Using Your Functional Skills and Domain Knowledge  to Navigate a New  “Broad-Scope Boss”

Hi, this is Bobbie LaPorte, back with another week of “Calling the Game,” where I share my own experience and insights while giving you valuable tools you can use to call your own game…and plan the best moves for you and your team.

This week, I wanted to talk about a trend I’ve been seeing – specifically, where you get a new boss who has little or no experience in your functional area or domain. It sounds a little odd, but it is happening more and more.

Why? Companies are continuing to make themselves more efficient – and that generally means flatter, faster, leaner. And that increasingly means tapping talented leaders who have broad operational experience that can be applied to revamp processes, build structure, and capitalize on opportunities – despite not having specific functional or domain knowledge in their new areas.

Like…..a general marketer who is asked to run a specific go-to-market function or a successful people ops exec who has been tasked with building the commercial operation for a growing business.

There are many–and growing–examples of this movement to deploy leaders to areas where their general skills are more needed – and relevant – than specific functional/technical expertise.

So, if this happens to you, how do you respond?

Here are three things to consider:

1. What experience, skills, and talents does this leader have that you don’t, and how do they fill possible gaps/development areas you’ve identified to advance your career?
2. What can this leader learn from you? Remember….your functional skills and domain knowledge will be important to this new leader’s success.
3. Use this change as an opportunity to rep your team. Give this new leader what they need to become active advocates and supporters for your team and for you. Remember: self-promotion is about sharing your successes with people who matter.

Look at the positive side of this instead of seeing it as slight to your experience. You definitely have currency in this situation, whether it’s subject matter knowledge, your in-positional perspective on what the department needs, or resources that can be helpful to your new leader’s agenda.

OK, that’s it for this week’s “Calling the Game.” Hope this helps you gear up for a great week and navigate any curveballs that may come your way!

Got a new boss after yet another re-org? You may have more control over the situation than you think. In her April 10 “It’s Race Day” video, Bobbie LaPorte shares the true story of one of her clients who used his personal agency during a time of transition to better position himself and his team to have more impact in their organization. You can do it, too! Watch now:

New Boss, New Possibilities: How to Make the Most of Reporting Change

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tip for 2023 called “It’s Race Day,” where I help you close the gap between thinking and doing. There’s a time to train and a time to race.

As we continue to see layoffs and reorgs, one of the more common “curveballs” to come along with all these is that you often end up reporting to someone new. Sometimes that’s a positive thing; maybe your new boss is someone you’ve admired and a talented leader who actively supports his team. In other cases, it could be a much less desirable change, a situation that could be seen as a step backward for you—possibly even a career derailer.

This was the exact situation recently with one of my clients. Like many of his peers port-reorg, he was told he had a new boss. This was not the first time (and likely won’t be the last).

Most leaders would just accept this news, resigned to a new reporting structure, almost numb to just one more change. They would probably also be happy just to have a job and think they would invest the minimum time getting to know their new boss (because, hey – there was probably another change just around the corner) instead keeping a low profile, staying under the radar.

But that’s not the approach my client took. He opted to use this as an opportunity to think about what the optimum reporting structure could be, to see if there were other possibilities that could increase the visibility and impact he and his team could have; basically, to take what others might consider a risk, and suggest an alternative to what he was presented with.

He was of the mind that he did have a choice in this matter, that he did actually have options—and he used his personal agency to influence where he and his team could land.

When I meet with leaders in this situation, I encourage them to ask these questions:

• Who else in the organization does your team support?
• Where does your work intersect with other functions?
• How could this change increase your value contribution to the organization?

Asking yourself these questions while things are in flux could mean the difference between just another stop on the reporting structure carousel and a path forward that creates real possibilities for you and your team.

And for my client? His team landed in a much more impactful, visible and highly resourced organization, with a leader who also viewed this change as an opportunity to increase his value and impact in the organization.

I hope your week is one of doing, of taking action. Remember: there is a time to train and a time to race. It’s Race Day.

Transcript of “It’s Race Day: Use a Possibilities Viewpoint When You Get a New Boss”

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tip for 2023 called “It’s Race Day,” where I help you close the gap between thinking and doing. There’s a time to train and a time to race.

So, I’m sure I don’t have to remind you about how challenging the last three years have been – across all the domains of our lives. And the change and uncertainty are going to continue – at both the macro-environmental level and on the ground in your company.

We are reminded of this almost every day as more and more companies cut costs and people.  As leaders, we may believe that by now we are change-hearty, but often we are not.

One of the changes that can rock any experienced leader is unexpectedly getting a new boss. What do you do if the person you report to suddenly changes? Maybe you weren’t the biggest fan of this person, or maybe you had built a solid relationship with him – he was a big supporter of yours, actively advocating for you and your team.

