According to a recent survey by global human resource consulting firm DDI managers ranked promotions (19%) as more highly stressful than either coping with a bereavement (14.8%) or divorce (11.4%). Health issues (8.1%), moving (9.9%) and becoming a parent (7.5%) were also cited as stressors.
Of course this invites all sorts of jokes about the marriages of those surveyed (which included 385 U.S. managers and 400 global managers), but the gist of the managers' feedback indicated that their significant promotion stress stemmed from new ambiguity and organizational politics.
As a leader, you've got to wonder if your own organization is offering newly promoted managers the skills and support required to at least make a promotion as appealing as, say, having health issues. Mentoring, training, focused performance coaching all can go a long way toward supporting leaders in their new jobs. Cost of turnover and 'talent wars' aside, it's just the right thing to do.
Some questions to ask yourself:
- how clear is the new role?
- what three skills will be most critical in this new role, and how does the new manager stack up against those skills? what can be done to support her / him?
- what support is available to this new manager: mentoring, training, coaching? is the new manager aware of this support? does the organization's culture support taking advantage of these resources?
- what early warning signals are in place to flag that the new manager needs help?
Of course there are many more in-depth questions and assessments. But if you start with and cover the basics, you're half way to creating success.
