From colleague to superior

Taking on a new leadership role and assuming leadership competence

• Getting to know the new areas of responsibility
• What expectations will be placed on me?
• Clarify self-image and role as a leader

Determining leadership style and values

• What types of leadership are there?
• What values are lived in the company?
• Developing a personal understanding of leadership

Dealing with my employees

• How do acceptance and authority develop?
• Balancing act of closeness versus distance to former colleagues
• Recognising group dynamic processes
• How to deal with older employees

What are my tasks?

• Targeted use of leadership tools
• Developing through delegation
• Setting goals and agreeing on objectives
• Knowing who to motivate and how

Challenges due to career changes

• Insecurities and fears of employees
• Dealing with different personalities
• Perceiving and resolving potential conflicts

Seeking support

• Using role models for orientation
• Demanding feedback from superiors and employees
• Find an independent mentor

With the help of the seminar from colleague to supervisor, you will receive support to successfully master the role change to the aspired leadership position. In this training you will learn how to act convincingly and level-headedly as a supervisor.

• In our seminar from colleague to supervisor you will get an overview of the different leadership styles, leadership principles and behaviours. From this you will develop your own personal and authentic approach.
• You will harmonise your own understanding of leadership with the values of your company as well as the different personalities and views of your employees.
• In our From Colleague to Supervisor seminar you will learn about the expectations and demands that are placed on you
• You are familiar with the tasks you want to fulfil in your leadership function
• The From Colleague to Supervisor seminar shows you how to deal with the leadership tools that are available to you in your new role

The seminar content offers a lot of space for the participants to reflect on themselves and their own leadership behaviour. It is important that practical exercises are used to try out different ways of behaving and to receive feedback on this from the lecturer and the group of participants. In addition, the seminar from colleague to superior consists of individual and partner work, case studies with practical relevance and input from the lecturer. Seminar documents of the seminar from colleague to supervisor round off the event and serve to sustainably secure what has been learned.

This face-to-face seminar is aimed at aspiring managers who have recently been promoted to the role of supervisor and have already assumed a certain degree of leadership responsibility. In addition, this seminar from colleague to supervisor is aimed at junior managers who want to prepare themselves for their upcoming leadership tasks in the near future.

You would like to hold the seminar from colleague to superior in your company as an in-house training? That is of course possible! We would be happy to prepare an individual offer that meets your content priorities, your specified time frame and other wishes. Please send your request to: kontakt@drgkitzmann-akademie.de

Done! The career leap has been made and you are about to dive into the role of the boss and fill it with life. With the following 5 tips you will successfully follow this path, master leadership tasks and manage change.

1. describe how you wanted your department head to be in your new position at the time.

Try to understand the needs and future expectations of your employees by putting yourself in their shoes. Nothing should be easier than this, as you were a colleague not long ago. Answer which of these aspects you would like to fulfil and which points you have good reason to disregard.

Reflect on yourself

Analyse what strengths and development potential you see in yourself. Identify what it is that drives you and what your goals are. Define the goals in relation to yourself, your department and the management of your staff. 3.

3. seek regular exchange with your boss.

Continuous consultation with your boss allows you to narrow down how far your authority and scope of action extend. At the same time, such conversations demonstrate that you are aware of your role as a liaison between your staff and upper management.

4 Talk to your staff

In addition to communicating with your own bosses, talking to each member of your team is equally important. What has worked well in the past from the employees' point of view? What aspects motivate them and can you take them on? Likewise, you should understand what qualities were criticised about your predecessor and what they want to change.

5 Find a mentor

A neutral coach whose personal and professional interests do not overlap with your own will be a great asset to your development as a leader. Many companies have mentoring programmes in which sparring partners from other business areas are arranged so that conflicts of interest are excluded in advance.

Create freedom: Trust in the abilities of your employees and create free spaces in which they can develop and take responsibility. Managers alone will not manage to do everything themselves!

Tolerate mistakes: Create a departmental culture in which mistakes are allowed. Only when something is allowed to go wrong can development take place. Employees who don't make mistakes don't test their limits and don't create innovation for your business unit.

Beable to listen: Managers often fall into the fallacy of equating listening with passivity and inactivity. Only those who gather and interpret information will be able to position themselves and make differentiated decisions.

Show fairness: Collegial friendships do not have to be terminated just because you have climbed the career ladder; especially now you should cultivate them! However, it is important that you do not tolerate any special treatment and that the same rules apply to all employees.

Be curious: Use the exchange of experiences with junior managers who are in comparable situations as coaching. Learn what solutions they have applied to issues you are familiar with from your everyday leadership. Only if you are open to new approaches will you succeed in developing the necessary visions for your department.

Tip: In our from colleague to supervisor seminar, you can benefit from a lively exchange of experiences with aspiring managers.

The rise from employee to boss is complex and individual. The path to follow depends on the culture of the company, your self-image as a manager and finally the behaviour of your employees. Nonetheless, there are six essential steps to be taken in the seminar from colleague to manager:

Step 1: Define your understanding of leadership

Your personal leadership style results from your values, skills and experience. It becomes unique and makes you unmistakable as a superior. In a second step, you bring your understanding of leadership into line with the culture, value system and strategies of the company.

Step 2: Conduct appraisal interviews

You can only find out what your employees think through appraisal interviews, which are best conducted in the form of one-on-one meetings. You get to know their motives, wishes and demands. At the same time, you have the opportunity to establish your leadership role and communicate your ideas.

Step 3: Managing staff according to strengths and weaknesses

You know your former colleagues and current employees well; so you also know their strengths and weaknesses. Use this knowledge to delegate tasks in a targeted way. On the one hand, the work should be challenging and allow each individual to leave their personal comfort zone. On the other hand, delegation should not lead to permanent overload and, as a consequence, resignation.

Step 4: Maintain friendships, keep your distance

Over the years, you have formed acquaintances and networks with your previous circle of colleagues. Your promotion now puts you in a special position, which automatically brings with it a certain distancing. It is all the more important to cultivate the existing contacts, but at the same time, for reasons of fairness, make a clear separation between professional and private life.

Step 5: Bring former competitors on board

Probably other colleagues have applied for your job. Try to resolve the winner and loser roles by addressing the situation openly with those concerned. While everyone should accept that you are now in the leadership position, at the same time you should express your appreciation by offering a new challenge.

Step 6: Managing Conflict

Managing conflicts will now be part of your responsibilities. Do not be afraid of this; sitting it out is not an option anyway. It is inevitable that from time to time you will have to make unpleasant decisions and deal with the consequences. It is crucial that you always clearly justify your steps and can identify with them.

Do you have questions about our seminar From Colleague to Supervisor? Let us advise you today on your next further training and contact us. We look forward to your call or email!