Most likely, you are a leader who was good at the job that you are now managing.

You were a good salesperson—maybe not the top one (they generally do not make good leaders…although sometimes it is the top salesperson who is a good leader, but is that because the rest of the team is not really that good?).

You were a good manager, so now you are a step up in the org chart. You were good at ______, so now you are _______.

Or…and sorry, this might sting a little, the company had a gap to fill, and you were the best choice from the options available. Potentially not the right choice, but the mode of something is better than nothing.

It’s truly okay if that is what happened. Nothing wrong with being the best choice and not the right choice—now you have a choice of what you will do to shift to the right choice short term and long term.

Leadership Without Training

Most likely, you received approximately zero minutes of leadership and management training. At most, you probably got some admin training on how to ‘manage’ processes, reports, and timecards.

Most likely, you were promoted, handed some type of mess (yes…it is possible that the gap you filled was because an amazing leader was promoted, and they entrusted you with an amazing, high-producing, well-oiled sales team. Anything is possible…but not typically what happens).

The usual scenarios are that you were promoted because your predecessor wasn’t good at their job—and left the company or role. Now, it's your turn to make things happen, or the company and team have grown, and you are filling in a new gap created due to expansion (new team, new office, new region, etc.).

All of these—even taking over someone else’s amazing team—have challenges.

The Role Shift: From Doer to Leader

Now back to you…how are you handling your leadership responsibilities and the tasks that are involved? What I see as not effective is a manager/leader that is a doer.

They are used to doing.

When they were a salesperson, they could control their destiny by being good at sales—making more calls, having more conversations, closing more deals, offering more deals to close the month/quarter/year. They were playing a sport like tennis or golf…solo game—one player against another. They were in total control of their fate. Being a salesperson doesn’t automatically make it a team sport. Yes, they are part of a team, but they can win their game all day independent of what the rest of the team does.

Ideally, sales is more like a team sport—basketball, baseball, football, soccer. And yes, that is true from a higher level. In that case, salespeople are the players on the field, even if some only care about their stats and not what happens to the whole team.

Are You Leading or Doing?

Once again, back to you…if you come from that sales role, you are used to doing what you need to succeed at your mission (close deals). As a leader, you can no longer run onto the court to hit the game-winning shot. You have a team for that, and your role is as coach/leader/manager—not player.

So many managers I see (at all levels) struggle with that. I have seen VPs struggle with the fact that their role is now more strategic than tactical, and they can’t just jump in to manage the team. They have to manage managers.

The Key Question: Are You Managing or Playing?

Are you managing and leading people to get results, or are you constantly trying to jump into the game and get it done for/with them? Are you trying to relive your glory days when you were the rockstar by getting overly involved in the day-to-day game?

Or are you taking your knowledge and experience as a player to help build up a team of players so you can leverage your time, energy, and attention?

If you feel like you don’t have enough time to do it all, there is a good chance you are still trying to play and coach…and something will fail.  If you are not careful, it could lead to your failing at creating leverage with a team that as a group can get more results than you can by yourself.