You’ve got your seat on the Leadership team… now what?

Whether you’re promoted from within, or it’s your first Leadership Team role in a new business, there’s things I consistently see and have personally experienced that a lot of new leaders go through.

You’ve been the high performer of your field or function for a while now, you’ve managed decent sized teams and finally you’ve been given the opportunity you’ve been working towards for years - a functional leader, sat on the Leadership Team, now part of the inner circle that leads the whole business together.  But really, what should you expect?

I love an analogy, so here goes… It’s a bit like starting big school.  For the last year at least you’ve been the ruler of the playground, know every trick in the book, revered by the younger year groups, the star pupil who teachers have grown up conversations with.  And now, you’re the new kid, you don’t know your way around, you’re getting lost all the time and everyone else is so much bigger than you.  You might feel like you’re starting all over again, a loud crisis of confidence comes crashing over you (aka imposter syndrome).  Or you might go in with the same ‘big boy/girl’ mentality and confidence you had at the end of primary school - the feeling of status you had in your last role - only to get shot down immediately by the big kids.  It can be quite the shock. 

You think you know the LT, you’ve been invited in to present to them and collaborated on projects many times in your old role.  But that’s just like when you visited all those big schools last year, with special set ups to impress potential pupils.  Now you’re in, you aren’t afforded that careful treatment.  It’s a different world now, a much broader perspective and a different set of expectations.  And this is where the analogy ends, because at school you’re surrounded by others in the same position, you’re all uncomfortable and figure it out together.  It’s not so easy to find your place that quickly when you’re new to the LT.

I work with a lot of new leader coaching clients on the reality of the onboarding curve.

For the first few weeks you’re overtly classified as ‘new’ - you are comfortable saying “I don’t know” and your colleagues are proactively offering their time and advice.  

Gradually it shifts to a more subconscious awareness of being ‘new’ - the overt support from others starts to decline but they’re still there for you, your comfort with not adding tangible value as you did before starts to become frustrating.  

Then the three to four month point hits you like a sucker punch.  This is just after you and others have decided you’re not ‘new’ anymore - nobody said anything, it just happened.  Expectations started to rise; colleagues are asking you for things you don’t yet know how to do, your CEO wants your input during LT debates but you haven’t found an approach that feels right, you feel like you’re failing because you’re not yet up to the level that surrounds you.  But here’s the thing… you’re actually still new - who actually is an expert, high performer in something this complex after 3-4 months?!  

Generally, the people who successfully come through this dip in the curve demonstrate self awareness, patience and realism and an ability to focus on the values they can bring, not the things they can’t (yet).  There are some common questions I tend to work through with clients at this point to support their self awareness and confidence in what those things are: 

What were the reasons you were given the job in the first place?

What are your unique strengths compared to the rest of the LT?

What perspectives do you bring to the LT that others might have lost touch with?

Deepening and challenging your thinking around these types of questions helps you form an idea of how you want to show up, taking control of your authentic style.  This is exactly the type of work I love doing with new leaders.

I’ll share more in future posts about other things to expect on a Leadership Team -  that no/few decisions are easy, the recognition void and seemingly impossible challenges.  For now, remember, the first few months on the LT can feel like a rollercoaster - exciting one moment, overwhelming the next.  If you’re in that dip right now, know you’re not alone and know it’s normal. It doesn’t mean you’re failing, it just means you’re still finding your feet.  Stay anchored in the strengths and perspectives that got you here in the first place and you’ll do just fine.