# Managing Groups and Teams/Managing Leadership Transitions

## Introduction

The transition period of replacing a leader within a company is often
not a very costly time for not only the company, but all personnel
involved. In the 1992 study \"Turnover and Evole Models for Family
Leave,\" researchers J. Douglas Phillips and Barbara Reisman estimate
that the cost of replacing a top-level manager is about 150 percent of
the manager\'s base salary. These costs can include: accrued annual
leave, substantial severance pay, executive recruitment activities,
interim management costs and numerous intangible and indirect costs.
This chapter examines how to successfully manage the transition from
team member to team leader. It is important to have an effective
strategy for this transition because it has a direct impact on the
future performance of the team and its leader. This transitional phase
sets behavioral norms for team members, establishes performance
standards, affects members' motivation, and creates the leader's and
members' perceptions about their ability to excel as a cohesive unit.
Data from Development Dimensions International
1 concerning leadership transitions states
that nearly one out of every five \"people managers\" rank transitioning
leadership as the most challenging life event one could experience and
at the strategic level, these numbers are even higher, often times
placing transitions above divorce, managing teenagers, moving and even
becoming a parent.

The managing leadership transitions chapter is divided into multiple
sections and is designed to be either read completely or referred to
simply as reference. The first section examines the functional and
psychological impacts that this phase can have on team members and
transitioning leaders. The second section explores the challenges that a
newly promoted team leader faces when establishing influence over the
team members who were once teammates. The best methods for establishing
influence over a team are also assessed. Section three provides
practical advice for newly promoted leaders to accelerate the transition
process from team member to full fledged team leader, while setting both
the leader and the team up for future performance success.

## Functional and Psychological Impacts of Transitioning from Team Member to Team Leader

Being promoted to a team leadership role brings many challenges. One of
the more difficult obstacles encountered is when promotion occurs from
within the team. The new leader finds him in a position of authority
over a group of team members he previously worked alongside. This can
result in struggle for both the team and the leader as roles are
reassigned and individuals adjust to the new relationship. As companies
and schools place more emphasis on teamwork, people find themselves
facing this conflict of moving from peer to supervisor more often. What
may have once been an easy relationship based on shared experiences is
now one of shifted dynamics and unease among the team. Despite the
increasing occurrence of this event, the transition rarely goes smoothly
and often is unsuccessful. In an attempt to better understand why some
individuals succeed in making the change to team leader, many studies
have been done to help identify root causes and potential solutions.
Among those concepts identified are social biases and role conflict. In
this section we hope to further explore these concepts and the role they
play in the team member to team leader transition.

The newly promoted team leader may find them struggling with role
conflict. He/she must learn how to balance the relationships built as a
peer and the new responsibility of acting as the boss. Maurice B.
Mittelmark's editorial \"Social ties and health promotion: suggestions
for population-based research\", comments on studies which examine role
conflict and its adverse psychological and functional impacts. As
applied to transitions from team member to leader, the article supports
the proposition that new leaders will be less successful at managing the
team and more psychologically stressed if the leader tries to maintain
multiple roles, as teammate and team leader. "The Role Conflict
situation is that in which multiple roles... are perceived to demand too
much time and attention\..." The article places "emphasis on multiple
roles as the stress factor, not on too low capacity to perform as
expected (although P \[the team leader\] may nevertheless take blame for
not being able to manage somehow)." A real world example of the
significant impact of leadership transitions occurs at a US Freightways
hub in Holland, where they have been able to study the effect of
transitioning terminal managers. The US Freightways hub in Holland has
59 terminals and regularly sees a 20% annual turnover in terminal
managers, thus nearly 12 transitions per year. Taking the 12 transitions
per year and multiplying that by the average effective time of 4 months
per transition, US Freightways calculated that at any time, 4 terminals
or nearly 7% of their hub were consistently operating ineffectively. The
calculations performed by US Freightways follow:

```{=html}
<center>
```
$(59-Terminals * 20\%-Annual Transitions = 11.8-Transitions per Year)$

$\begin{matrix}&(11.8-Transitions per Year * 4-Months per Transition / 12-Months per Year\\ 
&= 4-Terminals Consistently Operating Ineffectively)\end{matrix}$

```{=html}
</center>
```
When a team leader proves ineffective at managing the team member and
team leader role, the psychological stress of trying to juggle multiple
roles and consistently meeting deadlines will ultimately cause the
leader to fail. The failure is more often a result of this stress than
the increased functional workloads associated with performing the tasks
of team leader.

