Leadership: step up to the next level

First published in Jun 2010

Over the years a strong theme has emerged for many of the leaders I’ve been coaching.   It’s about the difference between what’s got them to where they are now, and what can help them step up to the next level of leadership, and achieve a whole new order of success.  The lessons can apply to anyone wishing to expand their sphere of influence in the world.  There may even be some parallels for parents supporting their children through trials of growth.

Beyond operational competence

Typically, my clients had gained recognition through their personal excellence – a passion for competence and high standards.  They’d worked hard and demonstrated unwavering commitment to their performance in the job.  They’d managed their teams with great attention and clear direction. 

But the organisation now needed more.  And ironically what was holding them back had a lot to do with what generated their success to that point.

Releasing the old

Listening to these highly capable individuals it became clear that they identified very closely with their work objectives.  So closely, in fact, that they had gone beyond goal alignment – to goal ownership.  They identified so completely with their job that others’ views of their success (or otherwise) were taken as deeply personal. So moving into a more ambiguous role with less clear measures was very stressful.

Unfortunately, these driven, conscientious individuals often created problems for themselves (and others) unwittingly in the more strategic. They often worked longer hours and tried harder and herder to keep on top of every detail in a much broader purview. At considerable cost to their wellbeing. 

The best way they could raise their game at this level was by letting go.  But that was not at all obvious to them, and when it became so, was often a scary prospect.  And fear can cause people to retreat to, and even defend, their comfort zone.

A key enabler for those in such a dilemma is honest, yet supportive, reality check on the impact of their current approach. 

Seeing yourself as others see you

360 feedback is a powerful way for leaders to get this reality check.  And I’ve had the privilege of helping many of these great people through that process and hold the space for them while they gain rich learning from it. 

Here are some of the things these fine, well-intentioned leaders get told by their colleagues who overwhelmingly wanted the best for the developing leader…

“We are being micro-managed”

“She works very long hours – so we all have to”

“He doesn’t handle it well when his peers have different views”

“She takes way too much on herself”

“When mistakes are made he takes tasks back off us”

“He needs to build more trust with his peers”

“He doesn’t give us a chance to disagree with him”

“She needs to explain the vision more – we’re not sure what it means”

“He is very talented but I’m not sure he’s ready to take the next step”

“He doesn’t realise we can’t all go at his pace!”

When leaders are supported to assimilate this kind of feedback, they begin to appreciate that although they may be greatly respected and often much liked, they can in fact be experienced as intimidating.  And for some, their style was unintentionally inhibiting the quality of dialogue required for creativity, development and strategic decision-making. 

Being bright they understood the messages from their 360 pretty quickly.  And this provided the motivation to change.

However, doing things differently takes more than simple awareness.  Insight is powerful and essential, but not quite the whole story of successful personal change.  New actions are required – but what should they be?

Clarity of demands

A leader needs to understand what their role is at this level.  Sadly, it’s rarely spelled out, leaving a new leader feeling a bit lost at sea in their early days of the new role. 

In broad terms, they knew it was to be strategic and outward facing, rather than just operational and internally focused.  However, what this was supposed to look like to them in detail, was often a mystery. Thankfully, this is unnecessary.

An approach I use regularly to dispel ambiguity in the early days enables the leader to scope out the role themselves.  It’s the drafting of the Key Result Areas – the clusters of activities that together make up their role.  Getting their Line Manager involved in this is a powerful way to get their invaluable input and make sure the KRAs are aligned with their boss’s expectations. 

What they find is that they need to allocate significant time to new activities. Like spending time building and maintaining positive relations with peers and stakeholders.  Like paying attention to and processing events in the external landscape specific to the organisation that may affect their area of responsibility.  Like crafting  a compelling vision, setting clear priorities for themselves and their reports, and involving them where appropriate in decision-making to engender a positive, optimistic “we” mentality. Like creating a learning environment where people are supported to do things their best way.  The rewards can be immeasurable.

To do all this they need to free up time. 

Opportunities for creating more time and trust

One of the areas typically most ripe for freeing up a new senior leader’s time is stepping back and resisting doing their reports’ jobs for them. 

This is easier when they accept that the standards that matter are not necessarily one’s own, but those that the job requires.  Good enough is good enough. 

Furthermore, the leader needs to appreciate that their team members are all unique with different needs and aren’t just units of production.  Individuals need to feel they are appreciated as people beyond just their job.  Paying them attention as people rather than a laser focus just on the details of their job tasks, makes a difference to their experience of being led by you.  Your trust in them helps build their trust in you.   

The internal shift

What often stops leaders stepping up to this new level is a fear that things might go wrong without a close eye.  What helps is a shift in mindset and accepting that team members can, and probably will, make mistakes.  They may have lower standards than one’s own, which might not be an issue if their standard is sufficient.  And the leader who still identifies closely with operational work may feel a sense of guilt that they are not doing enough.

They need to resist the temptation to be the hero with all the answers, learn to value themselves regardless of others’ perceptions, and to keep things in perspective.

Of course, all this is very easy to say.  Getting there can be quite a journey.  Which is why coaching can help so much.  And it can start with a few simple questions.  If you are a leader (and we all are, in some fashion) perhaps you’d like to have a go:

• Which of your work goals are truly yours to own, and which could belong to others, and simply require your facilitation?
• What price do you pay for owning what you could be facilitating? What would it take to let go?
• And what might letting go free you up to do? What is your vision for yourself?
• What’s your strategy to achieve it (do you have one or are you just wading your way through short-term tasks)?
• So what needs to happen?
• What risks could you take? What risks are you actually prepared to take?
• What peer relationships would you benefit from fostering? Who can you connect with? Who could you inspire?
• What would all this look like in your life going forward?

I hope that’s got you thinking.  My very best wishes for stepping up to the next level and for your journey along the way!

Do get in touch if you or a colleagues could do with support to accelerate the process.

© Siobhan Soraghan 2026