Top Team Leader Skills - Tips For Becoming A Great New Team Leader #leadership
Six practical skills for a new team leader, each with one small action to try this week: learn from the team first, thank people for routine delivery, ask for feedback and close the loop, fit your words to the reader, put tools and AI on recurring work, and delegate real responsibility.
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The main idea
Most of the stress of a first leadership role traces back to a short list of skills you can practice. Take a little from each skill rather than trying to implement all of them at once.
Key takeaways
- Ask each person on your team one question, such as what works on this team that they wish every new leader understood, and write down the answers before you change anything. Watch at 1:41 ↗
- Say thank you for routine delivery too. Name the specific thing the person did and why it mattered, and put a reminder somewhere you already look every day. Watch at 4:04 ↗
- Ask for feedback on purpose and on a schedule, thank people for answering, then come back and show them what changed. If nothing changes, people stop answering. Watch at 5:48 ↗
- Before an important message, ask who is reading it and how they like to receive it, then rewrite your first two sentences for that person. Watch at 8:07 ↗
- Take one recurring task, give an AI tool the context about how you handle it, and ask how it could take that task off your plate. Stay responsible for judging the result. Watch at 10:05 ↗
- Find one thing only you do today that someone on your team could own. Hand it over with the outcome you need and the limits, then coach rather than take the work back. Watch at 12:21 ↗
Episode breakdown
0:00 Why the new team leader job feels overwhelming ↗
Derek introduces the idea that most of the stress traces back to a short list of skills you can practice, and previews six skills that each come with something small to try this week.
0:53 Skill 1: Lean on the Room ↗
Learn from the people closest to the work before you change it. Start with humility, do not fake knowing the details, and ask each person one question this week.
2:01 Skill 2: No Non-Events ↗
Acknowledge delivery even when it is exactly what you expect. Specific thanks lands better than a vague great job, and Derek describes using a daily Claude brief to remind him to send it.
4:30 Skill 3: Build the Loop ↗
A feedback loop is a regular way for people to tell you what is working so you can fix it and check again. Psychological safety matters, so ask on a schedule and show what changed.
6:38 Skill 4: Words Matter ↗
The way you frame a message changes how people feel about it. Using his kids as an example, Derek explains that different audiences need different framing, then suggests rewriting your first two sentences for the reader.
8:20 Skill 5: Good Tools Force Multiply ↗
Invest in the tools that take your workflow from good to great. AI can take small repetitive tasks off your plate, and getting started will feel slow before it pays off.
10:43 Skill 6: Delegate for Growth ↗
Go beyond handing off tasks to handing over real responsibility that grows someone's career. Give the outcome and limits, stay close like a passenger seat, and only take the work back if the outcome is at real risk.
12:52 Recap of the six skills ↗
A recap of all six skills, with the reminder that you do not need to implement all of them at once. Taking a little from each can leave you less overwhelmed.
13:17 What to watch next ↗
Once you delegate real responsibility, your calendar is the next thing to look at. Derek points to his video on time management for new managers.
AI in practice: put one recurring task on a tool
The video mentions three uses of AI. Derek gets a daily brief from Claude that looks through his email, Teams messages and documentation for moments worth a thank you and reminds him to send a note. He then suggests handing a recurring task to an AI tool and asking how it could take that task off your plate. He also mentions having AI build a small app or game from a description. The companion summarizes the spoken steps.
Tool: Claude, ChatGPT or another AI tool you are authorized to use
- Pick one recurring task, such as email, routine responses or summarizing a document.
- Give the tool the context about what you do in that process.
- Ask how it would take the task off your plate.
- Expect a slow start. Use the tool to guide your learning, and keep reasoning with it to improve how you use it.
The leader’s review
Derek notes there is a level of judgment and learning you remain responsible for, so keep checking what the tool produces.
Derek also mentions using AI to build a small app or game from a description, as a way to help you or your team learn something new.
Try it with your team
Following the guidance from 12:21: look at your calendar this week and find one thing only you do today that someone on your team could own. Hand it over with the outcome you need and the limits they should know about, then stay in the passenger seat.