What To Do When A Team Member Becomes The Team Leader

A new Team Leader position was recently created in our department and there were five former senior team members who were promoted to Team Leader (including me). Now we are charged with performing our previous duties, as well as leading our teams, strengthening morale, etc. It’s challenging since many of those we are now leading were our peers only a few weeks ago (and they were passed over for the promotion). Any tips on making this transition effective? So far I haven’t wanted to Rock the Boat.

The Team Doc Says…

It is absolutely time to Rock the Boat. Your job as a team leader who transitioned from being a team member is even tougher than a brand new team leader joining an existing team.

Your team members may be worried about “old baggage” and have some concerns about how that will influence your team leadership. One of the best ways to eliminate that concern is to conduct one-on-one discussions with each team member. When you have this discussion, really listen to each team member. Talk about their goals, find out what daily activities they really enjoy and talk about the future of the team.

It’s also important that you bring the team together to gain clarity on team roles and responsibilities, team mission and team goals. Consider it a rechartering process. The outcome of rechartering the team will be greater team ownership on the part of each team member and a team that knows where there going by following your lead.