3 Tips For New and Emerging Leaders

In a recent interview, Clint Adams from Waterpro shared three tips for new and emerging leaders: don’t outsource your judgement, empower your staff and delegate tasks, and set clear values and what you expect for your people.

Let’s break down these wise words of wisdom.

1. Don’t outsource your judgement.

In many decision-making instances, young leaders are unsure of themselves. This is because you may not have clarity on the type of leader you want to be. So, you start polling. You poll others in your team. You start looking for advice. You want input on the answers, so any answer will do!

At the end of the day, though, remember that what’s really important is to keep the final decision as your own. You can certainly ask for others’ opinion, but as a business owner, things are all on you so you better be comfortable with your decisions. As a leader, you’ve been put into that position because people believe in you and trust that you will make the necessary decisions.

A basic rule of thumb is to make a decision that sits right with you and is congruent with your values.

2. Empower your staff and delegate tasks.

Delegating tasks is something that many young leaders may find hard to do, especially if a staff member is older than you in terms of age or number of years in the company.

Again, remember that there’s a reason why you’ve been put into a position of leadership. You may be the owner or, if you’re not the owner, your leadership qualities may have been acknowledged by the owner.

Despite your excellent skills, though, you can’t do all of the tasks alone. To keep the company running, you will need to delegate tasks or a lot of things may not get done.

Related to delegating, you also need to empower your staff and trust that they will get the tasks done. Too many leaders worry about tasks and love to micromanage so they keep following up on things.

If 10% of tasks don’t get done, don’t blow your top off. So long as the business keeps moving fast and forward, you will need to let some stuff fall sometimes. You can’t worry about things or you might go crazy.

3.Set clear values for your company and what you expect for your people.

Clear values support the vision, define the culture, and guide the direction of the company as a whole.

To let these values be imbibed by individual members, it’s equally important to communicate them regularly to your staff. This lets your people understand what you expect for and from them.

Conclusion

Setting clear values for your team emanates from setting clear values for yourself.

What do you stand for as a leader and what do you stand against?

How do these values drive your integrity and how you perform in your own role as a leader?

How do these values affect your judgement and decision-making skills?

So, it’s time to get some clarity on your values and get clear on your leadership purpose. If you want to learn more tips, listen to my weekly radio show Overwhelm To Owning It where I talk everything business and leadership.

You can also catch the interview with Clint Adams here.