taking on the role of a leader for the very first time can be incredibly challenging overnight all of a sudden you've been assigned a lot of responsibility people come to you with questions and challenges that you need to find solutions to your boss will be monitoring you to make sure that you meet your goals and your relationships with your peers will change because you now have the title of a leader there is so much you need to think about in order to be successful as a leader in this video I'm going to share with you three tips for first time leaders to help you start off your new leadership position on the right foot if you are interested in approving your leadership skill or a communication skill then I encourage you to subscribe to my channel where I release videos every week around those skills the first piece of advice I have for you is to get to know your natural leadership style so every one of you watching will have a natural leadership style are you more empathetic are you more authoritative are you more agile are you more collaborative or something else there are a number of different leadership styles that exist many authors and researchers have created their own list of leadership styles I'm not going to go into the different styles of leadership in this video but I do want to encourage you to get to know your natural leadership style at this stage in your career that is the most important thing that you can do so how do you do this get feedback from two to three peers you trust and respect and vice versa ask them how would you describe my leadership style and let them answer freely what you're looking for in their answers are keywords and adjectives that describe how you lead and interact with other people these answers will help to further your understanding and guide you toward the leadership style that you use the most number two get to know your team one of the worst mistakes you can make as a first time leader is to begin your position ordering people around setting goals and objectives without understanding what your team really need from you going into a leadership position with this approach is only going to get you the reputation of being egotistical it's incredibly important as a first-time leader that you get to know your team that you get to know what projects they're working on you need to develop this basic level understanding so you can develop the best plans objectives and goals when it comes to getting to know your team here are some things that you need to consider strengths and weaknesses career goals communication preferences feedback preferences tasks they enjoy tasks they don't enjoy basic employment history when you understand these things you can map out who your employees are and this will also help you to assign people to collaboration activities or group projects when it comes to getting to know the projects they're working on look at past projects current projects and future approach when you understand this information you're in a better position to set goals or priorities for your team and you will ensure that you don't move their attention away from projects that really matter number three know that it's okay to ask questions as you begin your new position as a leader there will be many things that you don't understand and that's okay you are not expected to know everything when you start your first leadership position the worst thing you can do as a leader is to pretend you know when you don't if you pretend you know when you don't two detrimental things will happen first you'll be inaccurate and you'll give the wrong advice and second the other person will know you are faking it and this will cause them to lose trust in you neither of these situations are good for you as a leader so if there is something that you genuinely don't know admit it this phrase will help you out to be honest I don't know the answer to that question but leave it with me and I'll get back to you this kind of answer is transparent and it's responsible you're not running away because you don't know the answer to the question you are being responsible and you are showing curiosity to find out what that answer is thinking you need to have all of the answers is one of the biggest myths about leadership there are others that you need to know about such as you shouldn't show any vulnerabilities you need to be an extrovert to be a leader and a title will make you a leader these myths I address in this video right here if you liked that video and you think your colleagues can benefit from that video then I encourage you to share it with them in a DM on LinkedIn or in an email if you've already subscribed to this channel thank you so much I'm delighted to have you here with us if you haven't yet subscribed then you should seriously consider it thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video