Now you are back to square one, alone on the island. So, what’s your next move? Do you hesitate, not sure how to approach your new boss? Try to stay off the radar until he approaches you?

Think that if you just wait awhile, he will settle in, and things will somehow return to some form of what they were like before?

You can’t blame PTSD on this type of reaction; you know better. When this happens, you need to act and develop a plan to take advantage of this change. Consider – how would you define your team’s value contribution to the organization? What are you and your team working on that he should know about; what insights can you share about the leadership team and other internal relationships that will be critical to his agenda?

This is the perfect time to close the gap between thinking and doing.

Let me share a relevant, personal story from my Ironman experience. Our training program ramping up to race day is 9+months long…plenty of time to build the physical and mental mindset to prepare for Race Day. We prepare for most contingencies, but you never know what might happen.

In one of my races, they changed the route for the run the morning of the race.  My first reaction was one of panic: I don’t like surprises that can throw off my plan. I knew the course, had planned for how I would manage myself on it, had actually trained ON it. Now all that planning was thrown out the window. It’s still the same distance..the unknown can be scary, paralyzing.

But it was RACE DAY. I had not choice but to rely on my training, my self-confidence, the resilience I had built up over the course of the last 9+ months, through all the surprises and detours along the way.

Here was an opportunity for me to put all my preparation, self-knowledge and skills into play. To just go for it, looking at this from a “let’s see what is possible” viewpoint.

With a new boss, you need to do the same. There’s a time to train and  a time to race. Remember – it’s Race Day.

Related posts you might like:

I GOT A NEW BOSS—AGAIN!

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START WITH A NEW BOSS

LEADING THROUGH THE CONTINUOUS CURVEBALLS OF CORPORATE REORGS

CONFIDENCE KILLERS AND HIGH CEO TURNOVER

TRANSCRIPT OF “I GOT A NEW BOSS, AGAIN!”

Hi, everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly tips for “Your Best Next Move,” where I help you have more agency in your work, acknowledge your capacity to act, and see what you can do right now.

So this week I want to talk about something that I’m seeing more and more with my clients, and that’s when they say, “Hey, I have a new boss, AGAIN, what should I do?”

Getting a new boss may not have happened to you lately, but there’s a good chance it will. Given all the movement that’s going on in the post-COVID job market, there’s no question that internal change is happening at a more frequent pace than ever before. And even though we all know and we’ve all experienced it, we never quite seem ready for it, do we?

In research that we did pre-COVID with nearly 200 technology leaders, the #1 confidence killer they cited in doing their jobs was getting a new boss. And why is that?

Well, we know our bosses play a major role in our success from the opportunities they give us to the active support they provide, to how they push us to get better. And after all the blood, sweat and tears we put into building this very important relationship, when we have to start all over again as the revolving door of leadership changes keeps turning, it really can be a curveball.

So what can you do when you get a new boss AGAIN?

Well, you can do nothing, or delay making any moves. I appreciate that you may not have the energy to deal with yet another change and all it represents. You feel like you have to start all over again, so you can take a defensive position and wait to see what your new boss does first and take your cue from them.

OR, you can take the offense and make the first move. You can see this as an opportunity to share the value of you and your team and how you can help your new boss be successful right out of the box. Every situation is different; I appreciate that. But in an environment of continuous change and uncertainty and with the velocity of change in your support networks accelerating, you can’t afford to do nothing and hope that everything will be fine.

So here’s my tip:

See this change, and the others like it that at some point I’m sure to follow, from a possibilities perspective. So in other words, create engagement right from the start. You should be the first person to reach out. Be prepared to show how your team contributes to the organization and how you can amplify that contribution in the future.

Your new boss’s success is your success, so find out how you can best help them get off to a fast start. Be confident and assured, know your value, and keep in mind that anyone who’s worth their salt is jockeying for positions. So don’t be left behind while you are in mourning.

You need to act.

I want 2021 to be a year momentum for you…one of possibility thinking, where you take advantage of the agency we sometimes forget we have. So I hope that you don’t get a new boss this week. But if you do, I’d love to hear how you handle it. And in the meantime, that’s my tip for the week. Have a good one.

Take care of yourself. And I’ll see you next Monday.

In this Episode:

00:50 – Curveball of the Week: What to do when your boss gets fired or resigns unexpectedly

03:35 – Confidence Killer of the Week: How to respond when you are asked to reapply for your current job

06:50 – In the Fire special guest, Commercial Executive, Anil Jhanji, shares how he managed the transition of five CEOs in ten years.

Transcript of: “Confidence Killers and High CEO Turnover”

Hi everyone, this is Bobbie LaPorte, your host of Leadership, Curveballs Blind Spots in Black Holes. Each week we help busy leaders navigate through complex and versatile times. with practical solutions for real-life challenges. This week’s episode is about unexpectedly having a new boss and being asked to reapply for the job that you’re in and in our, “In the Fire” segment with our special guest steel industry, commercial executive, Anil Jhanji shares how he handled the transition working for five CEOs in less than a decade.

