not paint your true self. Control your narrative about who you believe you are and what that means to the leadership position you have taken.
Your success as a leader, now and in the future, is highly influenced by how much you know your true self but also by your ability to express it well. If you cannot articulate who you are and communicate it effectively, others won’t know you. And, if they don’t know you well, they struggle to follow you wholeheartedly.
Of course, I’m not encouraging you to engage in unproductive self-indulgence. Like everyone, you are unique. But as special as you are, so is everyone else, even those below your pay grade.
Now create a table with two columns. In the left column list your strengths and in the right your perceived weaknesses and limitations.
You need to tap into your strengths and leverage them. Be humble concerning your limitations and become vulnerable to grow in those areas or seek help. Request feedback from the people who know you best to uncover your blind spots. We’ll cover feedback in Chapter 8.
Knowing yourself very well is so foundational that you should continue to grow in your self-knowledge. I like what Warren Bennis, one of the preeminent leadership gurus in the world, said: “Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.” Don’t stop knowing yourself even long after you overcome the first-timer syndrome.
d) Why are you in this organization?
Simon Sinek, known for his insightful articulation of leadership concepts, wrote the influential book, Start With Why. We all should start our life, profession, business, or any other significant endeavor with a ‘why.’ Take knowing the why of your personal life as an assignment. For our purposes here, what is your ‘why’ for being in this organization? What brought you to this organization and to taking this leadership position?
Don’t answer simply saying, “I’m here for the paycheck.” Or “I saw a vacancy, and I applied, and here I am.” These may be true on the surface but dig deeper. There may be a more powerful reason than these weak and temporal reasons. These won’t help you increase your confidence to overcome the syndrome.
Ask yourself why questions until you get to the decisive reason that inspires you to get up in the morning, stay late, and go the extra mile.
Then, ask a series of why questions till you uncover the reason you are inspired to take a risk and have decided to put more effort and hours into accepting your first-timer leadership position. It may go like this:
· Question 1: Why did I take this leadership position?
Answer 1: Because of X.
· Question 2: Why does X matters to me?
Answer 2: Because of Y.
· Question 3: Why is Y important?
Answer 3: Because of Z.
Keep asking till you don’t have any more questions left. Continue answering until you discover the very reason that motivated you to wake up early, work hard, and take your first-timer leadership position.
If your why is very strong, you will be convinced that the first-timer syndrome is worth experiencing. Most importantly, don’t allow it to get in the way of living for your ‘why.’ This ‘why’ will persuade you to endure the pressure from leading others, some of whom may even be smarter than you. When you know that reason and connect it with your leadership role, there is no way that you will shrink from playing your role. You will be consciously willing to overcome whatever challenges you may face as you lead.
Okay, some of you may say, “Well, Assegid, I’m not like you. I’m here for the money or the perks and benefits.” Even so, it is okay to start with these reasons that brought you this far. Going forward, discover and embrace more substantial ‘why’s’. The higher your cause - why you’re there, the more motivated you’ll be. The more you can capitalize on every opportunity you get to maximize your stay in the organization while also advancing its mission and serving its clients. And of course, you will be paid more, and will receive more perks and benefits. It is a win-win.
1.2. Know the main attributes of the organization
You might have had an orientation as a new employee or leader. Such formal orientations may give you some knowledge about your organization, but we are talking about digging deeper.
Do you know the organization very well? What makes you say that? From 1 to 10, 1 being “I don’t know anything about the organization,” and 10 being “I know how it was formed, the founders, its past, and am well aware of the ins and outs,” how do you rate your knowledge?
If you scored less than 7, you should take this antidote seriously. Remember, what you don’t know, you cannot manage. What you don’t know hurts you, your team, and your organization. Below is the bare minimum of knowledge you should have about your organziation:
1. History,
2. Mission and vision,
3. Strategies, and
4. Corporate culture and core values.
a) Know the short history of the organization. Let’s test your knowledge on this. If you’re asked to show up in 5 minutes at the next orientation for new hires to share a brief history of the organization, could you do it? Try it, even if no one is giving you such an opportunity.
Find a quiet place and imagine giving an orientation in that empty room. Your presentation should at least answer these questions:
1. When was it formed?
2. What caused it to come into existence?
3. Who were the founders?
4. What are the significant transformations/changes the organization has experienced?
5. What are its top success stories and challenges?
If you don’t know the answers to some of these questions, figure out where to find them. Some of this info may not be available on the organization’s website nor in the employee manual. You may need to conduct an informal interview with those who keep its oral history.
