Let’s talk about your new role as a leader. When you assumed that new role, you were pretty excited about it. Your significant other, family and friends congratulated you on the promotion. So your natural assumption is that everyone else would be happy about it too, right?
I envy an email network colleague! A new leader is taking over their organization. As I understand it, he is coming from one of their European operations. Watching changes in leadership are fascinating to watch!
Some are successful, some are not. Almost every time, the early actions of that person set the tone for their administration and the legacy they leave behind when they are gone. In other words, their success or failure hinges on the first days or weeks in the new setting. Is he a class act or just another leader? The class act leaders instinctively know they are the new kid on the block.
When I wrote my book Surviving & Thriving in the HR World, I included the following fictional memo about a person who just received a promotion. Some reviewers took issue with this saying they didn’t change the way they dealt with former peers who are now subordinates when they got promoted. My point with the memo was that the situation is now changed and you can’t have the same relationship with the team you used to have. It’s too hard to be objective in your decisions making. What’s your thoughts?
Why would anyone want to supervise others? You get the nasty jobs…such as having to take corrective action, firing people, telling people “no” when you would rather say “yes”, work long hours with little thanks.
Well, because if you are really good at your job, the tremendous personal satisfaction you will have in being what I call a respected “class act” leader will keep you coming to work every day. There are a lot of people in supervisory roles today that should not be there. They are still out there, causing long-term damage to organizations. You have probably met some of them. They cause unions. They cause turnover. They cause morale problems. They should be anywhere but in a leadership role.