Leadership Lessons Learned While Working as a Manager

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1. The Importance of Listening

As a manager, the first lesson I learned is that the surest way to make team members feel respected is through listening.
Listening is not just hearing but seriously considering what team members voice.

• The act of listening itself is the first step in building trust.
• Rather than giving quick feedback, it is better to fully listen and give time to the opinions of team members.
• When team members feel their opinions are respected, they voluntarily show greater engagement in work, which ultimately contributes to the team’s performance.

Five Leadership Behaviors (John C. Maxwell)

In this book, John Maxwell emphasizes that one of the most important elements for a leader to build trust with team members is listening. Through listening, a leader can respect the opinions of team members and encourage their participation and contributions. He explains that by listening to their team members, leaders can enable them to voluntarily engage in problem-solving and achieve better outcomes.

2. There are times when not knowing is a strength

A frequent mistake I made as a manager was offering answers too quickly or forcibly applying past experiences to current situations.
The phrase “back in my day” can be an attempt to flaunt experience and disrupt the conversation.

• A manager should be a catalyst that facilitates the flow of conversation, not a stage to display their knowledge.
• What’s important is asking questions and allowing team members to voluntarily find solutions. This helps team members to solve problems on their own and engage in deeper learning.

The Five Pillars of Trust (Stephen R. Covey)

In this book, Stephen Covey discusses how admitting “not knowing” can be a powerful leadership strategy. The key emphasis is that leaders should acknowledge their own gaps in knowledge and give team members the opportunity to solve problems, thereby allowing the team to grow more creatively and autonomously. Through this, leaders can help maximize the team’s capabilities.

3. Questions are more important than decisions

I used to think that being a leader meant having to make decisions. However, I realized that true leadership is about helping the team to make their own decisions through questions.

• Asking “How can we solve this?” is much more powerful than directing “Let’s do it this way.”
• Questions lead to thought processes, and through these processes, decision-making skills can be developed.
• Over time, the team becomes faster and better at making decisions.

Team Leadership (Patrick Lencioni)

Lencioni argues in this book that it is effective leadership for a leader to ask questions to the team, thus helping team members make their own decisions. Encouraging team members to think and participate in solving problems through questions is a key element in enhancing the team’s decision-making capabilities. This helps the team make faster and better decisions.

4. Transparent Sharing of the Decision-Making Process

Managers often rely on intuition to make quick decisions. However, if the basis of intuition is not clearly communicated to team members, the decision appears as an “opaque decision”.
One of the biggest challenges I faced was sharing my intuition with team members. At times, failing to properly explain the reasons behind my intuition led to confusion and misunderstanding among team members.

• Intuition can be misconstrued as authoritarianism if not explained.
• Consequently, I developed the habit of documenting the basis of my intuition and sharing it as a document after meetings. Although it took time and there were trials and errors, it ultimately greatly assisted in enhancing the entire team’s judgment.

Leadership 3.0 (Kenneth Blanchard)

Blanchard emphasizes the transparency of decision-making as one of the core elements of leadership in this book. According to him, if a leader does not share the decision-making process with team members, decisions based on intuition can appear authoritarian. When team members understand the leader’s decisions and the reasons behind them, the team can build greater trust and work more effectively. Blanchard explains that open and transparent communication with team members is a crucial element of leadership.

Conclusion

My experience as a manager has been a journey of leading a team and growing alongside my team members.
Each lesson has provided me with important insights, and through these, I am gradually becoming a better leader. I continue to strive to be a leader who trusts my team members and helps them make better decisions on their own.