Leadership can be exciting, rewarding, challenging, and stressful. It requires the ability to think critically, be decisive, show compassion, and build trust daily. Every leader is in a unique situation defined by their role, their team, and the resources available to them. As an executive leadership coach, I have explored leadership roles, challenges, and opportunities from a variety of perspectives. What I have discovered is this: While situations may differ significantly, the challenges and opportunities that meet today’s leaders are often surprisingly similar.

As a leadership coach, when I meet with new leaders, or leaders in new roles, priority topics often are managing people, seeking work-life balance, and transitioning successfully to a new role. Transitions often trigger some introspection. It is exciting to start fresh and intentionally build competence and credibility in a new context, but this also often precipitates a desire for some sense of stability and direction. As a result, new leaders often seek out coaches and guides to help them navigate their new reality.

The first coaching sessions for these leaders often focus on the following key points:

Establish Credibility. The credibility of a leader in any role depends on establishing a foundation of trust. If trust does not exist, followers choose not to follow, initiatives stall, and morale declines. Building trust requires competence, consistency, and time. When transitioning into a new role, you may not feel, or be, fully competent simply because there is always a learning curve. Because you are new in a position, you have not had time to demonstrate consistency. Intentionally building trust begins on the first day with your first decision and your first interaction with another person and continues every day and with every interaction after that.

Listen first. Listening builds trust and credibility. It demonstrates good judgment and critical thinking. People perceive those who actively listen as more competent because listening shows respect and that their input is valued. It also demonstrates your willingness to learn and understand before you make decisions or respond. The decisions you make today impact your credibility tomorrow, so keeping that top of mind and being intentional can help build consistency, and consistency fosters trust.

Do what you say you will do. Following through on commitments is a characteristic identified as a baseline for good leadership. The importance of keeping commitments cannot be overstated. Listen to the common advice to “under promise and over deliver.” As a new leader, keep track of what you promise to deliver and follow through—this, too, is key to building credibility and trust.

Learn. Do everything you can to learn about your new role, your supervisor, and the team you lead. When transitioning into a new role, there is a lack of context for decision-making. If you have been promoted within the organization, you may have some history; however, there still may be policies, procedures, initiatives, or projects that require you to gather some background information to fully understand. It is important to listen to people, but balance what you hear with what you learn and understand that truth may be reflected in both. It is common for people to share their perspectives with a new leader in hopes of accomplishing something that was previously denied. Learning and gathering information before agreeing to make changes leads to thoughtful, well-planned decisions.

Build relationships. As a leader, you can be successful only when you have support. From the first day in your position, begin to build relationships with your peers and your team. Learn as much as you can about their perspectives. This will demonstrate that you value them and what they think. Trust and loyalty grow when people feel valued and respected.

Accept feedback. Taking on a new role provides a great opportunity to practice asking for regular feedback. No one expects you to know everything about a new role, so asking for feedback is a good way to learn what others expect. You may not implement all the advice you receive, but you will better understand the perspectives of the people around you. And, when you know what is important to others, you start to build a framework for communicating the reasons for your decisions and actions. Additionally, your response to feedback will set a tone in your circle of influence. An aggressive or defensive response sets a negative tone and shuts down future communication. But an open, thoughtful response creates a safe environment, encourages future communication, and sets the stage for collaboration.

The overarching theme regarding building trust and credibility is that you must value the knowledge and input of the people around you. When you do that consistently, you receive less filtered communication and more honest thoughts, and you become a more effective leader. One of my mentors often asked, “Do you want to make a point, or do you want to make a difference?” Making your point may win a debate, but it may also eliminate an opportunity for you to make a difference by impairing your credibility.

Regardless of the situation in which you find yourself—whether you’re the new leader of a small functional team or the newest president of a large organization—the opportunities and challenges of leadership require a calm, measured response rooted in trust, listening, and intentionally building relationships.

Judy Korb is Interim President at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas.

Opinions expressed in Leadership Abstracts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.