Staying Humble
There is a great sense of pride when you find yourself in the position of leading a team. Leadership comes with a lot of power and power might corrupt your confidence. Being overly confident can be harmful to your business and team. It makes you more likely to make mistakes since you are not listening to others as much as you should and because you are less likely to take the time to question your decisions. One of the best ways to stay humble is to continue to value your team especially once you have become successful. That will keep you in check and remind you why you need others’ input.
Being a Support System
When you become a leader, you become the support system for your team. People look up to you and expect you to be able to help them solve their problems. This can be extremely stressful, especially if you are dealing with personal struggles. Work to recognize what support you can provide and what support you cannot provide. For example, for tasks related to the job you may be able to help an employee but for mental health related issues, you can refer your employees to mental health professionals. Another important aspect of mitigating the pressure of being your team’s support system is to look for support systems outside of work for yourself so that not everything falls on you. You deserve a support system too.
Difficult People
Leaders must work with a range of people and they are bound to at some point have to work or deal with a difficult person. This may be an employee, client, or people in another business that your company is working with. Difficult people can make doing tasks that should not be complicated unpleasant and more complicated than they need to be. When dealing with a difficult person the most important thing is to keep your cool no matter how hard it may be to do so. Allowing your experience with difficult people helps you become more self aware of what bothers you and why. Finally, remember to not take it personally because difficult people tend to generally be difficult.
Confidence
Leadership is a two sided coin. Just as it can be challenging to stay humble, it can be challenging at the same time to have confidence in yourself. Often leaders may question whether they are worthy of the leadership position they hold. Confidence, however, is an important part of being a leader. As a leader you will have to make quick decisions and provide support for others. If you continuously question yourself and all the decisions you make then your company and team will not be able to function properly. To maintain confidence as a leader you should reflect on the work you put in to become a leader. Leaders do not become leaders overnight. Becoming a leader takes hard work and effort that you put in to get to your position.
Leadership is all about balance. Remember you worked hard to get where you are but also remember that others helped you to get here. Remember to provide support to your team and at the same time to find support for yourself. Being a leader is well worth the challenge. Especially if you take some of the suggested ideas to mitigate these common leadership challenges, you will find these challenges well worth the effort of leadership.