Role conflict can also occur because of commitment and the brain's
strong tendency to want to be consistent with prior actions. For
example, employees may lock themselves into certain roles by telling
coworkers "they'll always be there to support them." However, when those
employees are promoted the roles change. The promoted employees may find
themselves stuck in certain roles because they want to remain consistent
with what was said beforehand. In the example where a supervisor has to
layoff a previous coworker and friend, dissonance is created and will
interfere with the supervisory role. One of the first steps a new leader
must take in order to increase their chances of success is to establish
a policy for assessment and accountability. The role of each team member
should be assessed along with a focus on accountability for each role.
The leader is accountable for his team\'s results; each team member
should know his or her roles and responsibilities. By establishing clear
expectations from the team, the leader will be better positioned to
lead. Most importantly, with proper planning and training on the part of
the new leader, role conflict can be managed more successfully.

While there may be resistance from group members for a variety of
reasons, whether it is resentment of being passed over for the promotion
or doubt of one\'s leadership skills, it is probably in the best
interest of the new supervisor to deal with those people on a
case-by-case basis. Initially both the new leader and former peer may be
hesitant to continue a social relationship outside of work; this does
not have to be the case. As long as both parties are able to recognize
and acknowledge that work stays at the office. In addition, the
transition may be helped if the new leader is able to focus on the
opportunity of the new position, not just for him, but the team. This
will help in 3 ways:

1.  Provide framework to help separate coworkers from the leader
2.  Make the promotion and new leadership more of an uplifting goal
3.  Encourage new associations to be created for the promoted employee
    and the new set of peers (other leadership members)

## Challenges and Methods for Establishing Influence over the Team

Imagine that you have been part of a team that has been working on a
project. Having worked closely with each other for some time, each
participant has become familiar with the skills and competencies of the
other members and the team dynamics have been such that all consider
themselves peers, having equal skills and knowledge to bring to the
table. Now suppose that management is unhappy with the disappointing
results that have come from this team effort and they have asked you to
lead the team to the desired outcomes for which it was first
established. Would you expect this new appointment to be met with
resistance from your peers?

Actually, team members who transition into a managerial or team leader
role in the midst of an ongoing project can face a wide array of
challenges in asserting their newfound influence. Most likely the new
leader is now in charge of his/her peers and it may prove difficult for
team members to take direction from someone whom they still consider as
an equal. The transition period for a new leader is encumbered with a
variety of resistive tendencies that may not only cause delays, but also
a significant loss of focus which will lead to even greater problems
down the road.

Once the group dynamic changes, already existing social biases can be
augmented or new social biases can arise that can further complicate the
matter. Underlying social biases like false uniqueness, recency biases,
and stereotyping can begin to emerge and become a prevalent part of the
team atmosphere. According to Gerardo Okhuysen in his article "Managers
and Social Processes" these biases have the definitions described in the
table below.

  Social Biases                                                   Definition
  --------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  False Uniqueness                                                The false uniqueness effect refers to the tendency we have to underestimate the number of people who do what we do, and like what we like.
  Recency Biases   As we gather information about others or about situations, we give much more weight to information that is acquired recently, sometimes completely forgetting all the things that happened before.
  Stereotyping         This is a tendency we have to simplify the world by putting people into a category, and then fitting the individual into the stereotype of that category.
                                                                  

These definitions take on life when put in the context of practical
application. Returning to the scenario at the beginning of this section
we can show how these social biases are applied to real situations.

