As an Executive Coach & Mentor, with a focus on leadership, my assignments regularly involve a client who aspires to, or has been promoted to, a more senior leadership role.  Some, happily, are in the positive position of “How do I perform this larger role to the best of my ability?’; others, however, lament “I’m struggling; maybe I’m not good enough for this step up”.  To both, I counsel “You need to grow as a leader as your team grows.”

I know from my own experience as a Senior Executive that each time the scale of my team increased, I needed to develop too – acquiring new skills, adopting different approaches, and, importantly, letting go of certain things too.  To be clear, ‘grow’ is not the same as ‘change’: I would argue that keeping your core constant – your purpose and values – while growing as a leader is what helps you be true to yourself and a so-called ‘authentic’ leader.

So, in what ways does a leader needs to grow as their team grows?  I’d suggest 3 main areas:

Get comfortable leading and letting go

When the team is small, you, the leader, understand the details of each person’s work, their strengths and weaknesses, and (more likely after the pandemic) their life outside the office: you can support each of them directly to ensure the success of all.  But as the team grows, there are not enough hours in the day to continue to do the same.  So, management roles are introduced to ‘free up’ the leader.  

For the leader, this can be scary – you are being relieved of the very things you are confident you know how to do well.  The leader is still responsible for the team’s performance but day-to-day decisions will be made without your input and things will be done differently from how you might have done them – the leader often fears that they are losing control but in reality ‘letting go’ creates capacity for leadership growth.

This is the leader’s opportunity to set the direction, communicate actively and ensure everyone knows the role they play in the team’s success.  As a team grows, empowering others and delegating effectively are essential: support each team member via a coaching approach and trust them to get the job done – this trust helps them to develop too.

For an inspiring read on this topic, try L. David Marquet’s “Turn the Ship Around!” 

Prioritising becomes a priority

When you lead a small team, you can often head into the weekend relaxed in the knowledge you have answered all emails and cleared your ‘to do’ list.  As the team grows, the emails multiply, the ‘to do’ list lengthens, and more people demand your time: if you want to preserve your relaxed weekend (and, more seriously, your mental health), you need to learn to prioritise well to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

There are many ways to consider how to prioritise such as Ben Hunt Davis’ “Will it make the boat go faster?”, or Stephen Covey’s ‘Urgent Important Matrix’.  Plus productivity tips such as doing the least appealing task first while your mind is fresh and clear, or switching off your emails to allow you periods of uninterrupted focus.  Most important, perhaps, is the mindset shift to accept that you cannot do it all let alone do it all brilliantly: sometimes, good is good enough.

People skills become more important than technical expertise

As the team grows, the leader spends less time using their technical expertise and more time ensuring that the members of the team are in the best possible position to use their technical skills: well-trained, fully-engaged, appropriately-directed.  This necessity can be scary for the leader as technical capabilities may well be one of their recognised strengths and what has got them to this position, so they are loathe to have less opportunity to use this strength.  But it is important to recognise that the top jobs in any organisation require leading people who have the necessary expertise, not providing expertise yourself.

The further up the ranks you progress and the larger the number of people you are leading, the more complex the issues and implications you need to manage.  But, at the core, you need to take people with you through your people skills.

Together with colleagues at Hanya [1], we have considered what ‘people skills’ are now required for outstanding leadership.  These include:

·      Providing meaning: around purpose, ethical values and ESG;

·      Connecting: both within the organisation through collaboration and externally with partnerships and relationships;

·      Enabling: through empowerment, with decisions at the right level;

·      Belonging: embracing diversity and inclusion, ensuring well-being and engagement;

·      Growing: encouraging future skills and capability development;

·      Personal qualities: including authenticity, courage and influence

Leaders who grow their personal and professional capabilities and master these people skills will be ideally-placed to lead teams of any size.

Posted in Articles, Four common themes from my coaching work