I have been in a team lead position for 8 months now. I truly enjoy my job, and love my team. Over the last few months I feel like I am starting to develop relationships with some of the team, and felt like I was slowly slipping into my position.
Every time I feel this way though, my manager comes to me and burst my bubble. I know she means well, but I feel so discouraged after our talks at times (not all the time). This last time she questioned if I felt this role was right for me. She has done this twice to me. I have prayed over this and I know this is the right position for me. The concern I have is she knows I am new to a leadership role like this one. I have made her aware that I just need guidance. I have found that since that conversation I havent been able to stop thinking about it.
This is not because I think she is right. But because I want to do better at this position. To give a bit more background when I first started in this position I had trouble contacting to the team. They felt I was being insincere and not opening up enough. Since then I have made great strides to open up and give honest feedback, and be more supportive of them. We have started to have team building meetings which was something I requested. We also had a class on Disc to learn each other different styles and help the communication. Some of the relationships have improved others are still just not where my manager wants it to be, and she says that she is working with those team members as well as me.
Recently we had some temps come onboard. I clicked with them well, and well during their time here I wasnt discreet enough. I was not aware I wasn't being at the time, and really was just trying to support them and provide them feedback. This caused me to lose my managers trust. That was part of the what the last conversation was about. The other part was I need to continue to work to build a relationship with each of the team. I know it will take time to rebuild the trust that was lost with her. I know I made mistakes. However, I do wish she would have come to me when this first became a concern. Instead of a month later. I am the type that will correct the behavior right away, to ensure no further damage to the relationship is done.
Here is where I was hoping someone could give me some advice. First how do I let my manager know that I need her to provide that feedback at the time it happens rather then later?
Second, the team members I am struggling to gain a relationship with are those that like to be dominant, and are very quick pace. I am more of a team person, and want to ensure everything is done with care and with our members best interest at heart. How do I gain that connection with them?
Just to provide a bit more background I work for a health insurance company, and my team is the first contact for Case Management services. I love this job because I get to help so many people. I enjoy talking to the members and enjoy knowing I am making a difference. I took the team lead position because I wanted to help improve the department I work for, and our work process. My goal was to help ensure we were not missing opportunities to help our members that really had needs.