Said Out Loud ·
They promoted your skills. Not your leadership.
What people usually say instead: “I'm still finding my feet.”
The short answer
Being a manager is hard because it's a different job from the one you were good at. As an expert, you were judged on your own work. As a manager, you're judged on what other people do. The skills that got you promoted, like having the answer fast, can slow your team down.
Drafted with AI for Coach42 · coach review pending · 3 min read
The scene
It's Wednesday, 2pm. Tom is stuck on the pricing model you could build in your sleep. You lean over, take the keyboard, and fix it in four minutes. He says thanks. He doesn't ask how.
Why does being good at the work make managing harder?
Because your best skill is now the one you have to use least. You were promoted for being the person with the answer. Now the answer is the thing you have to hold back.
The job you were good at isn't the job you have now. As an expert, a good day was one where you did great work. As a manager, a good day is one where Tom did, and some days you won't even see it happen.
"I'm still finding my feet" is true. It's also a way of saying the old job still feels like home.
Do companies promote people for the wrong reasons?
Often, yes. Gallup's 2015 article on managers said companies "miss the mark on high managerial talent in 82% of their hiring decisions". The same article points out that being a successful programmer, salesperson or engineer is no guarantee someone will be good at managing others.
We don't read that as a verdict on you. We read it as companies picking people for the old job, then expecting them to learn the new one. You can learn the new one. But only once you admit it's new.
What does the expert habit look like in a team?
It looks like help. You take the keyboard. You rewrite the slide. You answer the question before anyone else has had a go. Each one saves time today and costs a lesson tomorrow.
Tom learns that stuck means "call you". So he calls you sooner each time. You feel useful, he feels looked after, and the team gets no better at the thing you're best at.
Then the week fills up. Your own calendar is now one-to-ones, planning and meetings upstairs. The expert work still lands on your desk, because you trained everyone to send it there. So you do it at night. It's 9.30pm, the pricing model is open again, and you tell yourself it's only until the team catches up. They won't catch up while you're the one doing it.
Our post on why new managers give answers too fast shows how quick this sets in. If you're still in the first year, read how to go from individual contributor to manager too.
How do you stop being the expert in the room?
Slowly, and on purpose. Ask before you answer. Wait longer than feels polite. Let Tom take the slow route, even when you can see the fast one from across the room.
It will feel slower for a while, because it is. Then one day Tom fixes the model before you've noticed it broke. That's the job now.
The 42 Test asks 42 plain questions about how you lead, and helps you spot where the old habits still run your week. Finding your feet is real. You just won't find them standing in Tom's spot.
The picture
The cost
Four minutes today. But Tom will be stuck on the next one too, and the one after that, and every fix will run through you.
Try on Monday
Next time someone brings you a problem you could solve in minutes, ask one question instead: what have you tried? Then wait a full minute without taking the keyboard.
The mirror
The mirror
Answer it for an ordinary week. Your answer stays in this browser.
- Take The 42 Test: your leadership type across 42 questions.
- More for Stepping up
- The 42 Test, for the full picture of how you lead
Questions people ask
- Should I stop doing any hands-on work?
- Not all of it. Keep a small piece you're truly needed for, and say which piece it is. The trouble starts when you jump into anything you're good at, because then the team stops learning it.
- How long does it take to feel like a manager?
- There's no set time. In our experience, it clicks when you notice a good day was one where your team did great work, not you. Until then, it feels slow and odd. That's normal.
- What if my team really does need my expertise?
- Then teach it, don't do it. Sit beside them, ask what they'd try, and only step in when they're truly stuck. Your skill is worth more spread across the team than kept in your hands.
Signed
Drafted with AI for Coach42 · coach review pending.
Scenes are composites; names are made up.