Diane Egbers, president of Leadership Excelleration, Inc., (LEI Consulting) (www.lei-consulting.com), warns that “it’s often what leaders don’t know that can harm them.” In The Ascending Leader: Conquer the Seven Enemies of Success—A Strategic Guide for the Newly Promoted, Egbers and coauthor Karen Schenck outline seven common failures of newly promoted leaders, as well as strategies and tools to help leaders overcome obstacles to their success.
For the first five enemies, click here. Train your leaders to beware of these last two potential enemies:p>
- Alienating Your Team. “Leaders in a new role risk coming off as a micro-manager or dictator, and can alienate the people on their team before they even get started on their goals,” Egbers and Schenck explain. Instead, Egbers says, leaders need to connect with, inspire, and “engage” their teams.
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- Sub-optimize Your Vision and Business Plan. Leaders should strive to “inspire” by creating a vision and a “focused” business plan, Egbers says. Often, leaders don’t feel empowered to set a vision of their own to lead their teams.
Not every organization has the resources to offer assimilation support, but Egbers says it is helpful to do so at every level of management. “Allow a leader to take the time to learn about an organization before they are expected to fully perform. When leaders jump in and try to lead [without first learning about the organization or department], they are at significant risk for failure.”
Although it is OK to expect them to tackle the day-to-day responsibilities of the job, give them time to learn about the organization or their department before expecting them to make strategic decisions and create a vision to lead the business forward, she recommends. This process “is setting a person up to succeed versus hoping they don’t fail.”
HR can facilitate the assimilation process by meeting with the new leader and his or her manager and helping the leader “conquer” the seven enemies—for example, by making sure the new leader’s questions about the organization are answered and by talking to the new leader when he or she seems to be faltering, Egbers says. “There is a tremendous opportunity to be a strategic HR partner from the inception of a leader’s role and to create credibility early on. Leaders never forget who helps them when they need it most.”
In cases where a new leader is already struggling in his or her new role, Egbers recommends that HR review the seven enemies of success and try to determine why the leader is not thriving. “It’s seldom too late. Leaders can often get a fresh start with transparency and honesty. It is really important to help the leader with new awareness and support to get a fresh start.”
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