Transitioning from DOER to LEADER

 Transitioning from a Doer to a Leader is a topic not often talked about.  In fact, when I first made the move from an employee into my first leadership role, I felt beyond lost, confused, and frankly: Useless.  Overnight, I went from being an employee with a long to do list and a sense of pride knowing how much I could accomplish in a day.  I was proud of how many emails I could crank through, how many orders I could input, how many things I could check off a to do list, and how many reports I could run.  Moving from this type of role (where most of us either are or have been), into leadership, is a scary and not talked-enough about topic. 

               When I began leading more than “doing,” my days began to feel very long and weird.  I didn’t know how to structure my day, and I went home feeling unaccomplished and unneeded.  This was because no one really showed me how to manage myself as a leader, and I know it’s worth talking about because it is a topic I had to dig pretty hard to learn about.  It took me at least 2 years to fully understand the importance of being a great leader and the impact that the way I act and lead myself as a leader directly affects the people who I serve.  Leadership is a true art, and honestly, I think it is one of the most challenging roles out there because of the lack of tangible aspects to it.  Over the years, I have defined leadership into one simple sentence.  This has really helped my team and me, and I use it to this day when training any new leader.  At the beginning of every meeting, I have with anyone in leadership I ask them: “Is everyone on your team thriving and exactly where they should be?”  If the answer is no, well, we have a good place to start talking.

               Here are my main takeaways from not only moving from an employee to a leader quite early on, but also now overseeing and training leaders every day.  I’ve seen their struggles and felt them myself, and here is what I teach to this day when moving from a DOER to a LEADER:

1. Document Everything.  If anyone asks you “why do you..” or “how do you..” You better make sure you have a written or video guide for it!  Something that grinds my gears is when someone training another person feels their job cannot be written down.  To me, it is either a sign that they don’t want anyone else doing their job for a fear of looking unimportant, or they’re lazy.  Every role can be documented, and a Guide/Playbook can be created for any task.  I highly encourage using video to help with the candor/nontangible aspect of a task, but everything needs to be documented for whomever you are training.  As a leader, it doesn’t have to be you creating the document either.  That one really boggled my mind at first – the best person sometimes to create a good Playbook is someone new in a role because their mind is still in a slower mode – they’re still taking their time when doing their tasks so it’s a great time for them to document how/why they are doing something.  Someone who’s been doing the same role for 10 years might skip a few steps when creating a playbook simply out of habit and being in "auto mode."  Don't leave your people untrained or without resources.  Make sure they have the Guides and Playbooks they need to be successful in their roles.
2. Be Flexible.  Your way isn’t the only way.  It can be extremely challenging when you created a system or have been doing things your way for a long time, but truly, magic happens when a new perspective comes to town.  When you’re leading someone, it’s important to identify what success looks like to you.  If success to you looks like XYZ is done by 10AM every Monday with no mistakes, then does it matter how the person gets there? 
3. It’s OK to feel bored. I used to tell General Managers at my restaurant “You should feel bored.”  This meant that they had equipped their team very well & they could handle things on their own.  I firmly believe that when a team operates smoothly when the Leader isn’t around, that is the sign of a good Leader.  It means you have equipped your team to make decisions, to feel ownership of their area, and have given them the opportunity to spread their wings.  Poor leadership often means making people feel like they cannot succeed without their manager around.  Now, of course they need your guidance and regular support, but you should be able to take off for 3 days and have things run smoothly while you’re gone.  What this means when you’re around or in the office, is sometimes since you don’t have a tactical task or an email to respond to right away, it can feel very boring.  This is a good thing.  This means you’re now able to carve out time for Thinking / Planning / Projects.  This is how the needle moves forward.  If you’re like me and a high Type A Achiever, it’s important to carve this time out in your calendar so that you still feel some structure, if that is what you need.  When you’re bored, your mind wanders, and you’re able to spend time thinking about a certain topic or something you’ve been wanting to dive deeper into for a while.  I like to keep a running list of “Thinking Time” projects that I can refer to during these down times, where I can dive deeper into a specific problem or topic that needs more attention.  When you’re “go go go” all day, there is no time for problem solving / problem prevention. 
4. Set Clear Goals & KPI’s for your Team.  In order to keep your team feeling motivated, and for you to know that things are performing the way you need them to, it is important to have Key Performance Indicators / Measurables that you can refer back to.  Spend some time thinking about the key numbers you want to see – check out my Blog Post on KPI’s here.  (**Stephanie, link Blog Post 1 I just sent you to the word “here” once it’s published).   Without being able to measure, it can be challenging to keep your team motivated and on track.  I rely heavily on KPI’s to know if my team is moving the needle and also to ensure that the strategies I have implemented are making the impact that I thought they would.  Sometimes KPI’s end up telling us something is NOT working, which is just as valuable.  I’d rather turn the ship around & change course early than run into an iceberg!  While KPI’s are not the ONLY part of solid leadership, they are a very useful and impactful piece that in my opinion, cannot be ignored.
5. Check in Regularly.  Don’t leave your team hanging!  In the beginning, one of the main areas that I struggled with was giving too much or too little support.  I always felt like I wasn’t giving enough, or that I was drowning my team with “how can I help you?”  I learned that by setting aside time with a recurring calendar invite, both myself and those I managed had a container waiting for us to go over what we needed to discuss.  This has been a game changer for me, not only to give us enough time to go over whatever we needed to go over, but to also help me not “hover” knowing that I had a time and place to discuss topics with my team during a set aside time. 

Leading is hard.  Don’t beat yourself up, wondering if you’re giving too much or too little.  At the end of the day, if your team is happy and thriving, I think you’re doing a pretty great job.