  Social Biases                                                     Situation
  ----------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  False Uniqueness                                                  As you begin to lead your group of peers false uniqueness may arise when your team members respond to your leadership by thinking that if they were chosen to lead the group they would have handled it differently, when in reality if given the same circumstances they would have acted exactly as you have.
  \|Recency Biases   While leading the group you may react to any negative feedback you are getting from your team by labeling them as inherently difficult or unyielding in spite of how agreeable they may have been in the past. Your bias is a response to their most recent behavior and you have nullified all prior knowledge.
  Stereotyping           As you take on your new leadership role the team members may now attribute characteristics to you that they feel are possessed by all managers. They may attribute to you characteristics of pride, arrogance, and self interest rather than an interest in the group, whether or not you actually display these characteristics.
                                                                    

While the competitive nature of many companies can certainly increase
the likely occurrence of the above issues regardless of the influence
the leader has; often these disruptions are signs that the newly
assigned team leader's authority is not properly recognized.

Interestingly, problems stemming from a lack of leadership authority are
much more likely to surface when promotion occurs from within a team. An
example of this occurred in a small defense company in California. The
generation gap between the two main engineering levels was quite vast.
As the project moved forward, inconsistencies in the management style of
the senior project manager resulted in a prompt changing of the guard.
The most qualified individual was of the younger generation and was well
liked by his peers for his outgoing and fun personality, but the project
manager position was not all fun and games. The six months that followed
where riddled with faulty product development, severe lapses in judgment
and many test series that were absent from oversight by project
management. Being promoted from within caused the new project manager to
be put in the difficult position of having to be in charge of the same
co-workers he amused just the day before.

In order to lead effectively, a manager's authority must be well
established. In Robert Cialdini's book, *Influence, the Psychology of
Persuasion*, he determines "authority" to be the most effective method
for leaders to influence team performance and describes the various
aspects of authority as encompassing perceptual cues, such as titles,
positions and appearance, concrete knowledge and expertise.

In general, superficial cues such as formal titles or a list of
accolades that may lend to the authoritative image of an
_unfamiliar_ manager cannot serve an individual
promoted from within a team who is already well known to the group.
Managers who are promoted from within an existing team face a unique
challenge with respect to establishing their influence primarily as a
result of the perceptual components of authority.

The logistical and social components of leadership transitions also
provide a unique challenge to any new leader, whether he/she is from
inside the company or an external hire. Just as a strong functioning
team can be one of the greatest assets to a manager and the entire
company, an ill performing entity can rapidly bring a process to a
screeching halt.

It is almost certain that the new leader of any team will be different
than the previous leader, be it in management style, attitude or vision.
These qualities, however good or bad, must be accepted by the entire
team in order for them to collectively move forward and maintain a
strong status. In retaliation to change, a vault of resistive pressures
may be unleashed toward the new leader ranging from severe lack of
urgency and distraction to jealousy and animosity towards all
management. ![](Crime.svg){width="120"} Project meetings can quickly
become less orderly, employees can lose focus and general chaos ensues.
Many social biases including false uniqueness and stereotyping can
create a wall between the new leader and his/her subordinates. The
reoccurring ideas that \"I could have done that better\" or \"he is a
typical suit that does not know what is really going on here\" can
slowly begin to implode the team environment. Although many of these
examples seem extreme, transitions in leadership often do cause
logistical delays leading to a temporary rise in social bias among
subordinates.

