Leading an Experienced Team
By Kristen Hayer
The first time I managed someone who was older than me was in my first management job. I was 27 and I had 2 direct reports who were in their mid-thirties, along with a larger team of people who were closer to my own age. If I’m being honest, I was intimidated by the 30-somethings, even though in our emerging field we all roughly had the same amount of experience. They seemed so savvy and adult, and they looked like they knew what they were doing. I felt like I couldn’t bring anything to the table that would help them. I tip-toed around them, hesitant to suggest changes that might make them revolt at my junior attempts to lead the team.
Like many people, I fell into leadership because as the oldest child in my family I had a natural tendency toward managing (OK, bossiness!) and I was responsible. My boss picked me because I was the one on the team most successful in my current role and most likely to hold myself accountable for results of my team. I did not have training in management, and I wasn’t trained on the job. It was a “thrown to the wolves” situation. I was not prepared for what it would take to go from peer to manager. My team culture and performance suffered because I wasn’t always willing to step in with the 30-somethings, even when they were wrong.
Flash-forward to a team I had in my early forties. At this point I had practiced and studied leadership, had gotten my MBA, and had a team of almost 50 people, several of whom were older than me. I knew that regardless of age and experience, all people want similar things from their boss and workplace. They all want to know the expectations for their role, they all want the tools to do their job well, they all want to have some level of impact, and they all love to be acknowledged for their hard work. They also (mostly) want candid feedback. On that team, my expectation became that if you were a leader, regardless of your age and experience, you would follow certain protocol with your direct reports. Here are the things that I think are important to leadership, even if your team members are older and more experienced than you:
Get to Know Your Team as Individuals
One-on-one meetings aren’t just for monitoring your direct reports’ performance. They are for getting to know the people you are leading. Ask about their lives. Know about their families. Understand their passions outside of work. On our team we have several people who are parents and deeply involved in various activities their kids are interested in. I try to keep up with what happened over the weekend, so I know what they have going on. This helps me to understand the kinds of things that drive them and helps me understand how best to lead and motivate them. It also builds trust, which is foundational for great leadership.
Provide Regular Feedback
This is one of the toughest parts of leading someone who is older than you, but as a leader you need to provide constructive feedback regularly to your team. Feedback can be positive or negative, but it should always be honest. One of my favorite resources for giving feedback is a book called The Effective Manager, by Mark Horstman (of Manager Tools podcast fame). Mark includes a bunch of examples of how to provide both positive and negative feedback in a way that is both respectful and holds the team member accountable for their behavior. I also recommend the Manager Tools podcast if this is an area you struggle with.
Delegate Effectively
One of our family’s favorite movies when my daughter was a little kid was Ratatouille. I loved the TV chef in that movie and his favorite phrase, “Anyone can cook!” I believe that anyone can learn, even “old dogs”. Delegation is one of the ways you can drive change and performance as a leader. Once you know what a team member is interested in, and you’ve been candid about their performance, you can help them better themselves.
Consider the things that you could delegate (and be honest, you don’t need to do everything yourself!) Think about tasks that combine their interests, your needs, and their learning and voila, you have something you can delegate. To delegate effectively be sure to give your direct report the details on what you do today, the expectations you have for the timeline and results, and then…let them run. You will often be amazed at the creativity and results your team members produce.
Remember, leadership is a position on a team not just something you earn with age and experience. Some people with both age and experience never choose to be leaders, and that is OK. If you are a manager your job is leading your team, without regard to their age. Invest in learning about leadership so that you can do so effectively.
The Success League is a global customer success consulting firm that offers training for Managers, Directors, and those who build out CS team structures. For more information visit TheSuccessLeague.io
Kristen Hayer - Kristen Hayer founded The Success League in 2015 and currently serves as the company's CEO. Over the past 25 years Kristen has been a success, sales, and marketing executive, primarily working with growth-stage tech companies, and leading several award-winning customer success teams. She has written over 100 articles on customer success, and is the host of 3 podcasts about the field: Innovations in Leadership, CS Essentials with Gainsight, and Reading for Success. Kristen serves on the boards of the Customer Success Leadership Network, the Customer Success program at the University of San Francisco, and the Women in Leadership Program at UC Santa Barbara. She received her MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle, and now lives in San Francisco.
