01 — Promotion
You just got the bigger job
The work that got you here is now roughly a third of the job, and nobody has told you which third to drop.
What this usually looks like
- Your calendar is still shaped like your last job
- You are the best person in the room at the thing you should no longer be doing
- Former peers now report to you and one of them applied for your job
- You are getting less feedback than you did a level down, and worse feedback
- You have started to hear the word "presence" without anyone defining it
What we would do about it
Name the third you keep
We map your week against what the seat actually requires, then agree what you stop touching. Not aspirationally — this month, by name, with a person to hand it to.
Find out how you are actually experienced
Eight confidential interviews around the seat. Most newly promoted leaders discover their reputation is about eight months out of date, in one direction or the other.
Rebuild the first thirty minutes
How you open a meeting, what you ask first, and how long you wait before filling a silence changes more about how you are read than anything else you could work on.
I thought I needed strategy help. What I needed was to stop answering questions that were not addressed to me.
VP Operations, industrial distribution
Questions this raises
How soon after a promotion should this start?
The first ninety days are the cheapest time to change how you are read. After about eight months you are working against an established impression, which is slower.
Will my manager know what we discuss?
No. They agree the goals with us in the contracting session and receive themes at the mid-point and close.
Chemistry call
Start with a conversation, not a contract
Thirty minutes with up to three coaches, free, with no sponsor in the room. You choose who you work with — we never assign.