You’ve made it! You recently got promoted or hired for your dream role – a higher level position that gives you more power, responsibilities, and financial rewards. Congratulations! This is a sweet place to be – a testament to all your work, qualifications, talents, skills, and experience.
Yet… you feel lost and have no idea what to do. Rationally you know that you were hired because you are competent and qualified but somehow you feel uncertain and it can show up in different ways:
- You think to be a leader you need to be a “certain way.” You think there is a certain way to act, behave, or even dress that is more acceptable for your role because you see similar patterns of acceptable leadership behavior around you over and over again. Which leads you to think: “If I don’t do things a “certain way” then I won’t fit in or be a good leader.” Yet trying to fit in a “certain way” feels uncomfortable, false, or even stressful to be someone you are not.
- You don’t know quite how to interact with the team that you lead. Are you supposed to be a friendly or not so friendly manager? How do you be a manager without being a jerk, especially if you know that some people are not pulling their weight and you need to make some changes on the team that not everyone will accept? So many questions that you don’t know how to answer so you feel disoriented, perplexed, and even annoyed that team dynamics can be so complicated.
- You want to continuously “prove yourself” to your manager and the leadership team. Even though you logically know that you were hired for very good reasons, you can’t stop thinking that you need to show what you are worth over and over again. This leads to checking emails past your usual hours and crafting a response in mind just so you can be even more prepared tomorrow. You are unsure if the leadership team really has the confidence in you to pull it off. Afterall: they promoted or hired you to solve hairy problems or achieve audacious goals but there is this teeny tiny voice of doubt that doesn’t go away. You’re starting to feel tired and anxious of constantly trying to “prove yourself” to the world.
If any of these scenarios ring true for you then I welcome you and want you to know that it is not crazy or ridiculous to be in this state. Transitions are hard, even if they are welcomed and sought after – such as getting promoted or hired into your dream role. With great powers come great responsibilities and you really really don’t want to mess it up!
I hear you. Beyond getting a new title you are actually getting a new identity and you don’t quite know how you fit into this role yet.
So I want to introduce the concept of capacity, which is the energy and willingness that is available to move resources towards specific needs or goals. It is the “how” of what you do or the way you would like to do it. As you shift from into a new leadership role there is a need to develop new or different capacity, or else if you keep operating beyond your capacity you will inevitably break down or stagnate.
Most people are hired into any organization because of their ability to perform or learn specific types of tasks for a particular industry, field, topic, or function. Yet as one progresses in their career, while they are promoted based on technical skills initially they need to transition to relational skills in order to manage projects, people, teams, departments, and whole companies. Relational skills are different from technical skills and may take some time to get the hang of.
You are at a pivotal moment where you are asked to change your capacity as soon as possible. If you can do this well enough then you can unlock more of your leadership ability to get things done through other people. If you currently do not have enough relational skills within your capacity then it can be learned.
Interested in learning more about capacity and specifically where you are at in your capacity development? I wrote a white paper on this. If you want a copy then message me on LinkedIn and I’ll send it to you.
Alternatively, message me on LinkedIn for a 30 minute no-strings-attached meeting with me to understand your capacity better AND get a copy of the white paper. I promise – it will be worth your time and give you another perspective to your leadership situation.
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Nancy Li is a coach who truly believes that you do not have to choose between being authentic, getting to your goals, and having your needs met.
I work with high achievers who feel stuck, new leaders who have no idea what to do, and driven people who are “not a team player” yet need to work with others to get things done.
I can help you show up more as your real self AND be more effective at your job or whatever it is you want to do in life.
Website: https://pannapanya.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancywingli/
Instagram: https://bit.ly/pannapanyainsta
YouTube: https://bit.ly/pannapanyayoutube