As many professionals say, being promoted to a new role or position is just another key to opening new doors for your career. It’s a good play card that will help your success and leave a great mark on your company. The problem is, most newly-appointed leaders become careless with their actions and decisions that cost them their reputation.
One should keep in mind that a promotion is not a complete cakewalk. It’s just another great opportunity to excel in the field or move up. Don’t let your new responsibilities go to your head and be better at what you do. Listed here are six mistakes that you should avoid making after getting a promotion.
1. Starting to coast
Promotion is never a reason to start coasting. If anything, it’s a time to be a more responsible and better employee for your organization. You could blow your first project as a marketing manager or miss your team’s deadlines for a proposal if you take it easy. Being complacent is never a good thing. What you should do is to discuss with your boss how you can keep going. Are there new skills that you need to master? What greater opportunities await you if you work your way up to the next level? Stay laser-focused on your new role.
2. Solving all your team’s problems
It’s quite normal to have the eagerness to help your team solve the issues, especially at the early stages of your new role. Doing so often feeds a leader’s identity and gives them validation for the new role. But it’s not all the time that this leads to good results. Solving problems of your team members will eat up to your time to handle yours. You can fall behind your own tasks or deliverables if done often. You are also restraining employee growth by handling all their problems. Allow them to grow, and you will, too.
3. Going on a spending spree
Almost every kind of promotion comes with a bonus or salary increase. If that applies to your situation, you probably think you already have the money to splurge on things you need or want. Let’s say you’ll spend the money on a mortgage professional to get the best mortgage rates or programs. Or use it to open and contribute to an emergency or retirement plan. Those are fruitful decisions.
But if you’re thinking of a luxury vacation or a new sports car, you might want to postpone those goals for now. Be wiser with your income and use it for savings or important purchases. You can celebrate by having dinner with your family or treating yourself to an affordable spa day.
4. Letting skills fall by the wayside
Allowing your skills to lapse is one of the most irresponsible things you can do. Having meetings to attend or people to talk to is not a valid reason to neglect your skills or knowledge. After all, they are the reasons why you got the promotion. Make time in your schedule to improve your core skills. You can take advanced training or workshops relevant to your field of work. If you have more time and extra money, you can consider taking additional educational courses to prepare you for more industry challenges.
5. Acting like a know-it-all
Getting a promotion is like entering new territory. It might come with new team members, a new department, or a total change in responsibilities. You can be a successful and bright leader without acting like you know everything. The problems you’ll face in your new position are completely individual. Don’t act like a complete expert and continue developing your knowledge and skills. Seek input from your team, ask questions, then listen.
6. Playing it safe
In any career or organization, conformity is considered to be the silent killer of innovation and creativity. After getting promoted, you might feel like you should ask fewer questions or raise no concerns. You opt to conform with certain policies or decisions and inefficiently use your new power.
It is easy to maintain the status quo and play it small rather than accept judgment, failure, or rejection. But doing so won’t get you any further. Work through your decisions and create an environment where both you and your team can have open, constructive conversations and express your ideas. Doing so won’t just drive changes to yourself but your people as well.
Getting a new leadership role is a better opportunity to improving yourself for the better and achieving more in your career. Don’t look at it as a place of settlement but rather a door to harder yet more profitable responsibilities. Take these tips into account and allow yourself to continue working your way up to success.
