Entering the workplace as a new leader has its pitfalls. Whether you’ve been promoted from within the workplace or are coming into a new organization, your direct reports will have questions about your leadership capabilities. In his article “Stepping into a Leadership Role? Be Ready to Tell Your Story,” published in the Harvard Business Review, associate professor of Organizational Behavior, David Sluss offers several steps new leaders can take to assure employees of their capabilities while also identifying two types of employees a leader will encounter and how their diverse perspectives can be addressed satisfactorily.
Sluss surveyed 278 people in various industries to determine what they, as employees are looking for in a leader. From their answers, he identifies two types of employees; Warriors and Worriers and examines the different needs each type of employee has in working with a new leader. At the same time, Sluss defines two important steps that a new leader should take to assure employees of their capabilities: “don’t overshare, but do relate to reports on a personal level” and “don’t just share your résumé, but do tell them your “story.”
To learn more about how a leader can relate to a warrior or a worrier using the two steps he outlines in the article, read “Stepping into a Leadership Role? Be Ready to Tell Your Story.”