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Early in your career you figured out what you thought was important. Doing things on time, getting the right result, keeping to yourself and doing your job. There’s no doubt that you’ve been great at doing this otherwise they wouldn’t have looked at promoting you. You’re great at your job, mistakes are few and you can be counted on when the chips are down.
Because you were great you’ve been promoted and months into
to your new role the things that have made you successful are not working as
they should. It’s confusing, surely you
were promoted because you were good at what you did and it goes without saying,
if you’ve been rewarded with a promotion, then it makes sense to amplify what
you’re good at, right? You’re going to share your experience, gain a deep
understanding of things you don’t know about, be across the important
decisions, be protective of your team and ensure that nothing slips through the
cracks.
All this sounds like a great plan yet you’re having trouble
keeping up with the work load. Yes, you knew it was going to be a step up but
thought it would get manageable. You’re
working long hours and still not across everything, people are expecting more
of you and your manager is starting to suggest that you get out of the detail
and spend more time managing the people and being more across the business.
But you are, you’re sharing all your knowledge, explaining what to do and how
to do it and still some of your team want to work in a way that you know, just
won’t cut it.
So, you’re working harder than ever, feeling frustrated and
can’t get things working as you would like.
Recent research has shown that what rockets you to the top
of middle management is the exact same behaviours which limit and stall your
career in senior management.
The top 3 (6 are listed) previous success behaviours which
quickly turn into dearilers are;
- Being “I”
focused versus “we” – the transition from looking after your own
operational area to supporting peers at times at the expense of your own area is
a critical change, like moving from managing to leading. Your impact is now
expected to be across the business not just in your own operational area.
- Getting
the people right not just the task – senior management is about building a
culture, creating a high performing team, enabling others to be their best, not
making sure the monthly report has no errors. Talented, autonomous people don’t
enjoy working for someone who they feel doesn’t trust them or give them enough
scope to do their job the way they want to.
- Working
on the business not in – time to be thinking about where your team is
headed, how they interact with internal and external customers, working out how
to best leverage resources across the business and taking a whole company
approach are key traits of successful senior management. Traits that are often
discouraged at middle manage levels.
Getting your approach right is crucial when starting a new
role and we know, how you start in a new role, is how you’re likely to
continue. The reputational cement can
set quickly when you move into a new role and you want to make sure that others
are saying positive things about your transition into your new role. You
have the right to feel confident and be the best you can be as you take on the challenge
of moving to senior management.
Here’s the three questions to ask prior to you
starting your new role;
- What
skills / behaviours are the same in both the current and new role? - What
skills / behaviours are redundant? - What
skills / behaviours are totally new and must be learnt to make the new role a great
success?
What’s you’re approach to ensuring your transition into a
senior management role goes off with a bang?