CHAPTER 1

YOU'VE BEEN PROMOTED,NOW WHAT?

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to workhard at work worth doing.

—Theodore Roosevelt

To successfully move up as a newly appointed leader, you will need to accomplishthe following:

* Establish yourself in your new assignment.

* Achieve an impact on your organization.

* Manage the impact of moving up on your family and personal life.

In this chapter, there is useful information about the following:

* Great opportunities and hazardous duty: the two sides of being promoted

* The newly promoted leader dilemma

* Examples of the challenges that fuel the newly promoted leader dilemma

* Frequently cited issues that derail newly promoted leaders

* How to overcome the newly promoted leader dilemma: the 12 success practicesfor getting "up to speed" more quickly and effectively than ever before

This book is divided into three major parts:

Part I. Moving In: Establishing Yourself in Your New Role

Part II. Achieving an Impact on the Organization

Part III. Managing the Impact of Moving Up on Your Family and Personal Life

Also, each chapter in the book begins with an overview of the chapter.

Just Promoted! Now What? An Introduction to the First 12 Months in Your NewLeadership Role

Some people move into new management and leadership roles with the grace ofBaryshnikov and the coordination of an Olympic Gold Medal skater. Others, most,experience the first year of their leadership role as if they were tap dancingon marbles. There's a lot of energy expended, a lot happening, but very littlethat is certain, stable, or efficient. The transition after being hired orpromoted is a job in itself and must be tended as if your future depends on it.Many roles will require as much as a year or more to lay a solid foundation forlong-term business or organizational results. During this same period you andyour family may also need to regain a work/life integration and balance that youdesire. This is especially true if your new role is a major change or expansionof responsibility requiring great uses of your time and energy, or if it is arelocation, expatriation, or repatriation. Yet the challenges of your newposition demand that you must move quickly from the start to gain momentum andcredibility.

Right from the beginning, including before your hire or promotion is announced,you must manage the events that occur around you during this period very well.Taking the right steps from the beginning and gaining early traction is vitalfor your success. Should you experience serious early missteps, it may behard—and sometimes it is impossible—to recoup time, credibility, andprogress lost.

There are many terms used to describe the first 12 months of leadershiptransition. Some call it the "perils of promotion," and others refer to it as"hazardous duty." Whatever it is called, it is a period of excellent opportunityfor you and the business, organization, school, or team that you lead. It isalso a period fraught with clear and not so clear challenges and dangers.Strikingly, evidence over the past two decades from several sources hassuggested that when an individual is promoted or assumes a new or differentleadership role, there is approximately a 40 to 44 percent likelihood of his orher demonstrating disappointing performance and/or being terminated orvoluntarily leaving the position within 12 to 18 months.

During your first 12 months in a new role, either as a first-time manager or asa tested leader, you will often experience a wide range of thoughts, emotions,and reactions to events as they unfold as well as to what you are discoveringabout your business and organizational challenges. We have asked severalthousand newly promoted leaders what they thought and how they felt shortlyafter they were notified that they had been selected for an important promotionor appointed to their new leadership responsibilities. Those we asked includedfirst-time managers, leaders with relatively short managerial careers, and thosewith deep leadership experience. Most of these individuals expressed excitement,pride, happiness, and a feeling of relief that they had been selected. Quite anumber also expressed their gratitude for having been chosen for the role.Interestingly, many of these very same individuals, and other leaders with whomwe have had similar discussions, also expressed reservation, anxiousness, andsometimes deep concern about their ability to successfully step up after theyhad actually agreed to accept the promotion. It is common for the emotions of aleader to swing between elation and concern and back again during the difficulttransition of assuming a new and challenging leadership role. Some used theadage "Be careful what you wish for" to communicate this self-doubt.

One leader recounted the story of the morning that an official announcement ofhis promotion was circulated by e-mail throughout his company. He immediatelybegan receiving congratulations. He felt great about his new role and therecognition of his previous achievements. That afternoon, he had the first ofthree scheduled debriefs with the incumbent who had announced his retirement.After twenty minutes, one of his legs began to shake as he began to hear andlearn about the role from the person who knew it best. Several minutes later,both legs began to shake in an up and down fashion. The incumbent, recognizingwhat he was seeing, suggested that "we can discuss more on Wednesday" and gentlyended the meeting fifteen minutes early. Reality does have a way of setting inquickly when you realize that you have moved from being a what-if candidate forthe role to which you aspired to that of the actual designee or brand-newincumbent.

This early phase of your leadership transition can be quite sobering andeye-opening. But, in its own way, this period can also help you establish yourpersonal hopes and aspirations for building a truly winning organization. Infact, great excitement and a sense of pride are the dominant...