7 Challenges New Leaders Face and How to Solve Them

Are you wondering how to communicate with your team as a leader? Do any of these struggles sound familiar?

• Do you feel like you’re impersonating a leader rather than being one?
• Is it intimidating to make those big decisions and stick to your guns?
• Are you feeling the pressure when you have to act like you’ve got this all under control?
• Does it freak you out a bit to let others take over tasks you’re used to handling?
• Is it hard to take criticism on the chin and bounce back without it messing with your confidence?
• Do you find it challenging to get everyone on the team pulling in the same direction?
• Is it a struggle to work across different departments to get everyone on the same page?

If these all sound a little too familiar, just know that you aren’t alone. You’ve been promoted to the role of manager, but you haven’t truly become a leader yet. And that’s totally expected—just getting the job doesn’t mean you’re suddenly bestowed with all the skills immediately.

It may sound weird, but I believe you’re exactly in the right place, even if it feels like you’re struggling to keep your head above water. You’re right at the start of your journey as a leader. You just need to start to shift your perspective and gain some clarity.

All of these problems and their solutions are tied together by similar root causes. Keep watching to see if you can see the pattern, and watch the puzzle pieces start to fit together.

#1: You’re Feeling Like a Total Imposter

You’ve been promoted. You have a shiny, new, impressive title. But you don’t yet feel like you have a handle on all that’s suddenly being expected of you. You’re feeling overwhelmed, and you don’t want anyone to know it.

Instead of focusing on everything you feel like you can’t do, focus instead on what’s going well. Did you have a good one-on-one with your employee? (spoiler alert: I have a free guide to having better one-on-one’s in the link down below!) Did the last team meeting go well? Was the last release on schedule or on budget?

Remind yourself that you don’t have to have it all figured out yet. You just need to take it one day, one step at a time.

Not only that, but you can harness your feelings to create a stronger connection with your team. Be open and honest with them, saying that you’re still figuring it all out. Show your vulnerability. It will show them that you’re a human, too, and you’re right alongside them. And they’ll most likely be much more understanding as you work your way through everything.

#2: You can make decisions (usually), but then doubt yourself when others question them.

You have the experience and knowledge to make big decisions. You know what direction the team should be heading in and what the priorities are.

But then someone questions if it’s really the right choice. “Is that really the most valuable thing we can be working on?” It may be someone from your team or someone else in leadership. It may be meant as an innocent question, just to double check, or it may be more malicious—an effort to get you to second-guess yourself.

And then you do. “Is that really the right choice? Did I eff it up? Who am I to even be making this decision?”

Let me remind you that this is totally normal. Even experienced managers sometimes question if they made the right decision.

The solution is two-fold. First, explain why you think it’s the right decision. What factors did you consider before making this choice? What were all the pieces you looked at?

Second, be open to discussion. Understand that you don’t have all the answers, but as a leader, you’re responsible for making the best choice you can with the information available to you at the time. Ask why they’re concerned with the direction you’ve chosen. Try to get to the root of their issue with your decision.

The truth is, as women, we’re much more likely to doubt ourselves and feel the need to explain our choices. As leaders, we should be both open to hearing other opinions and stick to the choices we’ve made.

I’m curious: as a new leader (or even before you were a leader), did you have a situation where you made a decision and then, based on new information, you changed your mind? What happened? Let me know in the comments.

And the truth is, sometimes you’ll make the wrong decision, even after weighing all your options and information. But that’s how we—and our team and organization—learn. Hey, we tried something, given the information we had at the time, and it turned out to be wrong. But what can we learn for next time?

Believe me, I get it. This is much harder to say than to do. It takes practice, resilience, and confidence to know you’ve weighed all the information available to you. And you have to be okay with possibly making a mistake. But that’s how we evolve as leaders and as people.

#3: You’re Trying to Stay Cool, Calm, and Collected, but Inside, You’re freaking Out.

“Oh, yes, I love my new role as a leader. It’s great!”

You may be saying this to anyone and everyone (whether or not they asked), but inside your self-doubt is overwhelming. “I don’t know why I got this role. I know nothing. Maybe I shouldn’t be here. What were they thinking by promoting me?”

Does this internal monologue sound familiar? If it does, trust me, you are not the only one.

The important thing to remember is that your brain is wired to protect you. It’s there, telling you not to touch the hot stove or to wear a jacket when it’s cold outside.

Your internal monologue is doing the same thing. It sees this big, new, scary challenge, and it freaks the eff out. All your lizard brain can see is the danger, and it tries to drown out everything else because it thinks you need protection.

It can be really hard to quiet this instinct, especially when you’re just starting out. But it is possible with some practice.

Remind yourself that you earned this role. You excelled in your last position, and the higher-ups could see your potential. You know you have a lot to learn, but even just recognizing that fact puts you ahead of a bunch of other leaders who already think they know everything.

Learning to train your mindset like this is one of the core things I focus on with my clients. You have to be able to focus and control your lizard brain so you can be the most effective leader you can be.

The willingness and openness to accept that you don’t know everything and to be open to learning make you an invaluable asset and leader. Even when you feel like you have become ‘experienced’, never lose that trait, and you’ll always be a good leader.

#4: You know delegation is important, but it’s hard.

Before your promotion, you were the best at your job. You knew the ins and outs, the little trade secrets and shortcuts, and you were the best individual contributor on the team.

And now you have to accept just handing it all over to someone else. And that is a terrifying thought.

