Harvard Business Publishing

From the mailbag: "I've been promoted, what are the biggest mistakes I need to avoid?"

You are right to focus on avoiding early mistakes. Promotions are periods of great vulnerability because you lack detailed knowledge of what it will take to be successful in your new role. If you don't build momentum during your first few months, you will face an uphill battle for the rest of your time on the job.

The most common mistake I see newly-promoted leaders make is sticking with what they know how to do. "They put me in this job because I'm good at doing X," the logic goes, "so I will be successful by doing more X." Maybe. But maybe you were selected because people thought you had the potential to take your game to a new level.

It's all-too-easy to fall into the comfort zone trap. To paraphrase Mark Twain, "to a person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." If you've been a manager for a while, you've probably developed a pretty big hammer. Perhaps you're particularly good at the details or at driving operational excellence. Perhaps it's your financial skills or your directive supervisory style that have got you to this point.

That's great, but what if these very strengths turn out to be vulnerabilities in higher level jobs? Armed with a hammer, the risk is that you see a world filled with nails and start pounding away. So you fail to understand what it really will take - in terms of role behaviors and competencies - to be successful at the new level. Too much focus on the details or an inability to delegate effectively, for example, can prove to be crippling as you move to more senior management positions.

What do you do if it turns out you need a saw or a drill to be successful instead of a hammer? First, you discipline yourself to do things that don't come naturally; you get yourself back on the learning curve, even if it feels really uncomfortable. Second, you build a team of people who complement your strengths and help compensate for your weaknesses. Third, you develop a network of advisors who can help you understand what it will take to be successful and who help you to maintain perspective as you go through this difficult adjustment.

Other common mistakes newly promoted managers make include:

• Getting captured by the wrong people, so stay neutral in organizational politics until you get the lay of the land, and remember that perceptions of who is influencing you are as important as realities
  
• Sticking with the existing team too long, so don't fool yourself into believing that your leadership will be enough to turn around people with histories of under-performance
  
• Running off in all directions, so be sure to define the vital few priorities you are going to pursue
  
• Failing to build momentum, so identify a few areas in which you will get some early wins and build your personal credibility
  

HARVARD BUSINESS ONLINE RECOMMENDS:
Shaping the Game: The New Leader's Guide to Effective Negotiating (Hardcover)
The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels (Hardcover)
The Five Messages Leaders Must Manage (Harvard Business Review Article)
Leading in Times of Change (Harvard Management Update Article)