Making Sure You Get The Role You Signed Up For

Last week I had written about the importance of speaking up, because your work won’t speak for itself. I received some great comments on the post and some awesome responses in my inbox. Thanks to those of you who reached out and shared your stories and strategies with me, I always love hearing and learning from you!

One reader, Pat responded to tell me about a situation they were in and ask for some guidance.

Pat wrote:

“About a year ago, I accepted a senior level position leading a front-end team at a growth stage company. It wasn’t the first time I was leading a team, but due to the speed the company was growing, my manager was skeptical about my capabilities and decided to lead the team until I was ready.

I got assigned a couple projects that required me to learn new frameworks, and was told that after those had been completed they’d re-evaluate whether I could lead a team.

I thought maybe this was how they do things around here, and decided to make the best of the situation.

I quickly came up to speed, and took on a number of projects including cleaning up the technical debt others had left unfinished.

I thought I was making progress, so six months in, I approached my manager to ask about the leadership role.

My manager dismissed me as being demanding, and said that I really hadn’t shown any leadership qualities.

I pointed out how I had come up to speed quickly, taken on projects, onboarded new hires, and made sure that my knowledge had been transferred to others.

My manager wasn’t impressed and felt like I had done the bare minimum.

I was confused.

I decided to talk to others on my team, and their recommendation was that if I was unhappy, I should request to be transferred to a different team. But that required approval from my current manager…

I realized I was stuck. To top it all off, three months later I received a poor performance review from my manager.

I seemed to be digging a hole deeper and deeper.

People advised me to just wait it out, and worse case scenario get laid off but receive a nice severance check.

But it just didn’t feel like the right thing to do. Instead, I decided the best course of action was to complete a year and then resign, which is exactly what I’ve done.

As I’m preparing to leave, my manager seems to be relieved.

This was the first time I’ve had such a strange experience, and I’m worried that I’ll experience this again if I’m not careful.

What can I do to safeguard myself against this in the future?”

Sadly I wish I could say Pat’s experience is unique, but it’s not.

There are a number of people who unbeknownst to them get put into such positions.

It can shake our confidence and make us question our abilities, so it’s important to take a step back and take a holistic view of what you have accomplished.

It’s also important to evaluate feedback from multiple sources not just once, and spot patterns rather than fixate on the anomalies.

Pat actually did the right thing by resigning and looking for another position, rather than waiting to get laid off.

Unless it’s a massive layout mentioned in the press, there’s still some level of stigma that future employers have with people who have been laid off. Pat resigning shows future employers that Pat acted from a place of strength and choice, despite the circumstances, rather than happenstance.

Had Pat stayed it would have been next to impossible to get the support to transfer to a new group without manager approval. Pat’s poor performance reviews would also have raised eyebrows.

Take the the time to interview your future manager and their employees.

We think of interviews as a one-way street, but they aren’t. They are a chance to get a feel of who we will be working for.

This means we have to take the time to ask questions like:

• How long has this position been open?
• How long have you been leading this team?
• How many direct reports do you have?
• What is your leadership style?
• If you’d be open to sharing, who have you promoted? When were they last promoted? And what was the criteria used to evaluate a promotion.

If it’s a fast growing company like Pat mentioned, they might not have a standardized promotion plan, but just because they don’t have one, is no excuse. There should at the very least have something they are working towards.

You also need to as the manager’s direct reports questions like:

• How long has Person X been your manager?
• What have you learned from your manager?
• How has your manager helped you grow in your career?
• Would you be open to sharing with me what you like and dislike about your manager’s leadership style?
• Conflict is natural on any team, do you have a process for handling and resolving it?

Usually you can ask these kinds of questions at the end of each interview. But sometimes people can be in rush, and if time isn’t provided during the interview, then it’s imperative that you follow up with recruiter and ask for time to follow up.

Pay attention to what is said consistently across interviewers.

People are often coached by recruiters on what to say. Take the time to distill what you’re hearing. Are people sharing candidly, or does it feel like they have a script they are following?

Is everyone saying, “I love working here. It’s so transparent and collaborative!”

Great…

Follow up with, “How is it transparent? How do you guys collaborate? And how is individual work recognized and rewarded?”

There’s no time like the present: negotiate for everything you want upfront!

The number one issue I see come up time and time again, is when people try to negotiate for things later on like 3 to 6 months after they have accepted an offer.

It’s easier to negotiate ahead of time, when the biggest source of leverage you have is them needing to fill a position and knowing you are a worthy candidate (hence the offer). You might fear they have other candidates in the pipeline, but remember it’s hard and time consuming to find stellar candidates!

Pat was looking to lead the team, but didn’t get to. Pat’s manager wasn’t sure about Pat’s skill set.

If the title wasn’t in the offer letter then it should have been brought up. Or if there was a conditional clause in there that stipulated the title would be given based on performance, then the document offer should highlight what the performance criteria will be. The criteria should be clear and grounded, not abstract or confusing.

It should also have a strict timeline, like: “Will revisit in 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year.”

When you don’t give people a timeline, it gives them the opportunity to defer indefinitely. It’s easy to come up with excuses like, “Now is not a good time, we’re shipping.” Or, “Let’s wait till the next budget cycle.”

I realize that you might be thinking, “Shouldn’t Pat’s manager have been looking out for Pat? Why the need for a formal document?”

The reason we put things in writing is to give people the benefit of the doubt. If the company was growing as quickly as Pat says it was, then it’s likely that Pat’s manager may have been preoccupied with others or other things. Even good managers have busy periods.

Having a document in black and white adds an unquestionable level of accountability. It’s also makes it a lot easier to bring up the issue to HR.

Finally, many people don’t realize this, but when you negotiate ahead of time, people understand you have standards, and take you seriously! Most people prefer working with straight shooters, even though you might think of it is being “demanding”. It’s not, it’s being clear about your role and expectations.

Now I’d like to know, if you’ve ever been in Pat’s position. How did you handle it, and what additional advice would you give to Pat? Let me know in the comments below.