Why Some New Leaders Fail to Build Team Engagement

Picture this: a newly appointed leader who inherits an existing team and then struggles to establish credibility.

This is one of the common reasons organisations bring me in as a leadership coach.

On paper, promoting this person to a leadership role makes sense. The leader is capable, experienced, technically strong, and likely to have been high-performing in previous roles.

But then they step into a new leadership position with an inherited team… and things start to wobble.

Maybe the team doesn’t fully buy in.

Momentum slows.

Relationships become strained.

And then the leader starts second-guessing themselves.

Making the Transition to People-Leader

The transition to leader can be hard.

What makes it particularly difficult is that many new leaders think they need to prove themselves quickly.

So they overcompensate.

They move too fast.

And they try to establish authority before establishing trust.

If you’re new to a leadership role and are struggling to build trust and credibility you might find people in your team are ‘difficult’, appear disengaged or are not delivering on their tasks.

If progress in your new role is slow, reach out – let’s speak.