Leadership Roles

High-performance individual contributors are often promoted to leadership roles within companies based on their success and achievements in their previous roles. However, these individuals may struggle in their new leadership roles because they lack certain leader qualities.

There are several reasons why high-performance individual contributors may make poor bosses:

1. They may lack people management skills: Managing people is a key requirement of leadership roles, and high-performance individual contributors may not have the necessary skills to motivate, communicate, manage conflicts, and delegate tasks effectively.
2. They may lack a focus on team development: As bosses, they need to shift their focus from their own personal development to developing their team members and ensuring that their team is aligned with the organization’s goals and values.
3. They may micromanage: High-performance individual contributors may be used to having control over their work and may struggle to relinquish control when leading a team. This can be demotivating and disempowering for team members.
4. They may struggle with delegating tasks: Individual contributors are often used to working independently and taking ownership of their work. In leadership roles, they may struggle to delegate tasks to their team members, resulting in overwork and burnout for themselves and a lack of development opportunities for their team.
5. They may lack long-term organizational thinking: High-performance individual contributors may focus on achieving quick personal satisfaction instead of thinking about the long-term goals of the organization. This can lead to short-sighted decisions that may harm the organization in the long run.
6. They may have a tendency to be a know-it-all: High-performance individual contributors may be used to being the expert in their field, which can lead to a tendency to discount the ideas and opinions of others. This can be detrimental to team morale and may lead to missed opportunities for growth and innovation.
7. They may struggle to listen with respectful intent: High-performance individual contributors may struggle to listen to others with an open and respectful mindset, which can lead to poor communication, misunderstandings, and conflicts within the team.

To address these issues, companies should provide leadership role training and support to help high-performance individual contributors develop the necessary people management skills, delegate tasks effectively, focus on team development and the long-term goals of the organization, and learn to listen with respectful intent. It’s also important for these individuals to be open to feedback, avoid micromanagement, and be aware of their own biases and tendencies as they transition into leadership roles.

At Career Transitions, our career management team provides behavioral skills assessments to help individuals understand if a promotion into a leadership or management role fits their behaviors or intentions. Knowing this information can guide better decision-making and protect the organization’s bottom line as they assess the quality of their leaders.