I went looking for helpful posts for leaders who have recently–or are about to–move into a new role in the business they currently work in, where they are moving from within a department to leading a department. I couldn’t find one I loved.
The top three things that I typically see leaders need to change drastically when they take over an organization:
Strategy identification and alignment with NEW peer group You’re now thinking in terms of the whole business instead of just your department. This means collaborating closely with your NEW peer group to understand where the whole business needs to go. You are typically creating and articulating strategy moreso than in the past, and for a different “whole” now. Something leaders can miss in this first item–but critical for value flow and high performance–is that your loyalty is now to your NEW peer group. NOT to your OLD peer-group, people who now report to you. This can be an extremely difficult change for some leaders. Upskill tip: I suggest reading one or both of these books by Patrick Lencioni: The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team and The Advantage.
Clear prioritization and focus It’s now your job to set clear priorities and focus for the whole department. Prioritization skills and strategic thinking become even more critical than previously. The focus and prioritization of the department you lead is then based on 1) the bigger “whole” strategies you helped develop with your new peer group and then 2) the most critical work of your department in support of those strategies. Upskill tip: I suggest taking a short course on product management prioritization techniques. I would estimate that about half the executives and senior leaders I’ve had in my extended leadership workshops struggle putting both prioritization and focus skills into regular practice.
Culture SETTING You are now the PRIMARY HUMAN in charge of setting the culture of your department. “Culture” may feel like something big and out of your span of control, but it’s not: As a leader, the processes you create, the accountability you model, the results you reward—what you expect, and what you tolerate—shape what people around you experience and describe as “culture.” You are shaping, creating, reinforcing culture every single day, with every behavior, every word, every meeting. It’s time for modeling, doing, changing, updating. Upskill tip: Describe the culture you want to create on a short “postcard from the future,” a postcard from you to yourself from a year in the future when you’ve made some important changes. Choose one TINY behavior change that might move you an inch towards that future. Make it a behavior change you can model, or one that you can ask the people who work for you to embrace. Then, make the change. A bias for action and practice will serve you well in creating the culture you seek.
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