Page 85 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

70 Just Promoted!

In Chapter 2 we briefly examined the importance of establishing ground rules
and clear communication with your boss regarding your transition strategy.
This chapter pursues that relationship in greater detail.

WHY WERE YOU HIRED?

In the heady moments surrounding your promotion, you’ll feel proud of what
you’ve achieved. It was the result of your hard work, ability, and commitment.
You have a right to feel great satisfaction. But before you get too carried away,
stop to think about the primary reason why you are where you are: your boss’s
need to have someone to count on for a major area of responsibility. When
you succeed, your boss succeeds. Your selection and ability to perform is a
direct reflection on your boss.
That you were hired to help someone else perform better means that you
do not have a free hand to do and say as you wish. Rather, your decisions must
fit into your boss’s plans, goals, and style. You were hired to help your boss
meet his or her goals.
William was hired to direct the mass transit authority in a large U.S. city.
He pursued the job aggressively. He and his wife had attended school in that
city and had personal ties to the region. He had been the successful manag-
ing director of the mass transit authority in another large city, he was well qual-
ified and experienced, and he seemed to be the ideal candidate for the job.
But within a week on the job, he was embroiled in controversy. Within a
month, the head of the transit authority was asking for William’s resignation.
The suburban representatives on the transit authority had voted “no confi-
dence.” The Democratic city mayor and governor urged him to stay, and the
Republican suburban head of the transit authority urged him to resign. What
had happened? Certainly, party politics had played a role, but the political
pressures developed primarily after the situation had deteriorated. The oppos-
ing political factions on the transit authority board—Democratic and largely
urban, Republican and largely suburban—were quick to take sides and seize
the political advantage. But what events had triggered the crisis?
During his first day on the job, William announced on television that fares
were too high, and he would like to reduce them. Within a week he had com-
pletely reversed himself, saying that the finances were in terrible shape (which
the transit authority’s chairman had been telling the public all along) and that
he may have to seek a fare hike. That same week, he publicly disagreed with