Does a Manager change mean a career reset?

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on “The Promotion Process - Demystified” and provided some guiding principles to use when it comes to a job specific promotion. I got an interesting question on how to effectively transfer promotion material from one manager to the next. I think a lot of us can relate to this question because manager change is not uncommon. The bigger the organization the more frequent these changes are. This feedback gave me the motivation to do a follow-up to the previous post and address a larger question.

Does a Manager change mean a career reset?

My short-answer is it is not. And it’s only so if you are in 100% control of your career and destiny. Irrespective of how frequently a manager change happens the one thing you can do is to stay in control and not let your foot off the gas pedal. When a manager does change the one thing that does take is to build credibility and trust with the new leader. This is not a problem but more an opportunity. You may be wondering, sure that sounds really philosophical but can you explain it with some practicality?

In the previous post I explain why it’s critical for the employee to own their story and narrative. Now let’s unwrap this topic a bit. In order for you to own your story and narrative you need to do a stellar job owning your artifacts. An artifact is any work of yours that has considerable business value and has delivered on a specific outcome or a set of outcomes.

How do you do all of this?

I am going to take myself as an example and provide some practical tips on what I exactly mean when I say I own my career and I control my destiny.

1. Write a 1x1 doc - I take pride in writing my 1x1 doc. I got into this practice in the past few years and the act of spending 15-20 mins to look back over the past 2 weeks, writing down key wins and having a set of topics for discussion shows I am in control of the agenda. My open discussion topic can be topics my manager wants to discuss with me and/or topics I want to discuss with my manager including what keeps me up. I strongly believe that keeping my 1x1 conversation structured and focused is the foundation to my success.
2. Keep a placeholder for your artifacts - As humans the one thing we all do very well is that we forget. I call this selective amnesia and I forget what I did 2 weeks ago. So the act of writing things down makes me better. When I document an artifact, I tell myself that it does not need to be a 6-pager. I keep it simple and focus on what the artifact is, what I did, what leadership blueprint competencies I excelled at, what technical skills I exercised and relevant links to documents/code snippets, peer accolades etc.
3. Work with my manager to understand how I am performing - My performance conversation should be happening frequently and with a structured 1x1 I am off to a great start already. The mid-year and year-end rating will complement all of this further and should be a reflective index of my overall performance.
4. Write the promo story reflecting back on what I captured in 1 and 2 - Sounds simple right? It indeed is. With adequate data at hand, I work with my manager to understand what the promo doc needs to look like. A good manager will clearly outline what they would like to see in the final document and guide you with a structured high-level outline. My job is to fill in the outline with talking points. I don’t need to fumble, dig up artifacts, or get flustered because I got it under control and have it organized.

If my manager changes at any point during this process then I first acknowledge it. It's painful to feel that setback but I don't let that take control of me. With the 4-tips I have mentioned above, my setback mindset will instantly reset knowing I have a great starting point to continue on the conversation with my new manager. I will set up time with them to review your artifacts and overall performance which also will naturally help me earn trust with them. I will ensure that I don’t start the conversation with a negative tone but keep it positive and show them that you would need their support to help up-level your career.

I hope you found this read useful and helps you think smarter on how to manage such a conversation with your current or new manager!