By all means, know your organization’s history to serve it and its stakeholder with adequate knowledge. You should lead with your eyes open.
You can better play a constructive role to enrich the organization’s history and play your part toward making new history by building on what you have inherited. Not knowing the history, key players, stakeholders, and its significant transformations may hinder your effectiveness. You may also make some mistakes without even knowing it.
b) Know the mission and vision of the organization. Do you know the ‘why’ of the organization? What is its mission? Stop reading and write down the mission. If you don’t know it, check the website or your manual. If you cannot find a written mission statement, ask someone who knows it.
You have already discovered your own mission in life. Now you have learned the organization’s mission. Is there any alignment between the two? I always tell people to make sure they share the mission of the organization they would like to work for. I also advise organizations to hire those whose personal mission aligns with the organization’s or at least hire people who appreciate the organization’s ‘why.’
If there is a direct or indirect connection between your and the organization’s mission, what are your and the team’s contributions toward fulfilling that mission?
If there is no direct alignment between your and your organization’s mission, what part of the organization do you love? Your personal cause may not necessarily need to align with your organization’s. If you like who they serve or the products and services they produce, or some of the organization’s values, it should be enough. By all means, you should consciously know the intersection points between you and the organization if you desire to own your place and demonstrate confidence, passion, and give your best.
The follow-up question is: What is the vision of the organization? In other words, where does the organization see itself in the future? Or where does the organization aspires to reach at the end of the day?
Write a single statement that expresses the vision of the organization. If you have to use just one symbol to describe the organization’s vision, what would that symbol be? Why?
If you cannot articulate the vision of the organization, consult the website or organizational documents. If you cannot find a written vision statement, interview key players to develop a one-statement vision statement.
Do you share the organization’s vision? How?
Then ask yourself: What would be the contributions of my team and my fair share in my current leadership role that would bring the organization to its highest level?
c) Know the strategies of the organization. What strategies does the organization use to fulfill its mission and attain its vision? Strategies, simply, are major approaches an organization employs to achieve its grand goals. Below are some major strategies that many organizations use to fulfill their mandate:
· Products,
· Services,
· Sponsorships,
· Partnerships,
· Advocacies,
· Campaigns.
Of course, each department and/or team may use tactics under each strategy to fulfill their respective mandate. Knowing, at least, the major strategies of your organization facilitates your success as a first-timer. You may then identify the tactics your team should use that don’t contradict the organization’s overall strategy as you and your team meet your goals.
What are the major strategies of your organization? Which strategies are relevant to your team? What tactics are in place at your team level that will contribute toward the success of these strategies?
You may not find this info on the website nor in the company’s publicly available documents. However, you can ask your supervisor to familiarize yourself with the strategic approaches of your organization. Then, you may need to recognize the tactics that are used by your team. If this is a new team and you have been given the flexibility to develop your own strategies and/or tactics, make sure they don’t contradict the organization’s overall approaches. They should align with the strategies of the organization.
d) Know the corporate culture of the organization. Culture dictates how things are done in a given organization. Every organization has its own unique culture. When you study continually successful organizations, their culture is their competitive advantage. They survive and even thrive in times of crisis, when others go down, because of their unique culture.
Experts in this area have identified four different types of corporate cultures for the following common types of organizations:
· Hierarchical organizations such as the military and many government agencies have a culture where decisions flow from top to bottom with limited flexibility.
· For-profit organizations such as Apple, Google, and many corporations create a flat culture that encourages individual team members to create and innovate.
· Non-profits like Red Cross, Feeding America, and World Vision create a culture that fosters cooperation and we-ness among team members.
· Project-based organizations such as NASA and many software companies and law firms don’t have a particular uniform corporate culture. Each team and project may have its sub-culture that ends with the project.
Which among the above four cultures resembles your organization’s culture? What made you say so?
Once you identify the type of corporate culture your organization has, describe the culture using 1 or 2 paragraphs. By doing so, you will see whether you have fully understood it. This will also show you whether you have some knowledge gaps. Answer these questions to help you figure out your corporate culture:
· How are things done around here?
· What are the norms, expectations, and taboos?
· What are some of the things that are encouraged, and what is discouraged?
· What does it take to succeed and fail in this organization?
If you can’t answer these questions adequately, you’re leading in this organization while blindfolded. You’re also in for wild surprises and disappointments. You don’t know where the:
· Treasures are hidden,
· Quicksand can be found, and
· Wild animals lurk.
