Preparing for a Leadership Role
Matt Love-Smith • Feb 09, 2015
Taking on more responsibility at work is not always synonymous with career or financial advancement. The healthiest approach to securing a leadership opportunity is to assume there’ll be no monetary or status reward; take on the new challenge for it’s own sake, do it to the best of your abilities and the rewards will naturally follow.
By simply identifying a leadership opportunity, you’ve already demonstrated one of the key skills required of leaders: the ability to recognise opportunities when they present themselves. Evaluating and positioning yourself to take advantage of those opportunities are the next steps.
What I learnt from my own experience of working in a large blue chip company, and advancing from the ‘new starter’ to the Group General Manager, was that if you conduct yourself in the right way at work, leadership opportunities will come to you. So here is my take on five ways to present yourself as a future leader:
- Know Your Organization inside out. Make it your business to become well-acquainted with the day-to-day running of every department. The bigger your picture, the easier it is to spot opportunities, and the more understanding you acquire about your company and its people, the more prepared you will be to lead.
- Stand Out. Wallflowers don’t get promoted to leadership roles, so make sure people know who you are and more importantly what value you bring to the table. Figuring out how to make your presence felt without being obnoxious is one of the hardest skills to develop. If you can do it, you’ll win the respect of your peers and your managers.
- Be Easy to Work With. If you can’t take criticism or have a reputation for being difficult, people – and opportunities – will give you a wide berth.
- Solve Problems. Look for weak spots in the running of your organisation and devise practical solutions. If you save time and money for your employers, by identifying a better way of doing things, the value you add can be easily quantified. Again, this is something of a balancing act. Spotting the ‘weak links’ or barriers in a business could be perceived as criticising the work of others. So, be sure that you are always playing the ball, not the man.
- Work and act like a leader. Perception is reality, so the more you present yourself as an innovator and a safe pair of hands, the more opportunities will come your way. Management loves a volunteer. Be one.
Taking the Leap
As you move up the management hierarchy it can be tough to actually make the transition from team member to team leader. You were likely promoted because of your ability to get things done. Now, your job is to get those same results from others. Not everyone is capable of delegating, but it’s one of the identifying characteristics of a leader.
It’s essential that you trust the people you work with. If you can’t place your faith in the team you’ll be leading then either don’t seek out the leadership role or start to think about the changes you may need to make. As a mentor once told me early in my management career ‘If you don’t get your fingers burnt at least once a year, then you’re not trusting your people enough’. Effective leaders are confident enough to give people the freedom and support to realise their potential. It can be a hard lesson to learn, but as long as you don’t feel undermined by the success (or occasional failure) of others, the fruits of your collaboration will be richer. If you disagree with others, clearly communicate the reasons. But be truly open to ideas and you will learn to tell the good from the bad. As a rule of thumb, listen twice as much as you speak.
Above all, be authentic. Keeping up an appearance of what you think constitutes a strong ‘leadership style’ is untenable in the long run. The cracks in the facade will begin to show. By being genuine and honest, you eliminate that stress. Trust in your own leadership ability and the rest will follow!
Matt is a Director of The Talent Hive and leads the Engineering recruitment practice within the business. Originally from the UK he’s been living in New Zealand for 11 years. Matt is a retired ‘amateur’ athlete who has given up chasing great marathon times for chasing his young children around the park, a far more worthy (if not exhausting) pursuit.
At The Talent Hive we specialise in connecting IT & Engineering professionals with the right career opportunities. We encourage collaboration, socialising your success and sharing industry insight and expertise. Start the journey, connect with The Talent Hive today.
We're extremely proud to say that we won at the SEEK awards: Small Recruitment Agency of the Year!
Matt and Marc look back at some of the recruitment industry changes, and discuss what candidates are wanting in 2023.
Read the latest updates from our client, DETA including Sustainability Roadmaps and Carbon Footprint updates, a Net Zero conference and more.
The challenge
With the consequences of climate change a now very real threat for companies and organisations, adopting a sustainable approach has become a necessity, not just a nice-to-have. While that’s good news for DETA, which has benefited from an increased market opportunity, it’s thrown up a few challenges to navigate - namely people resources. With new projects and leads coming in thick and fast, DETA had a decision to make; turn away new clients because they didn’t have the appropriate people onboard to assist, or say yes to every opportunity and find the talent to make it happen.
DETA decided on the latter approach, so needed to scale up their engineering capacity, and do it rapidly. They chose to outsource their talent attraction to an engineering recruitment specialist, and haven’t looked back since.
After doing their due diligence, DETA made the decision to partner with Talent Hive, citing Talent Hive’s reputation for reliability and their history of delivering high-quality candidates’ as two of the key driving factors for their decision.
Talent Hive's Approach
After consulting with DETA’s General Manager of Operations to scope out roles and define the company’s goals, Talent Hive’s Director of Engineering, Matt Love- Smith got to work tailoring their award-winning Talent Acquisition Programme to attract the most suitable talent for the roles.
The sourcing strategy included:
- Drawing on Talent Hive’s wealth of industry connections and networks
- Using database technology to complete a comprehensive market scan of candidates
- Warming up passive talent with targeted social media marketing campaigns
- Creating and hosting a customised talent landing page, in conjunction with an internal and external referral system in order to build awareness around DETA’s work, their company values, and to make it easy for candidates to learn more about the roles and apply.
- By strategically sourcing and engaging only the highest calibre of passive candidates, Talent Hive accelerated time to value and achieved an impressive interview-to-offer ratio, drastically reducing the time DETA’s Hiring Manager was required to attend interviews.
Key outcomes delivered
It's results that matter. Here is an overview of how Talent Hive delivered for DETA Consulting.
- 100% of roles filled
- 100% of candidates hired within agreed timeframe and budget
- 50% of candidates hired ahead of target
- 60% of candidates interviewed by DETA offered roles. A further 25% of candidates being considered for future hires. By strategically sourcing and engaging only the highest calibre of passive candidates, Talent Hive accelerated time to value and achieved an impressive interview-to-offer ratio, drastically reducing the time DETA’s Hiring Manager was required to attend interviews.
- Talent Hive received five star ratings from DETA’s Hiring Manager (5/5 avg) and (4.95/5 avg) from candidates on sourcr.com
- Talent Hive re-engaged to manage DETA’s Graduate Recruitment Programme for the 2023 intake. This has been successfully completed.
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