Mistakes the newly promoted make. (In the Trenches).

Why is It that so many newly promoted physician executives viewed by their bosses as superbly qualified take on the new role and promptly stumble? One boss told us, ruefully, "I would have bet my stock options on the last two people I promoted. They seemed so good, and both of them are visibly failing. They're in big political trouble with everyone. I can't understand how two such competent people could cause so much trouble." Many newly promoted managers make identical mistakes, most of them preventable. Here are examples that anyone who takes on a bigger job should think about.

1. Misreading top management's agenda

Why were you promoted? Most of the newly anointed believe they earned the promotion. CEOs tell us that while merit is a contributory reason, in most cases there is also an agenda- something you're expected to accomplish. Seek clarification. It's a mistake to believe you are merely enlarging your role. Most promotions to senior management mean changing your mindset as much as taking on more responsibility.

2. Micromanaging your successor

We have yet to see a new manager who didn't want to share his or her wisdom with his or her successor with predictably disastrous results. One client told us. "My predecessor as department chair didn't wait until I asked for advice. She prepared a three-month calendar of everything I should do. I didn't want to offend her, but what's the point of a promotion if It means following someone else's recipe? The CEO finally told her to bug off. She thinks I caused her a problem!"

Letting go, especially when you've done a job well enough to be given a better one, is never easy, but not doing it can dent your effectiveness in the new role and convince your boss that your promotion was a mistake. It can also earn you a reputation as someone who can't see the big picture. Example: You can't continue to be obsessed with pediatrics when you should be thinking about the total clinical function.

This is so common it's a cliche. The best physician gets promoted to management where he's saddled with managing a staff of physicians less competent than himself. Once he gets them trained, he's promoted to vice president only to find his real interest is still direct delivery. The other departments on his watch feel like orphans. They know the new vice president still loves clinical medicine best. How hard will they work for him knowing his obvious biases?

3. Not updating technical skills

A secretary or assistant with excellent computer skills may be a godsend, but is not a substitute for the ability to access-or generate-information independently. It's a myth that if you're high enough in the hierarchy it won't matter if you think PowerPoint is a super pencil. Nothing could be further from the truth. The manager who must rely on others to access information is helpless and easily manipulated. Never give subordinates control over your access to information. Besides, 20- and 30-somethings absolutely refuse to carry a technologically incompetent

boss. First they complain, then they leave. What will that do to your retention rate?

4. Assuming customs and taboos are negotiable 

If the management team has always met for breakfast on Wednesday mornings, it's political suicide not to be there. Don't assume you needn't rearrange your plans because you've always played racquetball on Wednesdays. It's not a choice unless you want your new peers to believe you're rejecting them--or worse-you don't understand your new role.

The same is true of taboos. After three months, a promising new medical affairs vice president had to be told point blank that casual Fridays did not include people at his level. His boss is reserving judgment but wonders if he made a mistake promoting him.

Find out as close to day one as possible about management customs and taboos. Question explicitly. Don't rely on your observations or the grapevine. Best would be eye balling a peer's calendar just in case he or she forgets to mention a meeting or event. The most ardent resisters to fitting in are always those who've been given a mandate to change things. They can't understand that the boss didn't mean changing the customs and taboos of management!

5. Not rewriting your job description to mirror your new role

How often does a new manager immediately sit down and read his or her job description? Not often enough. Think about the new role you're expected to play and begin negotiating to get rid of tasks that are not appropriate. This applies to work-related volunteer activities. Chairing the Crusade of Mercy drive should go to your successor, even if it was your favorite activity. What did your predecessor do? What should he or she have done?

With reengineering and reorganization. accurate job descriptions have almost ceased to exist. It's the individual's responsibility to redo his or her job description to mirror the organization's direction, mission, and new realities. Many managers seem to assume they'll just change titles and add whatever duties are necessary. They risk overload and ineffectiveness.

6. Not mentally moving from management to leadership

The move to management isn't merely about a bigger job, more influence, and more control. The biggest shift is moving into leadership, and that's a whole new mindset. Too many of the newly promoted can't make the shift from carrying out orders to inspiring others to carry them out. Breathes there a CEO who hasn't wondered why a new vice president is still obsessed with details when it's clear the organization is drifting? What about the senior managers who want to reword the mission statement but cannot conceive a new one? We see many whose biggest failure is not interpersonal or technical, but conceptual. They can't distinguish between managing and leading.

7. Not adjusting relationships

Seek out relationships that are role appropriate. If your former peers stayed in place when you moved up, your relations with them changed. You must move closer to your new peers and, however painful, away from the old ones. All new managers resist until they find that by keeping the old relationships, they're keeping their successor from fully establishing his or her position. Ditto for themselves.

8. Not identifying a likely successor

How many managers, including the CEO, spend time looking for a likely successor to mentor? The vacuum at the top of many organizations has been deliberately created--to the delight and enrichment of headhunters. How many managers can identify two or three people who, within a set timeframe, could be promoted into senior jobs? We meet only those who complain talent isn't being homegrown and that recruiters are necessary. This is bad for the organization. If talented employees, already determined not to engage emotionally, can't see future roles for themselves or anyone willing to mentor them, they will move on. Since loyalty no longer exists, mentoring has taken its place. Politically, everyone you mentor owes you. Can you have too many supporters and allies?

Finally, it takes at least six months to adjust to a new role and, equally important, at least that long for others to see you in that role. Don't expect instant mental readjustment on anyone s part, including yours.

Marilyn Moats Kennedy is Managing Partner, Career Strategies, Inc.. Wilmette, Illinois, and a long-time member of the ACPE faculty She can be reached at 1150 Wilmette Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091, 847/251-1661, via fax at 847/251-5191, and via email at MMKCareer@aol. com.