Let’s get started with this week’s curveball. It’s all about having a new boss unexpectedly. So your boss was fired or resigned without any notice. Let’s face it, with the pace of change and uncertainty this is becoming more of a common occurrence, but it’s still unsettling. And uncertainty is the new norm. And the playbooks we relied on in the past are no longer useful.

So in this particular situation where it was unexpected and expectations are unclear and uncertain. So you will need to keep your team focused and on track, especially if there’s a void until a new boss comes in, you will need to be the person that provides emotional steadiness for your team, as you are the point of continuity and reassurance for them.

And while uncertainty can put you on the defense, this is definitely the time to take the offense and put you and your team in the best possible position going forward.

Here are three suggestions I have for you in this situation:

First, get to know your new boss.

Once that person is named their immediate goals and management style, what’s important to them. How do they want to communicate? How do they lead? That way you can tailor your approach to who they are and what they need.

Secondly, offer to help them to get off to a positive start.

If they’re new to the organization, let them know that they can count on you to help identify the key people they need to know.

And these might not always be the obvious ones on the organization chart, and also the unwritten cultural norms of the company. You could be a strong guide and navigator for a new boss coming into the organization and help them get off to a fast start.

Third

And the third thing would be to consider how to apply and deploy the strengths of you and your team to your new bosses’ priorities, whether you like it or not, the game has changed.

The sooner you aligned, what you and your team can contribute to help your new boss be successful. The more you’ll be seen as a player and a critical piece of this new puzzle. And during this time of transition, you might find ways to accelerate progress on key initiatives by leveraging your team’s strengths and past successes.

One thing is certain, this will not be the last time you experienced the new boss situation. So take the offense and make it a true learning opportunity for you and your team.

Next up is our confidence killer

And so we’re back with this week’s confidence killer, which is you’ve been asked to reapply for your current job. I’m starting to see this emerging practice more and more as companies, reorg, reshuffle, talent, and reboot their organization to match the changing needs of the business within leadership talent.

No doubt, this can be very unsettling to even the most confident and competent leaders, particularly if you’ve been performing well and contributing and getting good feedback. One way to look at this is as an opportunity to honestly, and thoughtfully inventory what you really do well and what you enjoy doing so that you can find the right fit in the organization.

So if this happens to you, here are some steps I would suggest that you take, if you’ve been asked to reapply for your current job.

Number one:

Look critically at all the jobs that are posted for application. And this is often the case where a department will post all the jobs at a certain level and open them up to everyone.

So look at those to see what else out there might appeal to you, but don’t overextend and oversubscribed yourself by applying to too many. This is an indication that you’re not sure of your value proposition and that maybe you feel desperate.

Number two:

Really take the time to assess your strengths and talents.

Look at your previous performance feedback, take some online assessments, if they’re available, even ask a trusted colleague or two for their assessment of your strengths, with tangible examples.

Number three:

Consider what kind of work you really like to do and the environment in which you thrive. So, do you like managing a big team? Would you rather experience the intimacy of a smaller team? Are you ready to be an individual contributor? All those environments, organizational settings are important to consider.

Number four:

Take the longer-term view. So how can you use this turn of events to revisit your current role and how it fits into your overall career plan?

So maybe a job in another area, will give you a different, fresh perspective and create a platform for what’s next.

Number five:

Consider how you can make this turn of events an opportunity to increase your visibility in the company, to amplify your contribution, and to show people what you’re really good at.

And, how can you take advantage of this change as an opportunity to stand out from your peers? This is a very unsettling situation, and most of them are probably feeling wounded and worried and wondering what’s next, and will soon find themselves on the sidelines, wondering what happened.

You can’t control what’s already happened, but you can control your attitude and approach to this potential confidence killer.

That’s it for our confidence killer of the week. And the fire is up next and starts in a few seconds. Featuring steel industry, commercial executive Anil Jhanji who successfully transitioned reporting to five different CEOs in less than 10 years.

Interview with Anil Jhanji

We’re back again with, in the fire. And today we’re joined by our special guests and Anil Jhanji, who is director of markets, customer, and shared services for Tata steel Europe, which includes markets in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and Anil has been with Tata steel for 28 years. And in addition to his current directorship, he also holds a number of other executive roles in the organization.

I am very excited to have Anil join us for this week in the fire segment to share how he managed the challenge of working for five different CEOs in the last decade. ,

Anil, welcome. That sounds like quite a challenge. Please tell us about it.

Thank you, Bobbie. I’m really excited to be on the recording and thank you for the opportunity as well.

