The transition from being a great individual contributor to being a leader of other individual contributors is one of the most important and challenging stages in one’s career. If this first leadership transition does not go well, it often delivers a negative ripple effect that dims future career prospects. The bad news is that, more than fifty percent of the time, first-time managers get lower performance evaluations as leaders than they did as individual contributors. The good news is that when the transition goes well, it can produce a positive career amplifying effect far into the future.
This transition from individual contributor to manager of individual contributors is not only important for a specific manager but for the overall organisation as well. Systematic weakness at the transition from doing things oneself to getting things done through others can weaken and limit the overall leadership pipeline and subsequent organisational performance.
The irony is that many of the skills and behavioural patterns that help one succeed as an individual contributor are not those that ensure similar success when one moves to leading others. In fact, some of the behaviours that help people do well as individual contributors actually hurt their performance as managers.
Learning to Lead is designed to help participants understand the nature of this transition and develop critical people skills that often make the difference between longer term career success and failure.
It is specifically designed for first-time managers, preparing them before they take on this new role or assisting them very soon after they take up the challenge. |
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