Insights: It gets lonelier the higher you go

Who's in your corner?

It gets lonelier the higher you go.

In many senior roles, there is a sense that

• Few people really understand you and your role
• Others think they can do your job better (and you fear they may be right)
• There are competitive pressures within leadership groups for roles and status
• People become more guarded, self-censoring around you, mindful of the leader’s authority and impact.

Working at this level can feel like this isolation and responsibility is just part of the deal.?

It doesn’t need to be, and this isolation can make it such a slog at times.

Leaders find themselves working at their own stuff, making reactive decisions, working from narrow perspectives and with limited integration with each other.??

Creativity becomes stifled in self-censorship, people unwilling to share their untested ideas or perspectives for fear they will be judged, or worse, ignored completely.

The result is fewer ideas, slower problem-solving, project delays and rework.

Exactly the opposite of what you are capable of and what the business needs: a strategic thinker, creative problem solver, open, at ease and collaborative.

We all need a safe harbour - to provide the space and the feedback to say thoughts out loud without risk.

Options:

1. Find space for yourself

• a colleague you trust or a mentor from another area or industry [being careful to manage commercial confidentiality]
• Find out what help looks like in this exec space from a professional (i.e. me or an equivalent - not that there are any ??)

2. Build an Integrated Leadership Team culture where collaboration, ideas, challenges, innovations and problem-solving are shared.

Operating below their level?

Rising talent can often get ‘stuck’ doing half a job lower than their leadership role requires.

Finding themselves caught up in details and either ‘solving technical problems’ that their reports ought to solve, or they micro-manage and get in the way.??

This means they end up working harder than they need to.

There are many drivers for this, but one of the most pervasive causes of this apparent self-defeating overwork behaviour is, ironically, an attempt at self-protection.

The brain has a number of core drivers or markers for ‘safety’. Two of which are

1. a sense of?navigation confidence,?and
2. an?energy/motivation trade-off.

Consider these two drivers in the context of stepping up into a new role that has a DIFFERENT skill set from the previous one [note, promotion assumes they have shown high performance in the role from which they were promoted].

Navigation confidence:?Do I know what to do and how to solve a problem?

• New Role 50%: Many things are new, and whilst I can learn and work them out, I have a lot to learn and need to think more as I orient myself to the new challenges.
• Previous Role 85%: I know how to solve almost every problem that arises, and although I work hard, I am comfortable with it.

Energy / Motivation trade-off:?avoid pain, reduce risk, seek wins, save energy.

It feels easier, more productive, and I feel like I’m getting a few more ‘wins’ when I drop back into my previous technical space. Although not strictly my role - it is sometimes easier just to do it.??

Repeating the habit [i.e. previous role] is easier than learning a new one, and when I’m ‘tired, busy, stressed’ it is a comfort zone that is easy to slip back into.

The result: the talented people operating at half a role lower than they ought to.??

Causing both a lack of focus or traction AND a sense of overwhelm and burnout.?Running faster on the hamster wheel.

Get in touch if you'd like to chat.

Cheers,

Nigel

www.nigeldonovan.com