The transition of moving from individual contributor to a manager role brings unexpected challenges. Not only are new leaders learning how to manage people, they are also navigating the loss of their previous identity. This is where identity blindspots can form that impact their decision-making, communication, and ultimately performance. When new managers learn how to step into their new identity and adjust behaviors accordingly, they can ease into their new role with greater clarity and confidence.
The promotion from an individual contributor role to manager is a pivotal career moment.
So much hard work precedes the move, but once it arrives you might realize a lack of tools to properly navigate the transition emotionally.
On the outside you may appear calm and happy. Yet more complicated feelings might be stirring internally.
You may not be sure how to translate your past success into the needs of the job moving forward.
This is the result of an unexpected identity challenge that comes with transitioning into a new role.
Without realizing it, many new leaders will carry over old identities that worked well for them in the past.
Perhaps you’ve built your previous identity on:
Each of these identities can be essential to the operations of a team dynamic.
But with the transition into management, the strengths you were valued for before are fundamentally different from what’s required of you as a leader.
And without realizing a need to shift your identity, a blindspot forms.
Read More: The Identity Blindspot
Effective leadership requires the ability to adapt to the needs of a changing environment or fresh context.
In the case of identity, that means aligning how you see yourself with the evolving realities of your role at work.
“The purpose of an identity is to reduce the confusion that an endless task list might lead to. But this works well only if there is alignment between your identity and the role, and you end up paying attention to the right things.” –Blindspotting: How to See What’s Holding You Back As A Leader
For managers, this can look like:
Fortunately, identity sits on the outer layer of self-awareness–making it more visible than other blindspots and easier to recognize and evolve.
But that doesn’t mean a change in identity feels easy. In fact, it often feels like a loss.
This might sound familiar: You’ve just been promoted to manager. While there’s a lot to celebrate, the transition also comes with feelings of loss of your previous identity.
That feeling is known as promotion grief.
It’s the experience of having to let go of the person you saw yourself as, the person who was recognized for their strengths and ultimately promoted.
“You should be feeling a sense of loss and grief as you begin to replace your previous identity with one that is better aligned with your new role.” –Martin Dubin, PhD, in “Are You Suffering from Promotion Grief?” published in Psychology Today.
The transition stage of doing things differently in your new role is likely to feel unnatural at first, but that’s part of the evolution process.
By acknowledging and moving through promotion grief, new leaders can forge ahead and learn to embrace a new identity that is better aligned with the needs of the role.
Yet if they avoid these tough feelings, they risk getting stuck in identity misalignment.
Read More: Why Transitions in Leadership Feel Harder Than They Should
When transitioning into a management role, the internal work of aligning your identity with that role is typically unannounced, and often goes unaddressed.
New leaders can continue to operate instinctively to:
Leadership requires people to remove the roadblocks that stifle progress. One of those blocks is their own awareness.
When leaders avoid self-awareness, the consequences are absorbed by their teams.
Over time, that shows up as:
Certain identity blindspots caused by a lack of awareness commonly arise for those transitioning into their first leadership position.
Certain unhelpful patterns are common with leaders who hold an identity blindspot in their new role.
The transition from subject matter expert (SME) to manager requires a significant shift in identity.
Your purpose changes from “knowing all the things” to the person who supports and directs other experts.
Accepting that you are no longer the team’s subject matter authority is essential to stepping into the manager role.
The upside is that you get to take pride in how one of your direct reports is stepping into their new role of SME, under your mentorship.
As an individual contributor, you honed the skills and expertise required for you to be good at your job.
Knowing that you were contributing to the success of your organization was emotionally gratifying, creating a positive reward cycle that becomes difficult to alter.
The work you were previously praised for is partially what got you promoted to manager.
But it’s no longer what’s required of you.
Many leaders struggle to realign their focus during this transition period, continuing to over-index on the skills they know they’re best at–rather than the work now required of them.
Read More: Prioritization Blindspots: Why Leaders Focus on the Wrong Things
Transitions are a time to rebuild that emotional gratification pathway, aligning your concept of success with new priorities.
Prior to becoming a manager, your job likely required you to be extremely diligent about the details of the work you produced.
While this was a critical part of that role, things change when you become a manager.
The expectations now are that you’re able to see things from a zoomed out perspective, focusing less on minutiae and more on high-level aspects of the business–such as strategy.
If the avoidance continues, it might mean that you’d ultimately be happier in an individual contributor role. And if that is the case, that’s also okay.
It’s natural to feel less confident entering a new role than you were in the one you previously held.
That lack of confidence stems from the unfamiliarity of leading, and practicing the skills required of effective leadership.
In theory you might understand that you have to be patient and allow yourself time to develop a new skillset.
But that doesn’t make it easy.
You might even relate to the experience known as “imposter syndrome,” which is feeling like you don’t belong in the role you were given.
Remind yourself that with practice, your confidence as a leader will grow, and your new identity will start to feel more like home.
Sharon, a midlevel manager in a consulting organization, was ready to advance into upper management.
No-nonsense and direct, she was the person her colleagues came to when they had a grievance with leadership, or a new policy to propose.
Being a fighter was a core part of Sharon’s identity–but it didn’t align with her desires for a promotion to upper management.
She had to let go of her old identity in order to make space for the one she wanted.
Once Sharon learned to:
…her identity shifted from an individual contributor to a member of management.
Which caused others to see her as the same. She got the promotion.
Sharon still had to deal with the promotion grief: the loss of feeling the emotional gratification from her previous identity.
But she was willing to trade it for something more substantial–the ability to influence at a higher magnitude and advocate more from within.
Releasing an old identity to make space for a new one is easier said than done. That’s why we often hold on longer than we should.
Your intention is to:
But others experience:
You continue to equate emotionally gratifying work with productivity, rather than anchoring success to fulfilling the new needs of the role.
Without aligning your identity to match your new role, you’ll continue to act in ways that unintentionally cause problems for others.
Read More: Learn how the intention vs impact gap creates blindspots.
Here are four actionable steps to align your identity with your new manager role.
The move from one role to another can be an exciting time of growth, but it is also an emotional loss. You’re losing one of your core identities.
The process of letting go of what once served you can be painful at times. Relationships will likely change at work. There’s a lack of comfort and familiarity in your new role.
Acknowledging those changes and allowing yourself to feel those hard emotions will help you to accept them and move forward.
Ask yourself:
The answers to these types of questions will point you in the direction of where to prioritize your time.
Once you know where to focus your attention and act accordingly, your identity will naturally shift to align with your role.
Especially in periods of high demand, it’s tempting to fall back into old patterns of behavior.
This is when you revert to:
It can feel good in the moment. But it’s not what’s needed in your current role.
Ask yourself if your task list is aligned with what only you can do, and adjust accordingly.
It might seem like some people are natural-born leaders, but they still had to work to develop the skills to lead effectively.
It’s okay to not have all the answers right away. This is an especially important time to ask for support in your leadership development journey.
Blindspotting Coaching Starts With Making Patterns Visible →
Showing humility will help to earn you even more respect from those you lead.
While there’s a lot going on, transitions are when awareness is critical to set yourself up for the best chance of success.
When leaders are self-aware, they:
Leaders can only become self-aware when they understand that it’s an ongoing practice, not a box to check in leadership development.
The transition from individual contributor to manager is an exciting period for growth and challenge. That doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Remind yourself that you’re allowed to have a beginner’s mindset in a new role, and stay open to new information that will guide your shift in identity.
With the clarity gained from awareness and reflection, new managers can step into their role–and their new identity–more prepared to support others and lead with confidence.
To consider identity blindspots:
If these answers aren’t clear, that’s the signal.
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