When I realized I was no longer part of the Team: Being Promoted as a New Leader

When I realized that I was no longer part of the Team: Being Promoted as a New Leader

My career in management began after spending several years a technician for leading Multimedia and technical company. After I was promoted to manager, I realized that I was no longer part of the “team” and that I existed outside the circle to which I used to belong. The “team” which I am referring to is the circle of co-workers and friends with whom I used to work with closely, on a daily basis, as a non-manager. I could not believe, after I was promoted, how I was treated. Now, as the Leader, when I approached my team/co-workers, who, were conversing in their huddle, they would immediately cease their conversation. And, something which I felt which was much worse, I came to the realization that I was no longer privy to the “water cooler” gossip.

The "cold shoulder" angered me to no avail, how dare they treat me as if I never worked in the “trenches” with them. And, how dare they treat me as if I didn’t know what they went through on a daily basis? Internally, I was saying to myself, “hey guys, it's sill me, but in a different role.

After I overcame the initial shock of how I was now treated as a new leader, I came to the conclusion that I had two distinct choices to make. The first would be to continue trying to get back inside the circle. Or, two, “cut my loses” and move on. And for the record, I did try to get back inside the circle; but my 30-day review was my rude awakening which told me that I was spending too much time trying to get back with my team, and not enough time learning to become an effective leader. After all, that was reason why I was promoted. After digesting the constructive comments on my 30 day review, I moved on and began to focus my energies on conducting due diligence to reacquaint myself with the company’s mission and goals. In understanding the company’s mission and goals, it would help me to gauge my teams’ current success, and, additionally, it would give me some clues as to whether or not my team was meeting the company’s objectives. Next, after formulating my own conclusions on the success of my team, I spent time with my manager, picking his brain and reviewing reports, to gain a clearer understanding as to whether or not we were on target with meeting and or exceeding the company’s goals; also, I reviewed my team’s productivity charts. And then finally, I spent a good deal of time with other managing colleagues to evaluate how they were meeting their goals, and what systems they had in place that worked well for their teams. But equally importantly, if they were not meeting their goals, what types of solutions did my colleagues employ with their teams; overall, I knew that the solutions that I would use, had to be customized for my own particular team. This entire process mentioned above, was key to me getting on the right path to begin my career as an effective manager.

This article is just a brief synopsis of how I started my career as a new leader. Further, this article indicates the stepping stones which catapult me to defining my career as an effective leader and being accountable. It would suffice to say that we all do not proceed down the same path to becoming effective leaders. However, as you can see, my own successful journey began once I understood that I was promoted to be an effective leader for the company, and not everyones' friend. I truly hope that this article helps many new leaders who may be struggling with which direction to which to proceed.
Stay tuned for more articles, “When I realized that I was not Part of the Team” series: Understanding and Obtaining your Management/Leadership Profile, Identifying the Personality Profiles of your Team-members and how to Lead them, From Effective Manager to Leader, Being a Female Manager in a Technical Industry.

Kim Taylor-Wilson, M.S. Corporate Communications, Principal The Premiere Consulting Group info@thepremiereconsultinggroup.com www.thepremiereconsultinggroup.com

Article Source: http://www.leadershiparticles.net

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