You’re not alone in this. It’s a common struggle for new leaders, especially if you’re a bit of a perfectionist. Sure, you’ve heard it constantly: “Delegation is key to effective leadership,” but it’s easier said than done.

Why is it so hard? Well, it’s because it means letting go of control. It means trusting others with tasks you’ve always handled yourself. And that can be scary.

But here’s the thing: Your promotion to a leadership role isn’t just about your ability to do tasks perfectly. It’s also about your potential to lead and develop others. And delegation is a big part of that.

I once worked with a leader, Emma. When she was first promoted to being a leader, she kept clinging to all her previous tasks like a dragon hoarding gold. She thought that no one else could do it the way she did it and that it wouldn’t be good enough.

But she was burning out. Trying to lead a team and do all the work just wasn’t working. I was able to help her realize that part of being a good leader means developing the people working under you. And they can’t be developed if you can’t trust them.

So take a deep breath and start small. Delegate a task today, provide clear instructions, and trust your team. Give constructive feedback as necessary. They may not do it perfectly, and they may not do it exactly the way you would do it, but they also might do it better.

It might feel uncomfortable at first, but it gets easier with time.

Remember, your role as a leader isn’t to do everything perfectly yourself but to support, guide, and inspire your team. And by delegating some of the work, that leaves you open and available for what a leader should be focusing on—the bigger vision.

So embrace delegation, and watch as your team steps up and surprises you.

In the end, delegation isn’t just about lightening your workload. It’s about building a stronger, more capable team.

#5: When You Hear Criticism, It Makes You Shut Down

Have you ever been in a situation where someone delivered some, maybe well-intentioned but poorly delivered, criticism? Maybe they thought they were helping, but in reality, it just makes you want to shut down and retreat from the world.

Especially as a new leader, these situations can be excruciating.

First off, let me tell you, it’s totally, completely normal to want to react that way. You’re already struggling and doubting yourself, and some know-it-all comes along and just reinforces what you’re already telling yourself inside your head.

And we know that little voice saying ‘I’m not good enough’ can be loud, especially when it feels like the outside world is reinforcing it. But remember, it’s just our lizard brain trying to protect us, not reality.

Criticism, especially when it’s not delivered well, can feel like a personal attack. But the secret sauce to getting any criticism is looking for the nugget of helpful feedback you can use to improve. And learning not to take it too personally.

Remember how we talked about willingness and openness earlier? Yeah, it all comes back around. Learning to translate criticism into helpful feedback is the key to not letting it push you back under the covers in bed.

Being open to feedback is key to being a good leader, so instead of hearing “You’re terrible at your job and don’t know what you’re doing,” you should flip the criticism to “Here’s what you could potentially be doing better or differently”. 

So, next time you receive criticism, take a moment. Breathe. Remind yourself that this is feedback, not an attack. Ask yourself, “What can I learn from this? How can this make me a better leader?”

Remember, being open to feedback is what makes good leaders great. It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it.

#6: Your team seems to be heading in totally separate directions.

Your team is moving in a hundred different directions, and you’re left standing in the center trying to pull it all together. Are you wondering why everyone seems to have their own agenda while you’re pushing for one, unified destination?

It’s easy to get frustrated and downright confused when this happens.

The key is to focus on your communication with your team to create alignment and a shared vision.

Start by clearly expressing your vision and goals. Make sure every team member understands the ‘why’ behind your work. When everyone understands why they’re doing the work, they’re going to be working towards the same vision.

When you communicate with your team as a leader, clearly establishing the ‘why’ and the vision is crucial. And not just once, but over and over again, in different ways and in different places. Different people learn differently and will absorb the message at different times and in different ways (how many more times can I use the word “different” in a sentence?).

You could even literally start each meeting by stating the ‘why’ or the vision. Whatever it takes to get everyone to learn and understand it and apply it to their work

Communicating the why and being able to confidently explain it to your team repeatedly is the key to all moving in the same direction.

#7: You Can’t Seem to Get Anything Done Outside Your Team

Your team is an island in your company, and none of the other departments are sending their boats over to trade. You’re left with just your team looking at each other in confusion and your painted-on volleyball.

I think that analogy got away from me.

Anyway, one of the most common challenges for new leaders is figuring out how to work with teams and individuals outside their immediate team. How can you collaborate with others, build relationships, and share knowledge effectively?

You may need to work with other teams to:

• Collaborate on larger initiatives.
• Share knowledge and practices to improve overall organizational effectiveness.
• Build relationships to establish a supportive and unified work culture.
• Create organizational alignment on broader goals and strategies.
• Manage resources effectively.

As a leader, part of your job is to be a bridge between your team and the rest of the organization. You want to protect them from too much outside interference to allow them to focus deeply on their work, but you also don’t want to isolate them entirely.

So how did you create this collaboration?

Start by reaching out to leaders in other departments. Understand their goals, challenges, and how you can support each other. Foster open channels of communication and build relationships based on mutual respect and cooperation.

If there are teams that you work with regularly on larger initiatives, establish clear communication practices, maybe with meetings on a regular basis, email updates, or access to cross-team project management dashboards.

The key is not to create too much additional overhead (for you or your team), but to keep communication lines open and create practices of relationship-building and a larger cross-team mentality. Have the confidence to know when to bring in outside teams and when to protect your own team.

Communicate with your Team as a Leader: Conclusion

Did you figure out the pattern across all seven of these challenges and solutions? The key is stepping into your confidence as a leader. If you need help becoming the confident leader I know you can be, I can help. Apply for a free discovery call here.

And in the meantime, check out my video on why embracing failure is the most important skill you need to develop as a leader.