LeaderSHIFT: Unlearning I
We treat the promotion as the finish line.
A strong performer hits the ceiling of their role. We promote them, celebrate it, maybe add a half-day leadership seminar… and then largely leave them to figure out a fundamentally different job on their own. Then, 6 or 12 months later, we're surprised when the team isn't developing, when the new leader seems overwhelmed, or when a high performer quietly starts looking elsewhere.
The promotion isn't the finish line. It's the starting gun for a different kind of development investment, one most organizations skip entirely. The cost of getting this wrong isn't just one leader struggling. It's a team that stalls, a business that loses the talent it just invested years developing, and a person who blames themselves for something they were never properly set up for.
A big thing I've learned both from my experience and the people I coach: The hardest part of thriving after a promotion typically isn't learning the new job. It's unlearning the old one.
When a strong performer gets promoted, everyone focuses on what's being added: the one-on-ones, the performance conversations, increased delegation. And all those things are real. But what actually trips people up is that they can't put down the work they were just promoted out of.
They jump back into execution because they're good at it, because it's faster than coaching someone else through it, and honestly, because it's where their confidence still lives (it feels easy!). On the surface this looks like dedication. What often happens, though, is that the team stops developing, work bottlenecks through this leader, and the new leader (working harder than ever!) starts to feel like leadership is fundamentally unsustainable.
The promotion changed the title. It didn't automatically change the operating system.
The real shift isn't learning new skills; it's making peace with a different definition of contribution. One where your value comes from what the team produces, not what you personally execute. That's a harder adjustment than many organizations acknowledge, and it rarely happens without some intentional support along the way.
New leaders can do better than "figure it out." Most people just need someone in their corner while they do.
Have you seen this "letting go" issue in yourself or others? If it's a current topic, I'm happy to think through it with you, even if coaching isn't the right next step.
