Most of my posts deal business after you’ve achieved a position of leadership. But how do you get there in the first place?
Leadership is earned not given. I’m not sure who said that, but I’m sure someone has. Most employees, however, want the TITLE before they lead. Which brings up a catch-22: management wants to see you lead before they promote you. So what do you do? One of my favorite podcasts, Manager Tools, describes two types of authority: Positional and Relational.
Positional authority is authority you have because you have the title of “manager”. People do what you say because you’re their boss. Relational authority is authority you have because your coworkers, or subordinates, trust you. People do what you say, because they know you have their, or the company’s, best interests at heart.
Relational authority is the type of authority you need to cultivate, even if you have the title, but especially when you don’t. Every manager knows that just because you’re in charge, doesn’t mean people do what you tell them. However, if people trust you, they’ll do what you want without you even asking.
But how do you get this authority?
Here are 3 tips for becoming a leader before you get the title.
1. Don’t ask, suggest
The thing to remember is that whether or not you have the title, no one likes being told what to do. So make suggestions on how to do things. More importantly, don’t worry if people don’t do what you tell them. After all you’re not their boss…yet. If your suggestions are more efficient and better, they’ll eventually be adopted. Which leads us to…
2. Lead by doing
If you have ideas about how to make the workplace better, then do them. As people see you work more efficiently, they may adopt your suggestions.
Further, it helps to be perceived as the hardest worker (while not seeming like a show-off/brown-noser). You want your peers to feel that when you ask them to do something, your not asking because you’re lazy. If you do everything including dusting & sweeping, then people won’t think you’re asking because you just don’t want to do it. Similar to #1 you can also ask people to “do you a favor”. People will feel like they’re helping you out personally, and that you might owe them. Leadership is about getting people to do what you want them to do, however you can.
3. Listen and Learn
This is the most important skill of any leader: listening. As you’re rising through the ranks listen to the people working around you. Learn what they like and don’t like; discover their strengths and weaknesses. Not to exploit them, but to find where they fit best. If you have a co-worker who is bad at processing and cleaning, but is superb at customer service, make sure they are out on the floor as much as possible. Likewise, if someone doesn’t prefer interacting with customers, but is great at merchandising, make sure they’re doing that.
When people are doing what they enjoy, they’re happy, which makes them more productive and if you’re the one who facilitates that, they’ll want to work more with you. This means they’ll be more likely to follow your lead and do what you ask. They’ll trust you.
As you apply these three tips with more and more co-workers you will develop a relationship where people look to you as an unofficial leader. As they see you work hard, that your suggestions make sense, and that they enjoy working with you (and that working with you is also more productive which won’t go unnoticed by your bosses) you will develop that all-important Relational Authority and hopefully it will lead to Positional Authority.
In the next post we’ll discuss how to make the most of your new leadership role.
Joe Robles 