When Your Title Outgrows Your Leadership Mindset

At one point in my career, I was known for understanding the details.

I knew the workflows. I understood how the systems connected. I built strong relationships across teams, and I was often the person who could see how seemingly unrelated issues, projects, and priorities fit together. I was good at solving problems because I could connect the dots and bring people together around a solution.

Those skills helped me grow as a leader.

But when I was promoted, I learned an important lesson: what got me there was not necessarily what was going to keep me there.

At the next level, I simply did not have the time to stay as close to the work. My calendar looked different. I was in more meetings, interfacing with more people across the organization, and being asked to think more strategically. I could no longer spend the same amount of time doing the hands-on work required to move every initiative forward.

At first, that was uncomfortable. I was used to being the subject matter expert. I was used to being the problem solver. I knew how to jump in, figure something out, and help drive the work to completion.

But my role had changed, and eventually my leadership had to change with it. I had to further evolve my leadership style.   As my scope expanded so did the requirement to lead through my team.

That meant ensuring our leaders understood the vision/strategy, and the “why” behind our work so they could make good decisions without needing me in every conversation. My focus included understanding their strengths, blind spots, how they thought, how they approached problem solving, and what partnership would help them move forward independently.

It also meant giving them room to do the work differently than I would have done it, and that may have been one of the hardest adjustments. As leaders, we can say we want diverse thinking, but then unintentionally create an environment where everyone has to process information, solve problems, and communicate exactly the way we do. I had to learn how to create shared direction without requiring a shared method.  Most importantly, I had to become comfortable stepping back.

If every decision still had to come through me, I had not fully adjusted to the level I had been promoted into. My title may have changed, but my leadership mindset had not.

That is a transition many leaders eventually have to make: moving from being the decision bottleneck to being the direction-setter.

Your value at the next level may no longer come from personally solving the problem. It may come from creating the clarity, context, and confidence your team needs to solve it well.

If you are stepping into greater responsibility, take a look at how you are spending your time:

• Are you still holding onto work because you are good at it?

• Are you involved in decisions your team is capable of making?

• Are you leaving yourself enough space to think strategically, or are you still filling your days with the work that made you successful at the last level?

A simple place to start is to ask yourself three questions:

• What is one thing I can delegate?

• What is one thing I can delay?

• What is one thing I can delete?

Growth often requires adding new skills, but just as often, it requires releasing old ways of working and mindsets. The next level may not need more of what made you successful before. It may need you to lead differently.

Be Well,

The LIPSTICK Coach