If you look at the last 10 years in my view, be happy. Amazingly gifted because every CEO was coming joined our organization has come with unique talents and unique skillset, which is a stem to form a point of view on what they would want to achieve in the organization. And the course they would like to take and the kind of core team required to do so.

Similarly, all of us as individuals and leaders of our own identity and the skill set we have developed are blessed. And if there’s a perfect match in demand and supply, then one enjoys the adrenaline leading the objectives. And at the maximum, not as strong as I’ve seen, men should just accept developments gracefully and continue to deliver in areas where our strengths can valuate without compromising on the beliefs.

I found, one thing I’ve found that as a leader, one is more effective by not going against one’s grain every so often once in a while to do so. To test if our preferences have changed in life is always good. You never know unless you give it a try.

Yes, absolutely. I mean, you never know, and I’m sure that working with that many different CEO styles over that period of time presented its own challenges to share a little bit about, because you said they all have very different styles.

What did you learn about your own leadership style when you were working with these very, these executives who had very different styles?

Yeah. So if I reflect back on the last 10 years, we have had some amazing leaders. The first gentleman I worked with, he had amazing amount of charisma and he would tell them all the stakeholders alike and, subsequently, the next gentleman who came in he was, he was quite a visionary in terms of being able to direct the organizations towards keeping the customers in the center of all decision-making and between the operating model and a lot of learning involved there as well and thereafter, there was a strong disciplinarian who walked into the organization, very dynamic and then centralized the whole organization towards one common goal.

So off and on you pick up all these other, attributes from each of these leaders and, love to see you at a very forward-focused. And he actually spent a lot of time turning the organization towards not be spending too much time on post-mortem but also spending the time on how to look forward and plan for the future.

And the current CEO over just stepped in and with whom I’ve had the pleasure to work with for the last five, six years is higher and empathy. Belief in empowering leaders were trustworthy and selects the design team in a very meticulous manner. So, finally, it’s amazing to have worked with all of them.

Obviously, it’s quite scary. Imagine if. one single individual would have all these talents, which is not obviously possible, but in a nutshell, I think I’ve gained a lot in spite of the challenges of having to shift gear and accommodate and find ways of adjusting of different ways of working.

Right. I like the way that you described it as a gift of having so many different CEO. , of course, it is disruptive and it is challenging for everyone. But I think the opportunity as you’ve laid it out is that you get to see so many different styles and the trade-offs between them and what’s effective and what isn’t. And you’re able to adapt from that and add to your own style.

Maybe there’s something that you would like to be doing more of. And so you see that in a CEO and you watch them and you see how they role model that. And then you’re able to adapt it and try it and incorporate it into your own styles. I think that’s a really healthy way to look at those kinds of executive changes is what can I take from this experience?

What can I learn from it? Because as you said, I mean, it’s the major change. Every new CEO brings their own style and their own philosophy to the organization.

And so my last question would be, so with all these changes, share with us a little bit about how you guided your team through these.

Yeah. That can be quite a difficult task, because sometimes if you have an observant style, you can understand what is happening around you in the organization, and why different behaviors of why different leaders sort of conduct themselves in a different manner and lead the organization in a different manner.

But if you’re not observant and if you just follow, if you’re following what the advice is coming your way, it can be quite challenging to make course corrections. Fortunately, for us. , we were going through different business cycles whenever the new CEO came in and we could benefit from the talent of the gifts with the CEO brought with themselves.

But my message to my team has been very uniform, continue to work on one individual strengths and all of us will continue to have a role to play an important role to play. And if there are course corrections led by the CEO, which don’t allow opportunity for us as a leader, for an individual as a leader to contribute directly, use the valuable time to upscale yourself with some, with some talent or something you’ve always wanted to do, learn a language or a musical instrument or develop some new skillset relish the time to be able to hibernate for a while before the next cycle of opportunities and challenges flow in.

One of the other options, but we have also tried, and which has worked sometimes is to silently find ways of delivering in your own style and prove that a different approach is also an option to the one advocated by the CEO. It’s a big, it’s a high-risk strategy, but it’s worth giving it a try if you’re really strong in your conviction that it has worked in the past.

So, Yeah, that does in nutshell, that is what my advice to my team has been. And that is what I keep myself motivated as well, when all these changes happen.

Right. Excellent advice. And it’s obviously been successful for you because you’ve continued to advance in the organization and I’m sure you’ll continue to enjoy success at Tata steel.

So thank you very much, Anil, for your valuable insights and advice. And thanks to our listeners, we hope that this week’s episode of Leadership, Curveballs, Blind Spots and Black Holes provided with some practical solutions and insights to the challenges you face as you. Your own leadership journey.

So join us next week for another episode of Leadership, Curveballs, Blind Spots and Black Holes.