Leading Peers: What Does This Change Mean for Me?
Do you remember the first time you “stepped up” as a leader?
Not the high-school moment where you stopped other kids from bullying
the new guy/girl.
And not the sports-captain moment of on-field motivation.
I’m meaning the first time - in a job - where you were called into your manager’s office, to be told you were being promoted. Do you remember that moment?
The sort of nervous excitement you suddenly feel.
The proud acceptance of your hard work being acknowledged.
The subtle smile playing across your lips as you accept the new role.
The sort of “Oh s&%t!!” moment you experience as the weight of responsibility sinks in.
Do you remember those moments?
Then comes the part where we tell our friends and coworkers that we’ve been promoted.
That we’re now “The Boss.”
How many of us, if we’re really honest, were ever really equipped to lead our peers?
Most often, we’re promoted because we’re good at what we do. We produce x-number of widgets/outcomes/KPI’s faster, better, or more efficiently than our peers. The What of what we do stands out. So we’re promoted.
Upon promotion, a subtle shift begins to take place. No longer is What we do the key measure of our success. Our role shifts from our own output to achieving outputs through others. How they do What they do becomes our key priority.
In the midst of all this change - the excitement of the new role, the uncertain weight of responsibility, all of it - there is a core question we must continue to ask.
More importantly, it’s a question our peers are asking as begin to transition into leading our peers.
“What does this change mean for me?”
Asking “What does this change mean for me?” opens up the potential for clarifying conversations.
When we ask: “What does this change mean for me?” (On a personal level):
It means my team might begin to develop new inside jokes I’m not a part of
It means I might need to find new ‘supporters’ to process challenging work situations with (someone on the same level of responsibility as me)
It means fully owning the responsibility for the new role and for gaining clarity on outcomes
It means working hard to support your old peers in being successful
When your team asks: “What does this change mean for me?” (For themselves):
It means supporting a new manager in being successful
It means navigating the uncertainty of role-shifts, the to-be-expected expectation muddle-ups, and newness of our former-peers own leadership journey
It means pressing into clarifying communication, not assuming the newly-promoted know all that’s going on, just because they were recently in a peer-role
This is a question we need to ask continuously as we step into leading peers.
For like 6 months.
Ask it regarding the big picture, and also ask it when you drill down into the details of operations and people-dynamics. Recognise that the first answer to this question, may not be the final answer - keep asking.
It’s also wise to expressly acknowledge this question with your team.
Make a point of telling them “Hey, here’s a question, whether we know it or not, we’re all asking: ‘What does this change mean for me?’” Then talk through the implications of the question - explore the answers and how it’s affecting your team.
As we transition into leading our peers - making that first step up in our leadership journey - it is imperative we continuously ask (and answer) “What does this change mean for me?”