Taking on a leadership role can create a lot of discomfort.
Whether you planned for the leadership role or it was a big surprise, you might start to second guess yourself when you actually get into the day to day work and find that it’s different.
Don’t do this! No doubting yourself!
How can I confidently say this to such a wide audience? If you were given a promotion to leadership, the higher ups are confident that you can do the job. They might not tell you how or support the transition (a pity!), but they know you can do it.
In many, many cases, the bottleneck is mindset.
It’s less often the case that the emerging leader is missing key skills. That’s a good thing – shifting mindset can be faster than the time it takes to master a new skill.
Without a clear roadmap, there’s a gap between where you were and where need to be. In the gap, you can fall into the hole of self doubt and fear or you could take a skip and a jump up to greet the challenge.
Part of the mindset shift can be a realization that it’s ok to be ‘you’ and not take on the leadership style of someone else. They may have even promoted you to complement the existing leadership team. What are your strengths and values that will contribute to engaging your team and meeting company goals?
Read more from Adam Bryant for specific tips for crafting your own leadership style and leaning into the opportunity! You’ve got this!!
Harvard Business Review #careercounseling #lifecoach #executivecoaching #leadershipdevelopment #values #mindset