One of my favorite scenarios that I see for coaching is helping a client transition to a new promotion with new responsibilities and larger scope of responsibility. The newly promoted leader may have direct reports now, where before she was an individual contributor, or she may have a bigger and more diversified staff. Many times, this staff are subject matter experts and have both age and company seniority above the newly promoted leader. The person may have responsibility now to business, functions, or even technology that are new to them. Lastly, they likely have a new boss that they have to learn to work with and for. This is an exciting time, but it can also be a time that sets a leader back if not approached correctly. Over the course of my career, I have experienced a number of assignment changes that brought both this excitement and fear of failure.
Here are five keys to being successful with your new promotion:
You were promoted due to your leadership abilities and potential. Neither your team nor your boss expects you to have all the answers. You may actually be the smartest person in the room, but acting like it will only alienate your team. Ask lots of questions, let your staff share their expertise, and learn from them. Do not be overly concerned that you will show weakness; your staff will appreciate a leader who will show that vulnerability.
If you are an individual contributor, you now have direct reports — this means you need to manage them. Get to know them, what motivates them, and what derails them. Have regular one on ones; give feedback (both positive and constructive), provide coaching and mentoring as needed, give assignments that challenge them but also allow for growth. If you have indirect reports in your organization, a great strategy is to do small group focus discussions with cross-representations of your new organization early on and then going forward on a regular cadence. Spend 5 minutes or so introducing yourself and then just ask them open questions about what they like about the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for the department.
If you are moving into a new area or taking on a bigger role, then it is essential that you spend time learning about the new business or product line. This includes understanding how it makes money, who its customers are, what trends are happening in the industry as well as any competitive landscape. The better you understand the business, the easier it will be to make decisions and drive results. There is no shortcut to this than doing the work to go through the available history, metrics, or reports relevant to your new position.
If this new role requires you to manage new functions or new technologies, you need to prioritize what you need to learn first. One of my transitions was from managing a fast-paced customer service organization to leading a much larger pure manufacturing organization that combined a lot of engineering, production technology, and material chemistry that I was unfamiliar with. It was challenging to lead meetings and hear discussion around topics that I could not understand. I definitely experienced that infamous imposter syndrome where I did not feel knowledgeable enough. I had to rely on intuition to decide when I could just let the team resolve the issue on their own, when I needed to hard stop the team for an explanation (risking slowing the process down), or when I could do a deep dive later to understand the issue. I relied on active listening to tell if this was an issue of significant impact or urgency and if there was consensus or disagreement that may require intervention. It is ironic that a new leader will find she becomes an expert more quickly in the problem areas than the areas that run smoothly.
One approach to learning the new technologies and functions of your new role is to job shadow some of your employees in the areas that you do not know. Dedicate two hours to just have them show you what they do and ask them what makes good and bad days on their job. They will appreciate your desire to learn and you will walk away much more capable of relating to the problems that surface up to you.
There is also a negative impact on the rest of the organization by not contributing. According to research on group intelligence, decision quality is influenced by the overall team’s shared knowledge — not by the smartest person in the room. Your idea may well be able to be built on and expanded by others. This is the essence of a team. When you speak up, it boosts your team’s collective intelligence, thus improving its decision-making process.
You will also want to build early relationships with your peers; they will either be your best advocates or formidable opponents. Ask them their perceptions of your new organization. This is one of the few times that you can receive feedback without a concern of being defensive. Knowing where they stand and having an honest relationship with them will help you navigate the political waters of the organization. Your peers that also work for your new boss may be able to give you great insights to avoid possible early stumbles. Ask what type of communication your boss prefers (frequency, detail). Ask what they see as the biggest challenge working for this person.
Work to be visible. Your boss, peers, and staff are all watching you now. They want to see if you can handle the pressure of the new role. Be present, be engaged, take charge when needed but also know when to step back.
If you followed the three steps above, the key challenges, priorities, and changes needed in your area will start to be clear. Now you can determine what you want to achieve in the first 30-60-90 days? This could be developing a new process, launching a new product, or increasing safety in the workplace. Whatever it is make sure it is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time based. Scope creep is real. Be careful about taking on too much or trying to do everything yourself. Once you have these set, communicate them to your direct reports and develop an action plan with timelines and deliverables. Proactively communicate these to your new boss for confirmation that you are aligned with priorities. When you turn to action, remember that you have more responsibility but also more resources now. Use your team, delegate, and build processes and infrastructure to support the new demands being placed on you and your staff.
Finally, take some time for yourself — yes, this is a big transition and there is a lot to do but if you do not make time for yourself, you will quickly become overwhelmed and bogged down in the details. Perhaps it is taking a yoga class once a week or going for a walk at lunch, whatever it is- do something that recharges you. A successful transition will take time, focus and energy. Nourish yourself so you can be at your best to lead your team through this change. Do not forget to celebrate your successes along the way- both big and small! This will help keep you motivated and focused on the end goal.
As one transitions up the hierarchy of an organization from individual contributor to be a rising leader, research indicates that emotional intelligence is more important to success than your raw intellectual abilities. Psychologist Daniel Coleman outlines five key areas of emotional intelligence to include self-awareness, self-regulation, social skill, empathy and motivation. Whether you are transitioning from individual contributor to manager or from a tactical leader to a strategic role, you must assess your own strengths and weaknesses with each new assignment. The blind spots that didn’t hurt you in your past could be fatal in the new role.
Organizations often turn to leadership coaching to help individuals make career transitions. Your coach can be your thought partner in assessing your strengths and weaknesses, and discussing which will be most impacting in this new role. Since coaching is a confidential process, you can brainstorm your transition plan together and discuss any areas of trepidation that you have without risking showing weakness.
By focusing on these five steps, you will set yourself up for success in your new promotion. Being humble, Learning the business, identifying key stakeholders, setting objectives, taking care of yourself are all important keys to success.
What other tips would you add? Let us know in the comments on LinkedIn.