Over my head, Out of my head

A very common coaching scenario goes like this:

“HELP ME!! I’ve been promoted to a bigger job. There are problems galore and I have no idea where to start.”

My first bit of coaching is to say, “time for a deep breath” and “let’s get a coffee and talk this through”.

A larger role should generate some angst. If it doesn’t, either you’re not paying attention or the new gig is an insufficient stretch.

Consider breaking up your challenges into groups of issues:

1. Do I understand the needs of my customers?

2. Do I have the right people doing the right things?

3. How well do my systems and processes perform?

4. Do I understand what success looks like? etc, etc.

Wrestling these topics will keep you busy for a while and understanding the answer to them is super important.

But sometimes what new leaders forget to do is to concurrently focus on themselves by asking what leadership skills and competencies do I need to develop in order to succeed? Where are my gaps, my blindspots?

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) publishes a very useful overview of Essential Leadership Competencies which they break into 3 broad categories: Leading the Organization, Leading the Self and Leading Others.

For the Self, among the competencies they identify:

• ethics and integrity

• drive and purpose

• capacity to learn

• self-awareness

• adaptability

This list is great, but often clients struggle to see themselves clearly enough to know where to place the effort in development of these competencies. What to do?

Encouragements I give clients include:

Phone a friend: ask those around you, especially trusted colleagues, mentors, etc., where they see your strengths and weaknesses on these dimensions (along with examples of relevant behavior if they have them)

Ask your Manager: your boss should have ideas about where you can better manage yourself and also grow in the other Leadership Competencies

Ask your Team: They will have views. Demonstrate humility and commitment to growth by asking them to help you develop. An effective tool after you’ve been in a role for a few months is a “new manager assimilation” where the team comes together to offer facilitated, structured feedback on what you might do to be a more effective leader

Get some data: there are great personality assessment tools to help you understand your own motivations and blind spots. I’m personally fond of the Hogan Assessment and Hogan 360. Assessments are invaluable in identifying the places where a Leader needs to be self-aware.

Taking on a Leadership role will help you grow personally and professionally. But it's not easy. My encouragement to clients is to engage a broad set of resources to work out where to focus time and energy to increase your skills and competencies. By doing so, you benefit yourself of course, but also those led by you!

That’s all for now. If you would like to discuss how to increase your skills and competencies as a Leader, or if you’d like help executing an Assessment or New Manager Assimilation I’d love the chance to speak with you about what I can offer with either a Consulting or a Coaching engagement. Please feel free to schedule a Discovery Session with me by clicking on the blue button below.

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Be well everybody.