If you are new and unable to figure out how things are done yet, begin learning the culture as soon as possible. The first place to start is by learning the corporate values of the organization. You may find these on the website or company documents. If not, strike up informal conversations with those who have been around for some time. Try also to put them in order of priority. Which three corporate values are dominant?
Once you are aware of the corporate culture, the next step is to make sure your team's subculture is aligned with the main culture. How your team does things should align with how things are done in the mainstream culture. Play your part to avoid cultural misalignment, which may sabotage your overall success and future standing with the organization and its leaders. Cultural misalignments, wherever they may happen in an organization, negatively affect the greater good. They take away the potency of the mainstream corporate culture, and as a first-timer, you don’t want to start your journey by contributing to cultural misalignment.
1.3. Know your job description very well
On top of knowing about the organization and its attributes, you should know your job description very well. You should:
· Know the mission and goal of your team. Why was your team formed? What is ‘the main thing’ of the team? Do you think the goal is achievable? Why? If you’re not sure, don’t worry about it right now. In Chapter 5, you will learn how to make your goals smart.
· Know your job description. Do you know your job description? Most of the time, you would know it before you even take the leadership position. In some cases, you may not know the full scope of your job description. There may also be responsibilities that aren’t clearly defined. There could even be some unwritten expectations.
If you don’t have a formal job description, ask your supervisor. Write it down and share it with your supervisor to make sure you two are on the same page. Otherwise, even if you think you have fulfilled your job description by your own measure, unless your supervisor feels the same, you fail to meet her/his expectations. And this isn’t good news. This isn’t the way you would like to start your first-timer role.
· Know the kind of leader you want to be. That means, how would you like to be known and remembered? Having this clarity at this stage helps you decide how you would like to operate from the start. You become intentional about your words, behaviors, decisions, and actions. We will cover more on this in Chapter 9, where you will come up with your leadership philosophy that states what leadership means to you, your leadership style, what you expect from your team, what they should expect from you, how you prefer to communicate, and more.
However, right now, at least, you should have an awareness of your leadership style. You should be conscious about whether it is helping or hindering you from succeeding
Know the areas you need to improve. What areas in your leadership, such as your mindset, competencies, personality, or character, need improvements? You have to audit and have a sense of where you are right now. You cannot aim to go to the next level without marking where you start. We will further address this in the last chapter to identify areas where you would like to grow this year, your development goals, and your plan. For now, attempt to identify at least the major improvement areas that boost your confidence as a first-timer. Knowing this takes the pressure off. Sometimes we lose faith because we may have a subconscious feeling of inadequacy.
1.4. Know key stakeholders and their preferences
It may be impossible for you as a first-timer to know all stakeholders of your organization. And of course, you don’t necessarily have to know them by name, other than those closely working with you. However, you should have a sense of who the key players are and their needs and priorities. Then focus on those who closely work with your team to meet their needs and work according to their preference and priorities.
· Know the key decision-makers in the organization. Which decision-maker(s) beyond your immediate supervisor has a particular interest in your team and what you do? What are their needs and expectations? Which stakeholders does your team interact with and communicate with regularly? Do you know their expectations of your team? How do you describe your supervisor? What are his/her goals, aspirations, needs, priorities, preferences, values, and pet peeves? If you don’t know the answers to some of these questions, where do you get the answers?
Of course, you could directly ask them, but you won’t get all the info you need unless you have already built a good relationship. Sharing intimate and personal preferences requires first building trust. If you think the latter isn’t yet in place for some of these decision-makers, you should consider asking the people who closely worked with them in the past. You may also reach out to people who know them very well.
· Know your team members. Do you know who your team members are and their uniqueness? Why are they on the team? What is their ‘why’? What are their professional goals, strengths, limitations, preferences, and aspirations? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, how do you plan to learn? If you don’t have good relationships and trust, they may not share what matters the most to them. Thus, first begin building relationships, be attentive, observe, and ask some thoughtful questions during a one-on-one to get to know them well. Again, what you don’t know, you cannot manage.
· Know end users. Who are the end-users and other key beneficiaries that communicate with your team and benefit from its work? What are their needs? How do they prefer to share with you and the team? What are their concerns? Again, build relationships and trust, and make consistent efforts to know your end-users and beneficiaries. Next to your supervisor, end-users are those who, directly or indirectly, will evaluate your success. As a first-timer, these two groups should get your utmost attention. The more you know their needs and preferences, the more you and your team can serve them well.
Next Steps & Resources
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