The Five Traps of Newly Promoted Leaders - Trap 1

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Ania G. Schmidt, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

You were a successful individual contributor, your hard work finally paid off and was recognized through a promotion. Congratulations! Now, with the new title comes a team to manage and a slew of new and old responsibilities, expectations and challenges.

In this multi-part series we will explore the five commons leadership traps I have seen leaders make, both in my professional and coaching career, and we will explore ways to navigate them to help your team and yourself reach greater success, faster. Let’s begin exploring the first trap…

Trap #1 – Continuing to think like an individual contributor

You got things done, you eliminated obstacles, solved challenges and responded to what was at hand. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but much of what got you here likely will not get you there (there being your next level of performance).

Now you are responsible for your team’s performance and something new is required. You now walk the tight rope between two worlds, one of execution and one of strategic orientation and often getting caught somewhere in the middle.

Here are the common temptations of this trap to avoid:

1. You may be tempted to rely on the tried and true strategies, mindsets and approaches that brought you success in your previous roles. Maybe you were the flawless executor, the one with the strong and dominating personality, the bull in the china shop who delivered at all cost, or the one whom everyone liked. These mindsets may still help you, but may also hinder your ability to adapt and think creatively as you approach new challenges and situations.

2. You may forget that you now have a new set of stakeholders, each with their own expectations of you, and, with it, a front seat into a new world and a new set of challenges, priorities and politics, many of which you were previously blissfully unaware of. You may forget that you must now find a way to be loyal to all these stakeholders. You may also forget that you have stakeholders at home as well and dive deep into the world of work while neglecting their needs.

3. You may find yourself reacting to what’s in front of you and putting out fires while focusing on the urgent. You might forget to get off the hamster wheel, step back and re-assess strategically what now is most important, and what needs to be done to truly support and empower your team and your organization.

4. You may take pride and trust in your ability to deliver high quality work and therefore take on tasks which should now be getting delegated, or get caught up in the minutiae and tiny details which are no longer yours to focus on. You may be tempted to hold on to some of the tasks you really enjoyed.

5. You may forget that you have a reputation to establish and manage. You may put it on auto-pilot instead, assuming that your reputation will manage itself for you rather than deciding what you want that reputation to be then proactively taking steps to manage it.

To ensure you don’t fall into the traps above, do this instead:

1. Take the time to understand the important:

Before take-off, a pilot takes the time to understand the environment and climate in which they will be navigating so they know what they are up against and can prepare and respond accordingly. Take the time to understand your organizational climate and politics, the different stakeholders, their challenges and the organizational priorities. Talk to your manager/leader, review the annual report, attend an industry or networking event, ask for an introduction or connect with someone in another department, or find another way to learn more so you can set aside myopic thinking and focus on the broader picture. Understand the industry and global trends and how they may impact your team and organization as well as the skills and capabilities required of your team now and in the future. Look for ways to grow those capabilities.

“If you don’t start taking charge of your time, you can be sure it will start taking charge of you.” – Ania Gabrys Schmidt

2. Take the time to understand the urgent

Once you have the broader context, take the time to understand the urgent. Putting out urgent fires and obliterating obstacles will continue to be part of your role and you may not know where the next one comes from. Rather than focusing on just putting them out do take the time to step back and understand what the fires typically are, what is causing the fires in the first place – and look for ways to help mitigate that. Your team members have a front row seat to the common challenges, frustrations and bureaucracies that slow them down. Listen to what they are venting about and focus on removing their barriers to success and to productivity. Leverage your team’s strengths, creativity and development areas as well as your network to help design a plan and find ways to remove the obstacles, implement process improvements and enhance collaboration.

3. Implement strategic focus time and ruthless prioritization

If you don’t start taking charge of your time you can be sure it will start taking charge of you. Getting caught up in the weeds of revising a presentation or attending a certain meeting may no longer be the best use of your time. Treat time like the precious commodity that it is, minimize the time drainers, say no to the unnecessary, delegate what is no longer the best use of your time and seek to create exposure and development opportunities for others from your time drainers. Find the most optimal way to spend yours in greatest service of your team, your leadership, and your organization. Focus on the things that truly matter rather than running yourself to the ground while trying to be all things to all people. This means setting time aside to assess and plan your weekly, monthly and quarterly priorities and to intentionally decide what deserves your focus then getting busy executing it.

4. Manage your reputation

Few things create reputational leverage like building trust and credibility through delivering on your commitments. To do that seek first to understand what’s needed and expected of you, anticipate need by proactively identifying needs, offering solutions and support where possible and being transparent about challenges and limitations. Communicate effectively and succinctly, demonstrate emotional intelligence, navigate conflicts constructively while looking for the win-win, or the closet thing to it. Remember that winning a battle may not be as important as winning the war – so choose wisely.

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett

Key Takeaway: Focus more on things that impact the bottom line and your organization’s strategic priorities. If you don’t know what they are then find out what your leadership and organization most care about and help them achieve that. Eliminate, delegate and simplify the rest. Seek to eliminate obstacles to your team’s success. Be mindful of how you’re fighting your battles and intentionally handle challenges and conflicts in a way that builds the reputation your want to have.