Page 259 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

244 Just Promoted!

Being Overdependent on an Advocate or Mentor
Overdependence on your mentor can lessen your effectiveness. Lisa, a junior
manager serving on a corporate task force, impressed Sheila, a senior task force
member, and shortly thereafter Lisa received a major promotion to a job in
Sheila’s organization. Sheila appropriately rewarded Lisa’s drive, organization,
group skills, problem-solving ability, and determination, all of which she had
observed on Lisa’s task force assignments. Working closely together, Sheila
rapidly became Lisa’s mentor and her strong advocate.
But Lisa developed problems later that stemmed not from her working for
Sheila but from doing Sheila’s bidding on some difficult assignments. For
example, Sheila was dissatisfied with the pace of new product testing, and she
asked Lisa to oversee new project management. As director of project man-
agement, Lisa was in the position to push product development very hard,
which she did. She shared Sheila’s feeling that products were developing too
slowly. By doing Sheila’s bidding, however, four things, all bad, could happen
to Lisa:
1. Sheila’s enemies could become Lisa’s.
2. Lisa, politically much weaker than Sheila, would now be tied to Sheila’s
successes. Should Sheila’s career falter, or should she leave for another
job, Lisa would be gone too because she would lose her advocate.
3. Lisa might not be perceived as independent or capable in her own right.
Her close association with her mentor may deny her the ability to
demonstrate her capabilities in her own right and establish herself on her
own. She would earn few opportunities that were not linked to Sheila.
She would be seen as Sheila’s representative in whatever she did.
4. Others in the organization may perceive that Sheila was propping Lisa
up, a perception that would further weaken Lisa’s effectiveness.
The effective leader has to acknowledge and benefit from the support of
other leaders and mentors. Without people who recognize our talents and nur-
ture us, few of us would move beyond our first job in a company. At the same
time, we must attempt to remain reasonably independent of the people who
sponsor us, and be self-reliant, a difficult balancing act.
Surviving and thriving in an organization is a complex, risky, and some-
times temporary business. It requires continuous attention. To succeed in a
leadership role, at a minimum, you have to be smart, creative, and hardwork-
ing. Business and organizations of all types are so very dynamic. There is