How the Value You Bring Changes When You Step Up
One of the more disorienting questions that can accompany a step up into a more senior leadership role is:
What value do I bring?
If you’ve found yourself troubled by this internal dialogue, it may be comforting to know you’re far from alone. On the contrary, it is a common challenge caused by our tendency to gauge value in our new role in the currency of our previous one.
But this is neither the only trap nor the most pernicious.
In making this transition, the change isn’t only in you. The people you now lead are of a different level: more capable, more competent, more self-sufficient. Often, they’re peers you once worked alongside, a relationship shift that’s a whole other thing to navigate. And beneath all that sits the self-doubt: what right do I have to lead people whose competence I don’t doubt?
- If I’m no longer the person with the deepest expertise, what exactly am I bringing?
- If they know their area better than I do, what can I possibly tell them?
- If these people are already excellent at what they do, why do they need me?
But remind yourself: even the very best people need acknowledgement, encouragement, recognition and feedback.
From time to time, they need a sounding board, an outside perspective, someone to highlight blind spots and offer the challenge and stretch they’ll not get anywhere else.
Most important of all, they need the benefit of a skilful thinking partner when the stakes are high, and the answers are not immediately obvious.
Your people are excellent at their jobs. The value you bring is not more of the same. It’s to:
- fortify their self-belief
- help them to think better
- strengthen their conviction
Perhaps most importantly, it’s to help them lead their own teams with the same clarity and confidence you’re bringing to them, right now.
That requires a different leadership identity built not around technical expertise and personal delivery, but around judgement, perspective and the quality of thinking you help create in others.
If, for whatever reason, you’re finding yourself questioning your contribution at the level you’re now operating at, here are three reflections that might be useful to sit with:
- Where am I still measuring my value using the currency of my previous role?
- What does my vantage point allow me to see, connect or challenge that others may miss?
- If my value is increasingly created through others, what do I need to get exceptionally good at now?
If you’re navigating a step up in leadership and want to strengthen your confidence, clarity and impact in the role, you can find out more about my executive coaching for women here.
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