Yes, I get it. When an individual is elevated to a leadership role, proving oneself becomes a burning goal. But restraint should override unbridled enthusiasm.
As the new kid on the block, it is a time for building intelligence about the iceberg. Those visible and invisible operations of the business. It means understanding the lay of the land, the culture, the politics and the drivers of the status quo.
It is often unwise to begin dismantling structures, upending existing practices and creating turbulence immediately to demonstrate positional power. Despite the visceral desire to get down to business quickly, it is wiser to go slowly. Except, of course, in those justifiable instances where practices are inimical to the welfare of the business.
Asking a newly promoted leader to exercise restraint may feel like asking a teenager to go without a phone for a day. After all, in the majority of instances, this individual would have been onboarded not just to fill a vacancy but to make a difference.
The weight of being expected to hit the ground running and to deliver results immediately bears heavily on the leader and fuels the urge to show early wins. Yet, intelligence gathered carefully outweighs the blind spots that come with accelerated velocity.
I have seen extreme cases, where newly promoted leaders inherit departments fraught with challenges, inefficiencies and interpersonal friction. Instead of conducting deep forensic analysis, they dive straight into course correction. Because this approach ignores constructive disruption practices, the outcome is often a series of hit-and-miss episodes that create even more turbulence.
Beyond the obvious pitfalls, newly promoted leaders must be alert to those hiding in plain sight. Overestimation of their expertise in managing change is one of the most dangerous beliefs.
Many have never led small, medium or large scale change efforts and commit unforced errors along the way. Being unaware of the hidden pitfalls of transitioning a group from one reality to another leads to cognitive, communication and cultural missteps.
The danger is clear. Leaders who fall into this competence overestimation pattern often display leadership arrogance. They behave like know-it-alls who resist starting the journey with a beginner’s mind.
Sometimes, the naked truth underlying this arrogance is that they fear being outperformed mentally by others. In some cases, these leaders are overcompensating for feelings of inadequacy.
In T&T, I see newly promoted leaders forget that they are serving two masters. Those above and those below. Senior officers to whom they report and the individuals whom they lead.
Too often, however, the leader focuses on pleasing senior officers while relegating junior staff to secondary status. The result is that junior staff feel neglected and voiceless. This disjointedness wins the war with senior officers, but loses the battle with the majority of the workforce.
Generally, leaders should not confuse efficiency with effectiveness. This happens when the focus is the work of the business and not the people who populate it. An efficient leader gets the work done. The effective leader gets the work done, whilst generating a motivated, energised workforce that loves getting the work done.
When inexperienced leaders rush to prove competence, the business suffers motion sickness. Change efforts are uncoordinated, many decisions confuse employees and the precision needed to align the multiple moving parts fails. These leaders favour motion over effectiveness. They become busy running the business without completing successful laps or delivering significant outcomes. The internal environment becomes a very confusing space for its inhabitants.
A structured playbook, built on strategy, communication, order and science, supports a better landing for newly promoted leaders. While structure does not guarantee a failsafe outcome, it forces leaders to adopt a coordinated, coherent and cohesive approach to making decisions that affect the welfare of the business, its customers and its employees.
The signal to internal and external stakeholders is clear. “This business will not be subjected to the unnecessary turbulence that often derails success.”
