Transition From Manager To Leader!

Role of Manager is to achieve the daily or periodic tasks or goals through his team. Purpose and focus is achieving the set targets or tasks. Leader on the other hand has increased focus on enabling the people to lead and complete the work. It is more of an enabling role.

Few important points need to be kept into mind about transitioning from Manager to Leader:

📌 Set clear boundaries with regard to change of mind, empathy with self and others and enabling the team work, achieve the set goals. It needs delegation to the team, trust, enable and empower the people instead of micromanaging and involving yourself into too much of operations.

📌 Balance is needed between selflessness and self-centeredness. Managers are somehow more into operations and they have a self-centred approach with their work. Leaders have to be selfless. Help and enable the team, take more responsibility, pass on credit of good work to the team and take burden of mistakes on yourself. A balance needs to be struck between both the approaches.

📌 Leaders have to be emotionally intelligent. In extreme or challenging situations, leaders have to be patient, calm and composed. No strong reactions will enable a leader to lead. Take care of the team and be patient.

📌 Go beyond your formal authority by showing more care, kindness, help and support to the people around you. It is how the people will accept you as a leader. Leaders need to be inclusive, giving more power to the people to decide and move on. Peer to peer collaboration is much needed.

📌 Leaders will bring about gradual change so as to familiarize the people with the new things and gradually bring them on board. It will help ease the pressure of new processes, culture and tasks. Gradual change will be absorbed and accepted easily.

Last few words:

Leaders serve the people. They are accountable and they carry more burden. If they do not take risks, responsibility and burden of people's care and kindness, their acceptance as a leader will be very minimal. Managers should start learning about leadership and gradually transition from their managerial work to leadership roles. It is how this transition will be practical and successful.