Why First Time Leaders Typically Fail

Individual performers win by accomplishing work independently. They give extra effort. They manage their own priorities. They know how to "turn it on" when the moment calls for them to do so. They can rely upon their own abilities.

Leaders ONLY win by accomplishing work through other people. Most first-time leaders who are otherwise smart, capable and previously successful in their individual roles will fail because they cannot make the transition from being the star athlete to being the coach. When we promote people into leadership positions solely because of factors like tenure, experience, success in their current role, loyalty, and other individualistic attributes we are directly contributing to their impending leadership struggles.

Key Insight: New leaders don't fail because of their subject matter expertise. They fail because of people management expertise.

I think that one of the most confusing and misused leadership axioms - said without proper context and insight - is that good leaders lead by example. The image of the "servant leader" as rolling up their sleeves, doing the sales calls, walking the floor, making the schedule, and other "work of the front line" is noble. There are certainly times this is true and called upon of every leader, but the truth is I wouldn't want a surgeon to be calling the insurance company, changing out the toner in the printer and finding coverage for the nurse who called out - at least not all the time. I want that surgeon to be focused on orchestrating a successful surgical team.

Routinely doing the work that other people are responsible for isn't good leadership. It is misplaced focus.

Well-meaning leadership mantras aside, when we only tell new leaders that the way to succeed in leadership is to do more - give more - work more - we constrict their view of leadership as expending effort and energy. In other words, people-managers measure how well they're doing based on how tired they feel. "I feel too rested. This probably means I'm not doing enough. I need to log in more hours." (Sure, no one says that out loud, but I guarantee that this is the silent operating system running in most burned out people's heads.)

In an ironic twist of fate, these novice leaders try to exemplify leadership by doing tasks that others are responsible for. They pick up the slack. Then, they tell others to find "work-life balance" while their own lives are teetering on a razor called exhaustion. There is a better way.

A Better Way of Promoting Leaders

If we see the wonderful attributes in a person like hard-working, resourceful, loyal, likeable or any other number of admirable personal traits in an individual performer, we have to go beyond thinking of their promotion as a reward for their hard work or an event on a timeline. We must pour coaching into that person to prepare them for the leadership transition.

We orient new employees on how to clock in and out, how to sign up for benefits, and where the bathrooms are in the building. Why do we not orient new leaders on how to interview, how to manage conflict, and how to see financial management as a core foundation of business understanding (and not just automated systems someone else with "big picture thinking" is responsible for knowing).

If you want to lead by example, then exemplify:

1. Providing a consistent coaching framework. Don't just wing coaching with them. Have a structured and specific plan for their development into leadership skills. Far too many people in newly promoted leadership roles report that they rarely or never get structured coaching from their supervisor. Impromptu leadership coaching is like if your doctor never scheduled an appointment with you but rather said, "whenever I bump into you in public I'll give you some health coaching. No news is good news!"
2. Assessing skill set and carving out routine time, exercises, and opportunities to learn and practice. Anyone still just doing a once-a-year performance review and calling it "coaching" is not only behind in the leadership game, they're not even in the right arena. If people cannot accurate convey their own strengths and weaknesses, it is because they don't have good coaching. Most people can tell you their attributes (i.e. reliable, trustworthy, can't say "no", or hard on themselves). But those same people cannot give a clear appraisal of their skills (i.e. project management, empathy, team formation, strategy execution, etc.).
3. Prioritizing Learning. When leaders think of coaching as something to do "if there's time" - surprise! - that time is never found. Ironically, this skill [priority management] is a clear example of the blind leading the blind in many organizations. Top leaders expect their middle leaders to do the things that they do not do themselves (teach & learn). They say, "our company really needs to focus on giving our frontline leaders the skills to do their jobs. We need to coach better. Okay, report back to me when that's happened."

Move from an attribute-based promotion culture to a mindset of leadership apprenticeship. Normalize talking about skills development. Celebrate and share learning experiences. Reformat your tuition reimbursement from being boxed into thinking about college and thinking about it as any learning experience that improves their ability to lead (ex: conference, webinar/speaker, leadership books or even PTO for self-improvement days).

Bring in a Business or Leadership Coach

This is a tough, tough, tough transition to make for most organizations. It is easier to promote people based on tenure or individual success, because it doesn't require any effort beyond "giving a deserving person an opportunity." It's not the opportunity that's the problem. It's that the opportunity is mountain climbing without any gear.

Leaders who themselves have had to grind it out and learn management on the job project their own journey onto other people. "I figured it out. They will too."

But it is THOSE leaders - absent the coaching perspective or expertise - who must override their own deficiencies to BREAK THE CYCLE OF POOR LEADERSHIP PROMOTION. Talk about courage, right? In all seriousness, this is noble. It is what every parent experiences when they send a kid off to camp, or college, or the military, or whatever place of growth exists beyond the realm of safety that is their family home.

In organizational context, the "safety" default is to not change. The brave choice is to change. One way to do that is to bring in someone - an outside coach - to jumpstart a new routine. Like having a counselor, a coach, or a teacher - we OFTEN invite other people into our personal lives to help us with our blind spots. We don't roll our eyes and close off to advisors in other aspects of our lives. Organizations must do the same. A business coach (to the top leaders) can help you to:

1. Assess the current landscape of your organizational learning culture. [Find the blind spots.]
2. Reframe habits and establish good learning routines. [Develop a plan.]
3. Be an accountability coach to top leaders. [Stick to the plan.]
4. Transition to the new way of doing things.

All good coaches work themselves out of the job you hired them to do. Since the company's leaders can't work themselves out of a job, having a coaching partner for your team is a great way to improve your organizational reach.

Putting it All Together

Don't just promote your fastest swimmer to become the lifeguard. Individual skill doesn't automatically equate to group need.

Every organization knows what they want: good leaders. Few organizations know how to get them. A great place to start in leveling up your leadership culture is to focus on how and why you promote new or first-time leaders.

Your own organization has likely rarely terminated new leaders for not knowing enough about their job, company or industry. All other things equal, great people who are promoted into leadership roles and fail don't usually fail because of individual effort. They fail because of leadership ability.

If you must say "lead by example" then you must exemplify good coaching hygiene. Consider whether your organization has the coaching culture, learning structure, and organizational development skills/acumen to be a great leadership team built on ability not hype. If possible, bring in an outside eye to help assess the situation and develop a plan.

Shift your thinking from looking at promotions as a reward for hard work or even success. Promotions to leadership roles must follow an apprenticeship model where the individual performer learns how to shelf their own motivators and habits and begins to build the skills of understanding the motivations of others. Self-awareness does not automatically mean others-awareness.

You may be thinking that you are giving your best people the opportunity they rightfully deserve, but what they deserve more than opportunity is confidence in their skills to take advantage of that opportunity.

Lead well, my friends. Live your legacy today.

James

James is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bella Groves, a dementia education company in San Antonio, Texas. He is also the owner of Bear Wise Consulting, an executive and leadership coaching service for the senior living industry, and he is the creator of the Level Up Leadership Podcast.