4 Naïve Assumptions Of New Leaders
I couldn’t wait to be promoted. I knew all the things I wanted to accomplish. I was also looking forward to the perks of leadership. In the Army we used to say, “Rank Has It’s Privileges (RHIP).”
But, years later, I realized that these sentiments were naive. They seem real to someone who has not held a position of leadership. But, once I earned that promotion, I learned that my assumptions were far from reality.
4 Naïve Assumptions and Their Realities
Assumption #1: When I am in charge, I will have more autonomy. My boss won’t be telling me how or when to do things.
Reality: Maintaining control of your time as a leader is difficult. You now have three groups of people who influence your time.
- You do not control the timing of the phone calls from those you lead.
- You do not control the timing of meetings or calls of leadership peers.
- You do not control the timing of meetings or calls of your superiors.
Assumption #2: It is going to be great when upper management sees the things I do well and all that I can accomplish.
Reality: The things I received kudos for in the past are minimum expectations at the next level. The people above me do not have time to praise leaders who are just meeting the minimum expectations.
Not to mention, as I move up in an organization praise is limited. It is a numbers game. There are fewer people above me to praise me.
Assumption #3: I will be responsive to my people. If they call, I will always be there for them.
Reality: If you wait for them to call you, most people won’t. As a leader, I must be proactive. I must not wait to respond in a reactive manner. Trust me, there will always be the squeaky wheels to react to. But, those are not the ones to be concerned with.
Be concerned about the quiet ones. They are either content or apathetic. The apathetic ones scare me. The only way to make the diagnosis between contentment and apathy is to be proactive in your communication with them.
My people need to see that I am offering my hand to assist, not just waiting in my office for a call to respond to. Leadership is proactive. Management is reactive.
Assumption #4: First thing I am going to do is to get rid of the dead weight in this department. My decisions are going to be logical and easy to defend.
Reality: If I fire someone, the person leaving can say anything they want about my decision or me as they leave. But I must stay quiet. There are legal and moral standards involved. I’ll leave the legal issues to the lawyers.
But morally, the coaching and the reason for firing that person remain between that employee and me. If that person chooses to expose the reasons for the firing to her peers, that is her right. However, it is not my right to defend myself no matter how much mud is thrown my way. I must take the high road.
Important point: Have you ever heard a fired employee state: “Yeah, I deserved it?” They will complain. They will blame. As a leader, I need to keep that person’s situation as private as possible, out of respect for them. Trust me. As my neighbor in the FBI says, “The guilty can’t help talking.”
The Bottom Line:
When you go up in rank, you relinquish your personal rights for the good of those you lead. The perks I assumed were given were actually earned.
As a leader, I spend less time thinking about myself, taking care of my own needs, and expecting recognition for my efforts. I must be selfless.
As my dad, General Jim Anderson says: “Being selfless doesn’t mean I think less of myself. It means I think of myself less.”
Question:
What assumption about leadership was proven false when you first became a leader?
Nice post Dave. When placed in a leadership position I too thought there was autonomy but I found little.
As far as the lack of praise – I got a dog who thinks everything I do is great.
I remember someone said “The sales rep is the best position in the company.” I never knew what they meant until I became a middle manager. Being a manager is having all of the responsibility and all the exposure.
Having said that I loved 8 of my 10 years in management. Loved them! When I was handed a new team every 6 months the joy of building, rebuilding, and rebuilding faded. The ability to form strong relationships with my team disappeared because both parties knew this new gig was temporary. Though that is unique to a company that is slowly dying.
Though it wouldn’t have mattered if I knew all of this beforehand, I still thought the goal was being promoted and leading.
Absolutely. I was so at home in that role for a long time. I used to ask people “why?” when they told me they wanted to move into management. I’d explain that if they thrived on and needed constant positive reinforcement, that they needed to stay in sales.
As leaders, our reward comes from seeing those we lead excel. And when they do excel, they SOMETIMES say thank you. That never bothered me. But for those it bothers, leading may not be the right place for them.
While I Have definitely experienced this in the business world and can testify to the accuracy of your post, a great deal of it also applies to ministry in the local church. This is especially true of Assumption #3. I really believe the old adage about communication is true: When you feel like you are beginning to over-communicate, the message is just beginning to be communicated. One of the most important things we can do is to have a communicative relationship (focus on relationship) with those we lead, especially the next level of leaders. This serves to provide leadership and communication to them, and to model how they should lead and communicate with others. Good post!
John,
Yes. The important lesson on communication for leaders is the leader must take the initiative on the communication and not sit back and wait to be communicated with!
Just because it is quiet does not mean things are well.
Thanks for checking out the site.
Dave
Leadership is not a passive activity. When most people think of a boss’ “open door policy” they think that if the door is open, they can wander in and talk to the boss. If you’re in charge and the door is open, get out of your office and go see what the people who work for you are doing! You may be surprised. Most of the time, folks will be more than happy to tell you about what they do. Not in some kind of “the boss is touring the area, so I’ll brief him” mode, but “Hey! Maybe the boss actual cares what I do” thought process. Care about what you do. Understand how what you do affects others, subordinates and superiors alike. Take care of your people and they’ll take care of you. That doesn’t mean be easy on them; the better they do their jobs, the better you can do yours. Don’t manage….lead.
Well said Dan. My dad always says, “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” One of the best ways to show you care is to go to where they are and spend time on their turf.
I appreciate you checking out the site and sharing it with others.
Dave