.jpg)
I think one of the things many of us have forgotten in our leadership journey is the beginnings of it. I was talking to a former client of mine who was recently promoted into management. She felt no excitement about the promotion, nor did her company as she was merely given a pay raise and no congratulatory remarks from anyone, not even her senior leadership!
One of my current clients just promoted someone within the organization into the role of Sales Manager. And even with my encouragement, the President of the company simply gave the man a raise and didn't make any fanfare. What's sad about this is that this is a small company who is rapidly growing. This is the first time a sales manager role is in place and the company promoted someone from within the sales team to take on the management job. The president realized he had neither the constitution to coach and develop people nor the focus to motivate his sales staff as his energies have shifted to retirement and succession planning. And for the gentleman who got the promotion, he felt no sense of having arrived at a major milestone in his career. His first week on the job resulted in the following assessment of his promotion: "More hassle and less pay is what I've signed up for."
This example is just one of the many I've read about in recent times and it points to a sad state of affairs in that we no longer celebrate successes. It seems we're too busy to get to the next meeting or return that email within five minutes of showing up or we're too busy putting out the fires that result from a lack of planning. And yet, taking that first step into your leadership journey is an important one and I think we need to make time in our lives to do that.
Having some sort of ritual--whether it's a team luncheon where you say goodbye to your former job and hello to new responsibilities or you go out with your new boss to celebrate your promotion--is a very important process. Getting an increase in salary is certainly great, but I think we need to honor the start of a true career milestone--making it into management.
You'll only ever be a "first-time" manager once in your life; it's well worth some kind of celebration! If your company doesn't feel this way about the process, then I think it's important you do something for yourself as you cross the threshold into leadership. Perhaps you can go buy a high-end pen to sign your name with, invest in a new power suit to match your new sense of managerial power, or you could get your name imprinted on a custom business card holder. I would even go so far as to invite your loved ones to go out for a special dinner at one of your favorite restaurants.
The point of this is that we are a culture who appreciates rituals--ones that represent a certain rite of passage: baptism, graduation from middle to high school and from high school to college, turning twenty-one or graduating from college. These are all occasions we love to mark with a certain level of fanfare and excitement, so why not a ritual for when you see a true sign of career success and make it into management!
In fact, I would encourage you to celebrate each career milestone you achieve--when you make it to a Director Level, Senior VP or even President! Or if you start your own company, take yourself out to celebrate the fact that you've signed up to be an Entrepreneur-one of the true American archetypes!
When we find ways to honor ourselves and our achievements, it's a positive reminder that all that dedication and effort has started to pay off. The phone calls, the emails, the Excel sheets will be waiting for you every day; the opportunity to acknowledge and truly honor your first day as a leader only comes along once. Make the most of it as you set sail for the seas of change!
Comments