Level-Up #1—Congratulations on Your Promotion! Now What?

The Level-Up series at Management Excellence is dedicated to supporting the successful identification and development of new executives.

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There are few opportunities in your career that offer greater opportunities for learning, growth and personal and financial reward than your move to executive management.

And while the opportunities abound, the risks to your career from missteps or failure are also very real.

What Got You Here…

Your first job as a supervisor or manager…your first opportunity to lead a high visibility strategic project are all wonderful opportunities bestowed upon you because someone deemed you worthy of trust and capable of success in this endeavor. They viewed you as promising and agreed to give you a chance to showcase your abilities in a role where the tasks and decisions were just a bit less defined or programmed and the challenges of leading and guiding others a lot more complex.

Succeed in these early leadership and senior contributor opportunities and the career elevator climbs, doors open and opportunities abound. Muck them up and well, the elevator slows or stalls. Setbacks are annoying but not fatal to your career during this rise through the middle-layers. A return to an individual contributor role is not out of the question at this time.

You work hard and deliver good results and then for the right reasons, everything changes.

…Won’t Get You There or, Warning, Hidden Curves Ahead!

Your success in middle management earns the trust of the firm’s senior leaders and you suddenly find yourself heading for or elevated to the first rung of executive management. Whether the title says Director or Vice President, you’ve arrived. And you look around and attend a few meetings and talk with your boss…someone with a Senior or Executive label in front of their Vice President title, and suddenly, you realize that you’ve arrived, but you’re not sure where.

Everything is different. The topics of conversation change. They’re much about strategy and execution on a large scale. The challenges that are discussed don’t have easy solutions, particularly the ones you find yourself and your team now responsible for solving. And, it doesn’t take long to recognize that the skills that the dialog and subtle issues of power and politics are very, very different than what you are used to from your time in middle management.

The Cold Slap of Reality Check:

Welcome to your new job, where ambiguity is the order of the day, and in many organizations, you’re suddenly thrust into the business professional’s form of “Game of Thrones” where those who cultivate influence and solve the big problems and move the revenue and profit needles gain more responsibility and by default, more power. And those who have the power seem to be enjoying themselves. You recognize as well that those who don’t adapt to the new environment and contribute will be quickly marginalized or eliminated.

Some enlightened firms offer coaching to their emerging and new executives. Others (read: most) perpetuate the “sink or swim” model of professional development which you likely experienced in your earlier promotions. However, sinking and failing are not great options at this stage, where derailment is costly and recovery a bit more vexing than in your earlier days.

You need to form a strategy that will amplify learning and allow you to win at this new level, where winning is defined by both driving quality results AND cultivating power and influence.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

If you’re motivated by making a difference…leading others, helping people grow in their careers, serving a cause, fulfilling a mission, developing yourself or, simply securing the future for your family, few positions offer more opportunities for succeeding at these items than a role in executive management. However, an important first step on your journey to success at this new level is recognizing that much has changed, from the stakes to the definition of success to the means and tools you’ll use to be successful. Acceptance of this new reality is your first step. Cultivating a strategy to learn, adapt and importantly, generate early victories are all critical to becoming credible in your new role. While you’re experienced and hungry to show what you know, you might just find that the “Beginner’s Mind” is one of your best assets at this early stage.

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Upcoming Posts in the Level-Up Series: