12 Must-Have Leadership Attributes for New Managers

Leadership Attributes for New Managers to Follow
Are you a new manager about to take on the challenge of leading others? If leadership is a new role for you, check through these twelve leadership attributes for new managers and supervisors required for people to follow you.

How Do You Measure Up?
If you’re missing any of the twelve leadership attributes for new managers to follow listed below, do something about it. Prepare for your new leadership role by shoring up weak areas, developing management skills, observing leaders you admire, and practicing with increasing steps of responsibility for others.

What the Best Leaders Do
We know from people manager assessment data that the best leaders:

1. Look Near and Far
   Not only must you have a realistic and comprehensive view of the current situation, but you also have to have a clear view of future opportunities. Horizontal and vertical thinking is required to create the management strategies and tactics necessary for people to follow you.

   Do you regularly look around the corner?

2. Overcome the Fear of Taking Risks
   You can’t always play it safe if you want to grow and succeed. There are times when you must be daring and bold. Stretch out of your comfort zone and ask your team to do the same if you want to achieve higher levels of performance.

   Are you stretching yourself and your team?

3. Learn from Failure
   No one succeeds all the time. The trick is to learn from your mistakes. Great leaders encourage mistakes and never repeat mistakes. They make them once. They understand that mistakes are part of the continuous learning process.

   Do you follow project post mortem best practices?

4. Set and Deliver on Goals
   It’s one thing to be able to establish clear and compelling goals. It’s another to actually get results. The best leaders do both: they identify meaningful, relevant, fair, and transparent performance expectations that are “just possible” and consistently deliver.

   Are your goals clear enough?

5. Trust and be Trusted
   Great leaders earn the trust of their followers because they always do what they say they will do. They know that trust is the cornerstone of strong relationships.

   Are you creating a trusting work environment with psychological team safety?

6. Set the Right Example
   Great leaders lead by example. Managers are carefully observed by their followers for clues on what matters most. Show what you care about through your actions — open communication, respect for others, strong work ethic, cooperative spirit — so others can use you as a role model.

   Are you walking the talk?

7. Take Responsibility for Their Actions
   Accountability is paramount to creating a high performing team. Experienced leaders know this. They accept responsibility for what they do just as they expect their team to be accountable for their actions.

   Does the buck stop with you?

8. Be Truthful — Always
   Once you are caught telling an untruth, it is very hard to reestablish your credibility. Be honest, even when the truth hurts.

   Are you fully honest with your team?

9. Be Humble
   Don’t pretend you have all the answers. Ask questions so you can learn what you don’t know. Natural leaders listen, accept influence, and are authentic. They are not afraid to be vulnerable and show their humanity.

   Are you humble enough?

10. Inspire
    A positive, realistic, and upbeat outlook inspires others. The best leaders know how to “sell” their vision of the future and inspire others to march along with them.

    Are you inspiring greatness from your team?

11. Instill a Hard Work Ethic
    Sure, there are times to relax and celebrate progress toward the team goals. But those times come after goals have been reached. Meanwhile, everyone needs to pitch in — the boss included. Complacency is the silent killer of a high performance culture.

    How’s the discretionary effort on your team?

12. Care about Your Followers
    Perhaps the most important trait you need as a new manager who wants to succeed is a sincere interest in learning about and supporting the individuals on your team. Get to know them both personally and professionally — their interests, their talents, and their dreams — so you can invest wisely in their future and support their success.

    Do you put your people first?

To learn more about leadership attributes for new managers, download The Six Management Best Practices that Make the Difference Between Effective and Extraordinary