You may have spent years as an expert in your field, the person others relied on because you knew how things worked. Then came the offer: “Would you like to lead a team?” It sounds logical—you understand the work, you have the experience, you know the company.
But leadership isn’t just a “higher level” of your current career. It’s a completely new discipline. It’s less about expertise and more about people. If you underestimate that, your new role can quickly overwhelm you—and the team that was supposed to stay motivated and united may lose energy or even fall apart.
So how do you make it work? The best way is to learn from those who’ve been leading teams for a while. Leaders from Albi, CREDITAS Group, DHL, PK komplet, and snuggs shared their lessons with us.
As a new leader, you may feel like you need to have all the answers. In reality, it’s far more important to ask questions, listen, and respond.
“I regularly ask my team what helps them and what they’d like to improve. When a suggestion comes up, I try to make it happen so they see their voice has real weight,” says Adéla Pijaková, Customer Care Team Lead at snuggs.
Radomír Švec, CEO of Albi, adds: “We ask employees for their opinions in different meetings, and leadership does the same. If we discover something that would make people more comfortable and motivated, we work with our HR director to see if it’s feasible. That’s how we adjusted our employee benefits.” The result? Albi earned the Czechia Best Managed Companies award for the first time this year.
✔️ What to do in practice:
Leadership isn’t about giving orders. It’s much stronger when you involve the team in finding solutions.
“Our team values open communication and the chance to influence how we work. I give space for feedback, celebrate small wins, involve the team in decisions, and clearly communicate while holding the direction we’re going,” says Jiří Procházka, Co-Founder and Commercial Director at PK komplet.
✔️ What to do in practice:
Requests don’t only come from the top anymore—they also come from your team. Your role is to align interests and find common ground.
“We often struggle with unclear or incomplete tasks and overly ambitious deadlines,” says Jan Krejčí, Head of UX at CREDITAS Group. The solution? Open communication with stakeholders, finding compromises, and explaining why changes are necessary. That way, everyone understands what’s realistic, and both the team and the project stay on track.
✔️ What to do in practice:
Real motivation doesn’t come from micromanagement—it comes from trust.
“People value freedom and trust the most. They know they can organize their time as they need, as long as goals are met. And if I know the team appreciates working on new projects, I try to give them the space to experiment and develop new skills,” says Adéla Pijaková.
✔️ What to do in practice:
People need to know their work has meaning. The feeling of making a difference—helping customers, making them happy—is often more powerful than any bonus.
“Colleagues appreciate being treated with respect, knowing their work has meaning, and seeing results. When people feel purpose and see impact, their satisfaction and motivation grow naturally,” says Jiří Procházka.
✔️ What to do in practice:
An informal, friendly environment makes people feel like they’re in the same boat.
“No topic is taboo on our team. We’re all on the same level—partners, colleagues, not bosses and subordinates,” says Jan Krejčí. His team has been running for two and a half years without losing a single member. Or, as Jakub Kuba puts it: “Don’t be their boss—be a friend and colleague who just happens to have veto power.”
✔️ What to do in practice:
The true impact of leadership shows up in everyday details—laughter on calls, a willingness to help outside one’s own role, or someone volunteering to take on extra responsibility.
But intuition isn’t enough, warns Adéla Pijaková: “I collect concrete examples, numbers, and productivity impacts. I use this data when discussing changes or investments in new solutions with management. That way, ideas turn into real steps that make work easier for the team.”
Jakub Kuba adds: “Motivation fluctuates almost daily. If I see a 9 in a survey, I read it more like a 7. I don’t need the team to always be at 10, but I do need them to stay in good spirits and engaged in the long run.”
✔️ What to do in practice:
Leading a team isn’t just the “next level” of expertise—it’s a completely new discipline. What separates experienced leaders from beginners is understanding that team satisfaction isn’t a one-time goal but a long-term journey.
Does it feel like a lot at once? Start simple: schedule 1:1s with your team and ask questions. Use Behavera’s Echo Pulse—an anonymous tool that in just a few minutes shows how your team is really doing, what they need, what frustrates them, and what they value. It instantly highlights the biggest risks and gives you tailored recommendations, including concrete questions for your 1:1s.
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