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Amidst organizational changes and new leadership expectations, I’ve proactively adapted my role and responsibilities, but worry my efforts are being overlooked and worry about job security.

Elaine Varelas provides concrete steps you can take to improve your situation when your organization is undergoing change.

Ask the Job Doc. Boston.com

August 28, 2024

3 minutes to read

Q. My organization is changing, with both roles and priorities. I’ve been asked to “lead more strategically” and balance your technical information sharing. In addition to a role/expectation document, I’ve done the work of creating status reports to better inform the new leaders, partnered with another business unit to get into the project process earlier, and designed an enablement framework. I will also share technical information since I have a solid handle on it. My worry and the vibe I’m getting is that I’m being squeezed out with my efforts being ignored. What should my next steps be?

A. Clearly, there are a lot of changes going on within your organization and you’re feeling the stress of the unknown, and ill-defined. Leading more strategically is a standard request of leaders who are moving up in the organization. Unfortunately, part of what happens is people are not given development opportunities or coaching, which helps them learn how to lead more strategically. Sharing the long-term view that executive leadership has, or their vision of what changes are impacting the business, and what the organization needs to deal with doesn’t happen alone. Strategy is a longer-term view with actions happening today that build toward that, in simplest terms. It’s about trends, and opportunities. There are many ways to develop this ability.
Start by asking your colleagues if they’ve been given this feedback as well, and if they know what that means in terms of what your leadership is looking for. Certainly, reading about developing more strategic leadership skills is something you should be doing on your own. Asking managers in group meetings to give examples of what they’d like to see is very helpful. Just don’t be the only one doing the asking. Build alliances with colleagues, and always ask what success would look like and the timetable. Your reports should use information you have been given as the starting point, and what you deliver as next step.

Taking LinkedIn Learning courses on leading strategically can help, but every organization and every manager has their own expectations of what they’d like to see, and having managers define what that means is one of the most important internal things that you can make happen, especially if you’re being squeezed out. Most often, when people feel they’re being squeezed out, unless they’re suffering from diagnosed paranoia, they are. And so, one of the things you’ll want to do to prepare is to update your resume.

Try to show your manager examples of where you have been strategic and the work you are doing to learn how to be more so. Showing that you are open to feedback and ready to be part of the “new” approach can help! Be very direct in asking your manager for specific feedback on your continued performance. You need to know where you stand and if they see any positive movement.

What you’d like to avoid is being put on a performance improvement plan, because you don’t want to ever have it look like you’re being separated for cause. Having a defined role and an expectation document is fantastic, provided that the manager approves it and agrees with what the document outlines regarding your responsibilities. Providing status reports to newly appointed leaders is an excellent way to quickly get them up to speed and maintain their engagement. Build your alliances with other colleagues and other leaders in those other business units so that anyone who says that you’re not delivering is faced with disagreement, as opposed to agreement and piling on.

Being prepared for whatever comes means that if you do have to leave your organization, you want to know what the benefits package would be and have a willingness to ask for more. You also want to ensure that you have a robust network if you haven’t had one in the past. That network can be both internal and external. Do not let any internal person know that you think you’re being squeezed out. Do not admit to anyone that your boss might not like you. None of that will be helpful. Instead, make yourself indispensable to as many teammates as you possibly can. The situation that you describe is not out of the ordinary and is more reflective of bad management than your performance. By focusing on these steps, you can better align your efforts with the organization’s new priorities, improve collaboration, and ensure that your contributions are recognized.