Marcia's Leadership Q and As: First Job of A New Manager

Q. We have a new manager who leads with the opposite style of the great manager who retired. The new one has a lot of ideas, and they might be good, but he’s driven and runs over everyone. Team members are shutting down. What can we do?

A. There are at least 11 general leadership styles. It sounds like the past manager led the team and had a foundation of trust, and the team could work together. The new manager’s style is less astute about first understanding the team and its direction. A great leader enters a new position and first goes into learning mode, to understand the current system, team members, issues, and opportunities. Depending on the challenges, a leader can take a week or month to assess, start to build trust through conversations, and begin an exchange of ideas and planning strategies to pull everyone together to move forward.

A new manager who comes into a new job with ideas that are being driven down the team’s throat will soon meet resistance. The team may divide. Some will feel comfortable following these new ideas and style (or will pretend to, to win points), while others will close down, stop contributing, and even seeking other employment.

It is not leadership when a new manager dictates what the team needs to do. It is instead a person who lacks self-esteem and wants to believe because they have a title they also have the only good ideas. They also lack communication skills (an essential leadership trait.) An authoritarian style is not a healthy leadership style; it tires people. Great ideas for an organization can get lost in a poor management style.

The greatest leaders I’ve observed guide others; they actually say very little, but they create the environment for others to contribute to how they will accomplish the aim of the organization or team. Great leaders ask questions and listen. They hear others’ ideas first. They create plans together because everyone needs to feel engaged or the team will disengage.