The Identity Shift of Leadership

Every significant step up in leadership requires an identity shift.

Not a skills upgrade, not a strategy, but a step-change in how you see yourself, your role and your approach.

I see it most often with people who have been promoted through excellence in their craft.

The brilliant specialist who becomes an Executive.

The sharp thinker who is suddenly a Director.

The health practitioner leading a national team.

The strategist promoted to CEO.

The natural leader who is now managing their peers.

They arrive in the new role and do what got them there. They stay close to the work. They pitch in with the team, can answer any question and trust their expertise.

And for a while, it works. But then along comes self-doubt, confronting experiences, difficult decisions, tough conversations, cultural issues, team dynamics, politics, overwhelm and overwork. It's a slippery slope!

The shift from to the next level of leadership is less about learning new things and more about letting go of old ones. Letting go of being the sole decision maker, of doing instead of enabling, and of involvement to oversight.

Letting go of the identity that was your foundation of success for the last 10 or 20 years doesn't happen naturally! It takes time and it takes support, but it can be accelerated with awareness of what you and your role now require, and deliberate action.

If you're somewhere in that transition right now and wondering why it feels harder than it should, I'd love to hear what's going on for you.