Remember your leadership profile

Take a few minutes to make a list of your leadership attributes that were your “go to” in your last leadership role. For each one consider how it can be adjusted to better serve your new responsibilities. For instance, in the previous role you may have been a master at developing your direct reports. In the new job your reports may be operating at a higher level and while you want to build on your skills at developing others, you may want to blend this with higher level delegations, moving from delegating tasks to developing and delegating responsibilities. There will likely be some skills that are new for you at this level or ones that have not been as strong as they need to be. These should be given a high priority and a systematic plan for improvement. Once you get a good handle on this plan, share it with your new boss and ask for input. Your candid assessment and direct request for feedback will be a positive step in building the new relationship.

Begin developing your new network on day one

There will always be a good return on maintaining your existing network in a new position. Many of these individuals can continue to assist in your leadership, but they will also be a good source for leads for your enlarged network. If your new work involves a new boss she will be an essential first check in with questions such as: “Who do you think I should connect with for this new assignment?” “Who understands the internal and informal workings of the organization best?” “Who are the most important people politically for me to touch base with for this work?” She might offer all of this and more on her own, but it is your job to make sure these questions are asked and answered.

Do not wait for the networking to just happen, it is your highest priority. And give this networking activity some structure and formality. Make lists of those you need to contact, be curious with structured questions, take notes on what you learn, design follow ups, share information, and always, ask when connecting to someone new, “Who else should I reach out to?”

In these discussions you should focus on them and let them share, but also do a little marketing of you and your value to the project, team, company. One good technique is to ask them what they are currently working on or find most interesting, and if appropriate share something that you have that might be useful to them in this undertaking.

Work at the next level

The safe place to hide out in a new job is doing what you have done successfully in the past. Some of this is inevitable and you have this new role because of those skills and abilities. But getting a firm understanding of what will be needed for success in the new role is essential to moving yourself to perform in this new way. Simply asking the new boss, “What will success for me in this job look like from your perspective?” is a terrific place to start. They probably have a clear idea of expectations, or should have, but may be uncomfortable cramping your style. You will both be happier getting this picture of success developed and shared.

There are three areas to pay attention to here:

1. Ask yourself “what do I need to give up in order to have time and focus for my new roles?” Often these will be technical activities and many times these are things that you enjoy doing. It may also be the time you were able to spend with skip level reports or frontline employees, but now there are just not enough hours in the day to do all of this and do it in a meaningful way for them or yourself. Consider group meetings over lunch or larger staff meetings for communication as a way of continuing to engage. Also, try to incorporate relationship maintenance in a “walking around” style that permits you to connect in a short two-minute exchange that is friendly and open, but not scheduled and demanding.

2. Look at the list from your leadership profile and ask yourself “what do I need to improve upon, develop or make better use of” to be successful here. In general, these will be those things that move you to develop a better strategic understanding of your work and the work of your team or unit. It is a subtle shift from ‘what do I do to be successful’ to ‘how does my work and the work of this team fit into the overall success of the company or division’. It is important to know what your boss’s boss is focused on so that you can understand your work in that context. You will also need to think in an enlarged way about your network and relationships. You will need to maintain good relationships throughout the organization and most of these relationships will be new and need time and attention. But the real challenge will be for you to step out more widely from where you now sit to cultivate relationships with a broader network of peers, as well as out and up with other leaders in the organization that are not in your direct reporting line. Look to connect with others that have a broad network, those that span the various frontiers in the company, people that bring innovation and new ideas and finally those that either are or could be resistant to change.

3. As you go up higher in any organization, each step is larger than the last, so there is a more dramatic shift in what you need to be able to do than occurred earlier in your career. One of the most evident of these is in the area of executive presence. This is not an invitation to give up on your “leadership style” which is probably what has led to your success in the past. But take five minutes and write down what you think is characteristic of your leadership and what you value. Then go back and take each of these attributes and values and push hard to see how they will work in your new environment. A classic one is around push and competitiveness. Often in a career, early recognition and success comes to individuals who distinguish themselves by hard charging leadership and action. But in your new executive role things such as team engagement, trade-offs, political savvy, and working toward the bigger goal may be far more important than “winning” a discussion in the leadership team meeting.

Your new team

You probably have gained a new leadership team in your promotion and it is most likely larger, more senior and more sophisticated than the one you had before, if you even had a formal leadership team. Also, it is not uncommon that this new team includes one or two individuals who were peers and perhaps friends in the past and maybe even a few who believed they were destined for the chair you now sit in.

