You're Moving Up, How to Employ Promotional Intelligence to Fuel Your Success

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You have just been promoted. Congratulations! For many people this is one of the most exciting things that can happen to them. You have worked hard, you feel like you are ready for the opportunity, and you are filled with ideas and energy. Each of those maintained in the right context can help fuel your success to even higher levels. However, many people find they face challenges once promoted, some that can be anticipated and others that are self-inflicted. Let’s take a look at how you can ensure that you have a proper promotional intelligence to make a smooth transition and build on the strengths that earned you that promotion in the first place.

There are some things you need to consider once you have been promoted. These are trouble spots that if not considered can become serious obstacles to being able to gain traction.

Who didn’t get promoted? When you received the great news of your new opportunity, it is likely someone else received the opposite. Know who those team members are if they were internal. Reach out early on and discuss how you can work together. You will have to earn their trust, and using the tips below can go a long way in helping to get everyone fully engaged.

What are your relationships like with your new peers? In many instances, when promoted, you already have some familiarity with people who are now your peers. What is the status of those relationships? Can you leverage some for support and guidance? Are there others that may be tenuous that need to be addressed? Having a plan for how you will connect with your new peers is an important early step after being promoted.

Connecting with your new boss Almost certainly your new boss was part of your interview process, but have you connected with this person previously? Understanding how they work, what their expectations are, and the initial plan for your training is critical to know right away. They should be reaching out to you and establishing these items and the relationship. However, if they do not, you will need to make that call and set up time within the first few days to get a full grasp of the responsibilities that come with your new role.

Three ‘Hs’ to establish your promotional intelligence

Humble Yes, you were just promoted, and you are feeling good. No, not everyone wants to keep hearing about it. Most people will move on and begin to build a new relationship with you in your new role, with new expectations. Humility may be one of the least discussed yet most vital skills of any leader. Once promoted, all eyes will be on you. How you act and behave towards others likely will define relationships for months and years to come. Going into a new role thinking you know everything you need to know will turn people away. Worse, when you discover you don’t know everything (and you won’t) and you need assistance (and you will), those that can help will be hesitant to offer immediate assistance.

Harmonious I could see this one as being controversial. In many promotions, the newly positioned person is being tasked with creating a lot of change, usually quickly. I am not stating here that you should look away from challenges and not address the issues that may exist. What I would suggest is that you address the team with empathy and understanding of what may have been happening before. In this case, what I mean by “harmonious” is listen to understand, ask for context, and assume positive intent. Even if there is a tall task ahead, coming in with changes blaring and an unwillingness to listen or learn will inevitably backfire in gaining the support and traction you will need for sustainable change.

Hard-work Being promoted rarely means you do less work, or even easier work. It means you are now responsible for different work. You will also need to work differently. Those go together. Too many people think when they move into a role that comes with an office that they can stay there — whether that is a Managers office, District Leader’s office, or Regional office — none of those remove the need to be visible and available to and for your team. Don’t let a title or name plate fool you into believing that any role you move into will not require hard work — they all do.

Avoid these to prevent erosion of promotional intelligence

With the foundation from the above three items, they can help you to avoid these common errors made when someone has been promoted.

Alienate You are going to need your peers and partners, likely more than you ever have (especially as you grow into larger positions). Building strong relationships and sharing ideas and thoughts productively will be a critical component to your success. You want to avoid alienating those around you with arrogance, ignorance, and a lack of tolerance.

Infuriate Alienation leads to anger and that can build if you continue to push the wrong buttons. I know I have experienced these situations with others who have been promoted. They come into the new role thinking they can change everything quickly and do not bother to ask questions or learn from partner areas. Soon, those people around them begin to work around them. They lose relevance and can no longer perform the role they were promoted into. Don’t let that happen to you.

Agitate All of these work in concert with one another when you are going in the wrong direction. Nothing erodes trust and support faster than someone new to a role continuing trying to create conflict. Often, being new prevents you from understanding the full context of a situation. It does not mean that it is right or shouldn’t be addressed in some way. It would be beneficial to gain insights into the situation first and ask additional questions before making assumptions that others are doing it wrong or that you know a better way. ‘Poking the bear’ rarely works out well.

Instead, do these to build the connections you will need

You have a strong foundation with being humble, harmonious, and hard-working. You will avoid alienating, infuriating, and agitating new peers and partners. What else can you do to build trust, relationships, and engagement?

Demonstrate Show people your strengths. Share ideas openly, willingly, and appropriately. This is your opportunity to show others who may not be familiar with you why you were the one promoted. With the three ‘Hs’ above, demonstrating who you are will be a great way to build the relationships you will need.

Investigate Having an inquisitive mind is usually a very welcome thing, especially when you do it in the right way. Ask questions to learn. Be a student of others’ knowledge and experience. Remain open-minded to multiple possibilities. And from this position, investigate with an assumption of positive intent on the other’s part.

Collaborate Hunkering down and building a silo after getter promoted will quickly erode everything you want and need in relationships. Not that there is ever a good time to do either of those things, but it can be tempting to close off to others when you are getting so much new information and the learning curve can be overwhelming. When you feel those things happening, you know you need others more than ever. Reach out, and look for partnerships.

So, again, congratulations on your new promotion. Use your promotional intelligence from the start to help establish a good rapport with your new team of direct reports. Use it to build a strong partnership with your peers, And finally, use it to define the working relationships you will have with support members and others that will be necessary for your ongoing success.

What mistakes have you seen others make when they were promoted? What will you do to avoid those?

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