Speakers and Authors love to say that people are a company’s most valuable asset. I agree wholeheartedly, but want to raise the stakes a notch or two. I believe that a great company works at recruiting, hiring, training, managing and motivating so that they develop the Best People, and in doing so, provide themselves with an enormous competitive advantage and the company’s most prized assets. New managers and emerging leaders need to understand their role now that they’ve become the caretakers of the company’s culture.

Be Clear About Your Role – Now that you’ve been promoted, you’re no longer responsible for piles of work done by yourself. Now the game has changed, and your mission is to gain results by influencing others. You are the leader of your team, and it’s now your role to help everyone on your team to succeed. Start a chain reaction, by ensuring that the individuals on your team succeed, which will lead to the team succeeding, which will lead to your success. Motivating and inspiring your people will be key to your success in this endeavor, and by leading the team to meaningful achievements, they will remain engaged in your business initiatives. Ensure that you challenge your team and encourage them by giving them autonomy to pursue challenging work that adds meaning to their lives.

Influence Must Be Wielded with Wisdom – A wise man once said that just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean that you SHOULD. Think about that for a moment. Makes sense, doesn’t it? You will be able to develop influence by exercising it with wisdom. You will be able to squander your influence by implementing ham-fisted initiatives. When you were an individual contributor, you longed for the day when you could make a difference by managing with intelligence. That day has arrived. With great power, a person must accept great responsibility.

Create An Appealing Professional Environment – You will have the opportunity to create the environment your people will encounter every day in their work lives. What do you want that work environment to look like and to feel like? Embrace vulnerability and present your humanity to your team. You don’t have to pretend that you have all the answers, your team will respond well to a leader who goes first and models the way for others to behave. Credit your team for their successes and accomplishments, praise them publicly and if you need to provide them with criticism, do it carefully and privately. Be proportionate in your use of praise, appreciation, and criticism so that the culture is one of achievement, success, and celebration, not negativity and avoiding mistakes. Encourage the team to grow personally and professionally, and show your appreciation for their positive progress. Demand commitment and results, but go first in helping to set the stage for success.

Strengthen Your Game – Don’t forget that you need to be committed to learning to continue raising the lid on your own leadership ability and your effectiveness. Make a firm commitment to master the art and the science of planning and preparation. Choose proactivity over just reacting to events. Focus on your team, preparing them, developing them, delegating challenging opportunities for growth to them, and coaching them to become very capable as they grow. Make it your business to understand motivation and learn to understand the motivation profiles of each of your team members and develop a mastery of the techniques and strategies that you employ to unlock the passions of your team and engage them in delivering successful results on a consistent basis.

Emerging leaders have a unique opportunity to drive the development of a supremely valuable asset for their organization. A great company develops a keen ability to drive success by recruiting and hiring the best people in the marketplace, training them, setting clear expectations that help them to clearly envision success and managing them so that they become high performing teammates who can deliver consistent, sustainable success. Seize that opportunity by committing to becoming the best people manager and leader that you possibly can become. Your company and your team will thank you for your efforts, rest assured.

Michael is a thought leader on the topic of developing excellence in emerging leaders and first-time managers. He has developed a great program that combines management and leadership curriculum with one on one executive development coaching, resulting in supremely prepared emerging leaders who are well equipped to manage high-performance teams. If you’d like more information about Michael’s Emerging Leader Executive Development Program, send an email to info@michaelbeachcoach.com. Michael will be delighted to send you a copy of his best practices on Communication, Motivation, and Leadership. Delivering Ambitious Results…