A good first step is to formally identify and recognize the team. Along the way it would also be terrific for you to share how you see the team’s role, what you need from them, and how you envision the interaction to look like. I also think that inviting them in to help define some of this is a sign that you are a strong leader that can work with a “team of rivals.”

Relationship building may be even higher on the agenda than defining the team. If there are rivals, do not avoid them. Go to them directly and ask them for their vision of issues and directions. Give them things to do. Paint a picture of collective success and their role in creating it. If the person is not a “rival” but was a peer and now reports to you, go to them with a similar conversation that has questions like: “How can this new relationship work best for you? What concerns might you have as we go forward? What advice would you give me as you know me so well?” Don’t make lots of promises, just collect a lot of information and let them know that you value them, but subtly let them know that there has been a change. Just scheduling the meeting and asking them about these concerns will probably be enough to make the point.

And do not forget to walk around, be accessible, show curiosity and interest in others and what they do. They do not want you to have all of the answers as you start, but they do want to know that you are engaged with them. For more on building your leadership team go to this link.

Your membership on your boss’ leadership team

This one is often missed as you move to a new role and while it does not need as much attention as the items discussed above it will be good to keep it in mind as you quietly acclimate yourself to your new group of peers.

Push to get a clear picture of how your boss sees the role of the leadership team. Ask for clarification on any special contributions or role that she expects from you. There will also be an informal culture on the team that you may know about partially, but you will want to spend some time observing before you make any bold moves. You might be abjectly brilliant on your first day and from that point forward everyone defers to you with grace and support; or the same move may be interrupted as arrogant and ill-informed, and you could be ostracized for an extended period of time. It is quite alright to sit back a bit and figure out the informal game here.

Along the way, get to know your new colleagues by scheduling time outside of the usual team meeting. Come with questions about their area, its relationship to your area, opportunities or concerns that they have, and what they found most challenging moving to the leadership level that you now share. You will learn a lot and they will feel a stronger connection with you.

Finally, make sure you spend some time developing your own ideas about what the work of the leadership team is. This is not your job, but it will prepare you for when the more important strategic questions are asked, and after a little seasoning you will be prepared to answer.

Relationship Up

Several items discussed above will help build the relationship with your boss. But here are a few more items to pay attention to. First develop a good picture of your new boss as team leader and as a leader in the broader company. This will come mostly by observing and listening and asking discrete questions. This assessment grid might help you understand your boss.

Give her a chance to get to know you; but no later than two months after starting in your new role ask for some candid feedback as to things you should work on, or some things you may have missed on your to-do list that come to mind for her. She will likely say “you are doing great, just keep it up” but do not let her off so easily.

Push back a bit and make sure you are really open to the feedback. You should also ask her over those first few months how she likes to communicate: amount, frequency, style, format. Also ask for feedback on what you have been doing in this arena. Next start asking for some limited download on how she sees the bigger picture, and what things you could do to develop a better sense of that.

Problems facing the department

There are likely to be some issues facing the department or some things that you would just like to change. Particularly, if you were promoted up within the department from a more junior role.

Move carefully. Do a few things that are not major, just indicate that there is a new sheriff, but nothing major. Look and listen, talk with others, develop relationship capital and take time to integrate into your new role.

After you have a sense of tactical and strategic agenda, share it with your boss and gain her input and support. Then share with your team, either one-on-one to gain their input, or collectively in a team meeting.

If there is a glaring problem or two that needs attention, address these right away, but make sure everyone sees the same urgency that you do.

Communication

Finally, a new job is a great time to take a look at your communications content and style. You may have done this in the skill assessment, but if not, ask yourself if the focus on your communications is pitched to the right level. A hint here: usually you will still be too much in the weeds for the new job.

Tone is important also. In general, you need to be speaking more in the plural first person. More “we” and very little “I”, unless you are taking responsibility for something that happened. Think less definitive and more inclusive. This is also a good time to recall that as a leader the questions you ask are more important than the answers you give.

In summary, as you take on any new role the most important thing is to make a commitment to a formal process of on-boarding yourself. Perhaps the organization or your new boss will be good at this, but see that as a plus to the effort that you have constructed for yourself. If your new job is a major assignment within the scope of your existing position, you should still onboard yourself adapting and using these suggestions as your guide.