100% Jodi: Two Reasons You Got Tripped Up After You Started Your New Role
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Have you ever found yourself, after you’ve been promoted, wondering how the heck you’re going to get through the day?
In this episode we’re covering the common reasons why you might have gotten tripped up after you were promoted. And if you have a promotion on the horizon, what you might want to prepare yourself for.
At the end of May 2021, I announced I was taking time to process all the changes that had been taking place last year. Well, it turned out there was not only a lot to process, there was a lot to do and as of the day I am recoding this it is now February of 2022.
I joined a business development program in the summer, had a slew of speaking engagements in the fall, and The Maine Women’s Conference 2021 was in early November. By the time I was coming up for air, the holidays had hit and it was time to plan 2022.
I am done deep processing for now and I am ready to jump back in and share with you the insights I’ve gained, and the changes I’ve made.
This leads me to why I asked the opening question of this episode. It was, “have you ever found yourself, after you’ve been promoted, wondering how you the heck you’re going to get through the day?”
Coaching from an Expert
Last year I had a conversation with a genius friend of mine, Christie Mims, about my business. Christie has two coaching businesses and has been earning 7-figures from her businesses for several years now. In her business and podcast, Coach Pony, she trains and guides life coaches to get their first ten clients and then build their businesses up to 6-figures. For context, Life Coaching is considered to be the most difficult area of coaching to make money in and Christie and her coaches have had a lot of success despite the bad press. Because of this I value her perspective when it comes to the business of coaching.
Christie and I were chatting about the lack of traction I was getting with my marketing efforts and she kindly pointed out to me something I knew but didn’t want confront. I was trying to talk to women working in two different arenas at the same time. In my emails, on my podcast, and on my website, it wasn’t clear who I was trying to reach.
I love working with women who are small business owners and have a smallish team helping them achieve their goals and have plans to continue to grow their business. I also love working with women who are leaders within organizations, who have achieved mid to senior level leadership and have the potential to take on greater responsibility in the organization.
These two women have the same personality (overachiever with a touch of people pleasing and a desire to have a greater impact) but their work dynamic is slightly different and they use different language to talk about their work. Trying to talk to both of these women at the same time was causing me to water down my message and I was being vague.
Choice Point
Christie spoke out loud a thought that had already been kicking around in my head. She told me directly, pick one.
I felt angst.
The whole reason I had been avoiding this thought in my head was because I hadn’t wanted to pick one but I knew she was right. And I knew who needed my support the most.
After 2020 I started to get more inquiries from women who were working within organizations who were wanting some support for one reason or another. Most of them had been given a promotion either right before or soon after the pandemic started and they were still trying to adjust to all the changes. Several women said something to the effect of, “I haven’t been able to get my feet under me” since getting promoted or since the pandemic started.
I made the decision to focus on women leaders within organizations. This meant making some changes in my business. I became a certified woman-owned business through WEBNC, I updated and created marketing materials, and I created the Leadership Operating System Quiz to help women within organizations identify areas of opportunity in how they were operating as a leader.
It has been a little scary making this pivot but I am all in. It was very similar to taking on a new role at work. There are several changes but it’s exciting and rewarding as well.
The Two Reasons
If you are between promotions, it is my goal to have this podcast be a resource for you.
It’s also my goal, if you need more than a resource, to let you know how you can work with me and how to have your professional development covered by your employer. I’ll have an episode coming out soon about this and will also have resources on my website as well.
Now let’s dive into two common reasons you might get tripped up after a promotion. These reasons are around your…
- Identity
- How you think you contribute value
What I find with my clients is that even though there may be some technical aspects of the role they’ve been given that they need to train up on, these are not usually the areas that cause them to feel unsteady. Or, they are getting tripped up on the technical responsibilities of their new position because of the growth that is required around identity and how they bring value.
Let’s dive a little more deeply into Identity and Value Contribution.
Identity
According to Psychology Today, “Identity encompasses the memories, experiences, relationships, and values that create one’s sense of self. This [combination] creates a steady sense of who one is over time, even as new facets are developed and incorporated into one’s identity.”
Your identity answers the question, who am I? Or more pointedly, who am I in relation to what’s going on around me?
Now, your identity will trip you up in your new role if your identity has not grown with you. Ideally, your identity will have grown to encompass your new role before you took it on.
I had a previous boss tell me that she and the other leaders deciding on promotions knew I was ready for my last promotion because it became apparent that I started thinking more globally in the organization. The questions I asked and the comments I made in meeting let them know I was ready.
However, you and I both know it doesn’t always work out like that. Sometimes we’re give a promotion or new responsibilities because we’re the closest to being ready amongst our peers.
If your identity has not grown to encompass your new role, the question your identity will be prompting is, “Who am I to be here? Or, “who am I to be in this role.”
If identity is what’s tripping you up, you will find yourself thinking things like:
I don’t belong here.
I can’t keep up.
Why did they pick me?
They’re going to find out soon that they picked the wrong person.
The disconnect between your self-concept and the role you have will exhaust you. You might find that you are starting to sweat as you get ready for your work day. You may even experience dread.
Value
Now, you may not have any issues with identity in your new role. You see yourself as the person for this role. You knew you were meant to be here and you have arrived.
However, you either can’t quite seem to get away from the work you used to be doing or you still have a strong desire to be doing (and I’m putting this in quotes) “the work” in order to feel productive.
What is tripping you up here is your sense of value. Namely, how you contribute value in your new role. This is a mindset issue around value and worthiness. It’s also an interesting devaluation of the contribution of good leadership, or your particular brand of leadership.
And, if this is you, you are not alone. Many of my clients get tripped up here.
It can be difficult to transition away from work you are good at and comfortable with. To then have things that make you a little uncomfortable like running meetings, giving performance reviews, or board presentations.
It can also be difficult to go from having a hand in the day-to-day work and making an immediate visible impact, to being the person who guides and counsels the individuals doing the day-to-day work.
Or going from the person who guides and counsels the individuals doing the day-to-day work to the person who guides and counsels leaders.
You are now impacting more people, and through them more work overall, but your perception of the situation may prevent you from realizing your guidance and counseling is having a bigger impact than the day-to-day work.
The Inner Work
Each role change requires a new mindset shift around your identity and how you contribute to the organization as a whole.
If you are struggling after your last promotion, this is where you want to focus, and if you are aspiring to your next promotion, this is where you want to prepare yourself.
- Do you see yourself in your next role and do you feel excited about the idea?
- Are you ready to let go of some of your current responsibilities, so you can focus on the work that will have greater impact?
Wow, this has been fun. It’s good to be back and be with you again. I’ve got some good stuff planned in the months to come.
I would love to hear from you!
As always, I hope this was of value to you and here’s to your success!
Resources
Leadership Coaching. Find out more about my coaching process, the cost of coaching, or how to ask your employer to pay for you to work with a coach.
Register for the How to Get Mentally Fit webinar: Learn the 3 core muscles to build to gain mental fitness.
Saboteur Assessment: Find out which Saboteurs are impacting your performance, wellness and relationships, and how they do it.
Apply to be on an “On-Air Coaching” episode. Are you a female leader who has been promoted in the last year? Apply to be on the podcast.
Leadership Operating System Inventory. Wondering what kind of Leadership traits you have? Take this FREE, FAST self-assessment and find out more about yourself as a Leader.
Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing. The book containing a simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.
The Women Taking the Lead Podcast
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