When I became the leader of the free world (just kidding) of my team at work, there were a few things I was very uncertain of prior to assuming the role.

1. I was not “groomed” to take this role. My career path was very different. However, the role was vacated suddenly and I had to step up.
2. This group of people had worked for the same person for the last 6-8 years. This particular person’s management style was not to empower them to learn new skills or to adapt to new changes, but rather to appease them so they could simply stay afloat.
3. Like most groups, the demographic is not going to be easy peasy lemon squeezy. As mine did, it had a WIDE range. I had older folks who were not only not tech savvy, but tech-resistant. I had younger folks who never bothered to learn anything advanced either (by advanced, I’m talking basic to intermediate excel formulas that any person in our industry would be expected to know).
4. Since they had performed the skills and steps for so many years, you’d think they’d at least be experts in their silos. Nope. They were certainly not.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying these things to talk negatively about my team or paint me as a victim. I want to provide some context as to what I walked into.

How do you manage this uncertainty? How do you prepare yourself and your team for this transition? In some cases, there might be a much larger change to adapt to. What if there is a complete leadership change at the very top? How do you deal with that? There is no one size fits all answer to this question – in life and in the workplace, but these are a few ways to make the process smoother.

1. Find your north star.

• It’s easy to get lost in the moving pieces and the day to day details that you forget what is the ultimate reason behind everything. What is the end goal? Now even if the change comes from up top, there is always a way to drill down to what your division/group’s bigger picture is. Is it to make processes more efficient? Is it to focus more on tracking sales? Is it to improve on forecasting?

2. Set incremental goals. 

• Set goals at the team level and individual level. Ensure the individual goals align with the bigger picture goal (team goal). You can set them at 90 days, 6 months, a year, etc. Regularly check-in with yourself and have an “inner pulse” as to where you feel the team/you are.

3. Micro-manage. 

• This is counter-intuitive because there are countless articles that tell you not to do that. You have to tap into your leadership intuition and see how long you have to do this part for but remember – the point of doing this is to control the situation from the get-go. Anytime you are implementing changes, you need to have all eyes on it. It is super (for lack of better word) UGH, but once you feel things are rolling along smoothly, you can let go of the reins a bit.

4. Be willing to seek help and adjust. 

• One thing that you cannot be too proud to do – ask for help. Create your inner circle who you can rely on to bounce ideas off of and trust to get honest feedback. It’s not the time to be too prideful during times of change and uncertainty. These people will most likely have a better idea of what is happening on the “ground level.”

5. Increase communication. 

• If you do not already have this going, I would get going on establishing communication with whoever the change in leadership is. This will help make your day MUCH easier. The more you do this, the more you will feel like they are in your corner and the fear of failure won’t be as great. Of course, you will still carry the responsibility if things do not go according to plan, but at least this way you can properly communicate (with confidence – which is key!!) what your thought process was and how you plan to improve.

One of the major uncertainties that inherently come with any sort of change will be – “am I still going to have a job?” All of the steps above have an implicit goal to address this understandable feeling of instability. Once everyone gets on board and understands what the bigger picture is, they will hopefully see a renewed purpose for how their part plays into the larger goal.

Hope you are all enjoying what is left of your weekend! Remember to find some time for yourself (even if for only an hour). Your future self will thank you.

As always, I want to hear what you guys think!

xx