Preparing for Advancement or Success in a New Leadership Role

The Truth About Role Advancement

One truth about advancing to a leadership position is that new roles don’t come with a honeymoon phase. With executive advancement, you are expected to hit the ground running and start winning immediately. Other organizational leaders are watching you and looking for clear signs early on that putting you in a crucial position was a smart decision.

Another reality is that executive promotions come with new challenges and a more complex set of responsibilities. Prioritizing and focusing on what truly matters systematically will set you apart from others who may get overwhelmed with the new landscape.

Executive coaching can help you go further and faster in your new role. Effective coaching will empower you with knowledge and strategies for success in the crucial first few months on the job. This is typically a make or break period. 

How to Transition Into a New Leadership Role: 6 Focus Areas

If you’re not sure how to step into a new leadership role with confidence and competence, take time preparing for your executive promotion. Following executive coaching guidance can empower you with knowledge and strategies for success in the crucial first few months on the job. This is typically a make-or-break period – and with the right preparation, you can ensure it’s a great success.

Below, we’re sharing several tips and focus areas that will help you excel. If you’re seeking personalized support in preparing for advancement and learning how to start a new leadership role, get in touch with us to learn more about our Success in a New Role executive coaching program.

1. Build Strong Peer Relationships

Your peers are critically important to getting your work done. It’s rare that you can achieve consistent levels of success strictly by working with your direct reports and others in your downline. Many leaders focus on their teams while neglecting their peers.

Make sure you’re not one of them. Instead, focus on leveraging peer relationships along the way to successfully transition to new leadership roles.

2. Cultivate a Strong Relationship with Your Manager

It’s always important to have a solid relationship with your manager. If you’re preparing for a promotion or entering into a new role, it’s perhaps your most important relationship.

Work to cultivate effective strategies for building a positive working relationship with your manager that supports your growth and success.

3. Create a Clear Vision for Your Team and Yourself

When leaders take on new roles, the people around them look for a clear description of their evolving roles. Everyone strives to understand how their own roles function within the team to get the big- picture vision accomplished.

As you learn how to approach a new leadership role, invest time in getting to know your team as a collection of unique individuals. By doing so, you will understand key factors such as:

• What motivates them
• How they would like to be acknowledged and rewarded
• What they aspire to achieve in their careers
• What professional development they need
• What their strengths and weaknesses are

4. Gain a Clear Handle on Prioritization

A new leadership role can seem overwhelming as you take on additional responsibilities while simultaneously working to advance your career. Without a clear prioritization plan and a strategy, you can remain overwhelmed. Others will be reluctant to give you additional responsibility if you can’t seem to handle what you already have.

Aim to avoid such problems as they arise through a sound and executable prioritization strategy.

5. Exhibit Executive Presence

This term is bandied about by many, but understood and practiced by few. Rather than be a vague notion, executive presence is something you can work on and hone to become:

• More decisive
• More assertive
• A clearer communicator
• A more influential stakeholder
• A visionary thinker
• A calm and confident presence in chaotic situations
• One who leads with conviction

6. Consider an Executive Development Program

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to succeeding in a new leadership position or preparing for advancement in the near future. With executive advancement coaching support, you can create a plan that zeroes in on the few behaviors that you most need to display.

At Bay Area Executive Coach, our Success in a New Role executive coaching program covers a wide range of leadership development topics – helping you hone your leadership approach and executive skill set to become a great leader.

Your experienced, credentialed coach will help you understand how to win over those who are looking closely to see that you have what it takes. Prove them right.

If you’re ready to be seen as an effective leader who is ready to be promoted, then contact us or schedule time on our founder’s calendar.