INTHEBLACK December 2021 - Magazine - Page 69
“You don’t have to solve every problem,
but if you can show some progress or
improvement that goes some way to
addressing why the role or team was
created in the first place, you’ll stand out.”
AMALIA CHILIANIS, CAREER COACH
“If I’m moving from, say, managing a team of 16 people
to managing a team of 350, there’s no way I could
continue doing the technical work. It requires a different
level of leadership,” she says.
“Unfortunately, we know the leaders who continue
rolling up their sleeves to do the work rather than
focusing at least 30 or 40 per cent of their time on
leading the team don’t always succeed.”
A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
Amalia Chilianis, a Melbourne-based career coach,
workplace consultant and author, says a blank slate offers
the “opportunity to be creative and innovative” while
playing to your strengths.
“You have free rein to take a newly created role and
make it your own.” In a team environment, free rein
means using the strengths of others around you to cover
gaps and maximise success.
This broad remit has its pitfalls, however. A misalignment in
expectations can arise when a role or team’s responsibilities
and desired outcomes are undefined. You head off in one
direction when your leader expects you to move in another,
and you discover too late that your priorities differ.
“Sometimes there’s a lack of direction…that can make it
difficult for people to know what to do first,” Chilianis says.
Free rein means it is your responsibility to determine
the best path forward – “that’s where that creativity and
innovation comes in,” says Chilianis – but you must first
establish what success looks like to the decision-makers
around you.
Chilianis recommends adopting “a questioning
approach” to establish your priorities and the course
of action you should take.
Ask simple questions of stakeholders, such as: “In
12 months, if this role or team is to be successful, what
would that look like? What are the problems you are
hoping to solve? If you had a magic wand, what would
you fix?” Answers to these questions will give you a clear
understanding of the problems you need to solve, the
outcomes you need to achieve and how you can make
an impact in the role.
It is often assumed that “if I put my head down and work
hard, people will notice,” says Chilianis. “They don’t.”
Instead, she says, focus your effort on key priority areas
and aim for “some small quick wins”, ideally in the first
three months.
You don’t have to solve every problem, says Chilianis,
“but if you can show some progress or improvement that
goes some way to addressing why the role or team was
created in the first place, you’ll stand out.”
STAYING STRONG
An often-overlooked aspect of taking on a new
challenge is our capacity to withstand adversity and
adapt to change, particularly now, when pressures like
the pandemic and climate change are altering the way
we work.
“We all operate in an environment that’s uncertain –
uncertainty is certain,” says Patel, who recommends
developing a ‘resilience plan’ to help navigate adversity.
Patel encourages clients to consider what she calls their
“energy bank account.”
“What’s your plan to ensure that your mental, physical
and emotional energy is going to be sufficient to draw
on when things get difficult – and they will get difficult,”
she says.
“It’s too late to have a look at the resilience plan
when you need to draw on those reserves.
“Consciously think about daily and weekly things
you need to do to replenish your mental, physical and
emotional energy, because that’s going to underpin
the rest of your success.”
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TO BORROW
Unleashing
Creativity and
Innovation
from the
CPA Library
intheblack.com December 2021 69