How often have you struggled or watched someone struggle while transitioning into a new leadership role? Top performance in one role does not inherently mean excellent performance in a future role with greater responsibility and scope. Success as an individual contributor, manager, functional leader or executive, does not imply success at leading individuals in those the same roles.
The Struggle Is Clear
Research [and experience] shows that leaders struggle to effectively transition into new leadership roles. The failure rate (outright failure or failing to achieve expected outcomes) of nearly 50% is far too high.
To make things worse, when leaders fail or are slow to effectively transition, the impact does not just affect them. Direct reports’ performance and engagement are 15 and 20 percent lower when their leaders are struggling in their transitions into new roles1.
The difficulty leaders face when taking on roles with greater responsibility and scope can often be attributed to not adequately accounting for how different the new role is and what it will entail. Leaders transitioning into new roles, regardless of where this promotion lands in their career, face three primary shifts:
Values and Priorities. What counts as valuable work, and therefore prioritized. As leaders move up in an organization, the value they bring shifts from doing the technical work, to leading others, to leading leaders, to leading the organization.
Competencies. New and different competencies are needed. With a change in values and priorities comes a change in competencies. At the most fundamental level there is a shift in the required skills and competencies from technical to coaching and developing others, to becoming more strategic.
Time Frame & Tolerance for Ambiguity. Time horizon and time frame increase and expand. With greater responsibly and scope work becomes less discrete and therefore takes longer to accomplish, and the need to tolerate greater ambiguity increases.
Frequently leaders work at the wrong level – at the level they’ve been at, not at the level they are at now – not truly grasping and applying the right mindset for the new role. Inadequately making this leadership transition often results in feeling overworked, continuing with too many elements of the old job, while trying to perform the new job. As most have experienced, the outcomes of strained transitions are being overwhelmed, not hitting expected results, frustrated team members, lackluster performance, and turnover, etc.
3 Essential Questions
What must I RELINQUISH?
Leaders transitioning into new roles must consider what skills, values or priorities, even those that they may be really good at, they need to stop doing. Leaders are often good at adding work and taking on greater responsibility. What they are not as good at is letting go of work, focus, or priorities. A sales manager may be really good at, and truly enjoy, working directly with clients, but may need to let go of doing this (partially or fully) when taking on the responsibility of leading and managing a team of salespeople.
What must I ADD-ON?
There are certain skills, areas of focus and prioritization, and types of work that leaders need to add to their repertoire. A first-time leader will need to start valuing and building skills around coaching and developing their team members. A new senior leader will need to start adding a focus, prioritization, and mindset around being strategic (as well as the associated skills and competencies). Getting clear about the skills, values, and priorities needed to be successful in the new roll is essential and cannot be overlooked.
What must I MAINTAIN?
Leaders need to maintain certain skills, approaches, mindsets, styles or personality traits that have allowed them to be successful in the past. For example, high levels of interpersonal sensitivity and relationship building that may have helped a front-line employee to connect and build relationships with their team member or customers, may still be valuable when moving into a leadership or even a senior leader role. While the relationships will have changed and the nature of interactions may be different, people skills — the ability to understand others, connect with them, build relationships, and handle difficult conversations, will most likely remain a valuable skill.
Understanding the skills and competencies, and leadership traits or personality factors that supported someone moving into a new leadership role is critical, as is a careful exploration into how those factors may continue to support the person, and potentially hinder them if overused or not modified for the new circumstance.
Application
The 3 Questions can be used in a variety of ways to increase your success in current and future transitions as well as the success of others.
- Self-reflection: Explore fit when considering a new role or career goals, or support success when taking on a new role
- Input from new boss: Get input from your boss about their expectations for success – Ask: What do they see you needing to Relinquish, Add-on, Maintain?
- From team members: Build engagement and support when leading a team that you were previously in a peer-relationship with by asking your new direct reports for their input and share your perspective on what you should Relinquish, Add-on, Maintain.
- Development of others: Discuss these three questions with your employees, direct reports, and those you mentor as they consider or move into new roles.
Transitioning into a new role is a great opportunity for change, new thinking, and a powerful way to engage and keep top talent. Yet too often the intended outcome is not experienced, and transitions result in, at best frustration and temporarily reduction of team performance, and at worse outright failure and the need to rehire for the same, and often other, positions. Asking the 3 questions outlined here, forces leaders to take a deeper look into the reality of expectations, skills, personality and mindset required of a new role, and provides a framework to develop and plan for effective transitions.
Inciting Leaders 