In a recent article by Sotiriou and Wittmer, "Influence Methods of
Project Managers: Perceptions of Team Members and Project Managers\",
the authors present the findings of three separate studies that attempt
to measure the importance of various factors relating to managerial
influence. "Expertise" was examined as a separate factor in the project
management studies but showed almost identical ratings to the
"authority" component, suggesting that these components are very closely
related. The studies also provided evidence that knowledge, when used as
an influential method, is highly correlated to a project manager\'s
overall effectiveness. It is evident that newly promoted managers are
therefore best served by leveraging their knowledge and expertise, to
help establish authority within their new role. Robert Cialdini however,
identifies "liking" as an important factor in enabling people to
influence others and he endorses a persuasion technique that leverages
"liking" or friendship as a way for leaders to influence team members.
In a situation where a colleague is promoted to a leadership role, the
new manager might hope to rely on friendship ties with former peers to
help motivate the team and encourage them to take direction. Managers
choosing to use \"liking\" as a strategy for empowerment should be aware
that often times team members adopt a familiarity with the new manager
that is consistent with his or her collegial or "friendship" role and
therefore do not properly respond to the new supervisory role.

Once a proper blend of expertise, knowledge and \"non-liking\" has been
established, management becomes further complicated by the familiar "us
vs. them" mentality that is quite common in organizations. While it is
not always appropriate to rely on friendships to motivate and direct
team efforts, it is still necessary to eliminate adversarial
relationships between team members and team leaders. Cialdini identifies
"contact and cooperation" as valuable methods of unifying groups that
may originally perceive themselves to be at odds. "Conjoint efforts
toward common goals" can help to overshadow contentious relationships
and leaders often benefit from incorporating the inherent team
challenges into a strategy focused on the major goals of the project.
This approach is echoed by Sotiriou and Wittmer's project management
studies that identify the "work challenge" as the overall most important
factor contributing to the positive influence of project managers. These
results further support methods of motivation that emphasize creating a
meaningful and challenging work environment to help transitioning
managers become effective team leaders.

Managing leadership transitions is a very difficult thing to do, but
there are excellent strategies that can help ease the burden on everyone
involved. A well rounded combination of expertise and knowledge will
foster an authoritative position for the new leader. The \"liking\"
factor, often present when an in-group employee is promoted, can be very
valuable in establishing strong positive influence. However, one must
always be aware of the potential social biases and resistive tendencies
of once peer, now subordinate employees. Strong leaders should work
toward creating a challenging and satisfying work environment that not
only focuses the team on common project goals, but also demonstrates
that the leader\'s influence can and will lead the team to produce
effective and positive outcomes. In the transition period for a new
leader, the window of opportunity is short and he/she must be willing to
make great strides toward establishing a solid influence over their
team.

## Practical Advice for Accelerating a Leadership Transition

A change in leadership of a project team requires a period of transition
for everyone involved, especially the new leader. One of the best
resources for practical and applicable advice about how to manage this
period of transition is *The First 90 Days: Success Strategies for New
Leaders at All Levels* by Michael Watkins. This book offers a structure
and framework to help new leaders manage and accelerate the transition
process that comes with their new role.

The book identifies ten key challenges for any new leader. We have
adapted these ten challenges which can be applied when a project team
member transitions into a team leadership role; later we will discuss
the challenges we feel are most important for this particular situation.
The ten challenges are as follows:

1.  **Promote Yourself**: Change your mindset to reflect the realities
    of your new position. Don't assume that what has been successful for
    you in the past will work for you today. Your new position may
    require you to acquire and develop new skills in order to guarantee
    success for you and your new team.
2.  **Accelerate Your Learning**: When transitioning into a leadership
    role within the same company or team, the learning curve will be
    less steep, but an open mind is vital to any new leader's success.
    As a member of the team, you were probably familiar with the
    industry, the company, your competitors, and the market, in addition
    to your own specific functions and responsibilities on the project.
    However, as the new leader of the team, you may not know the exact
    details of your teammate\'s responsibilities, so learning about
    these from your team members will be essential.
3.  **Match Strategy to Situation**: You need to understand the current
    business situation, and identify its unique challenges and
    opportunities. As a member of the team, you should have a good idea
    as to what the consequences and implications of transition will be,
    as well as a good sense for the team dynamics. A clear grasp of the
    situation will help you to develop a winning strategy in managing
    and accelerating the transition.
4.  **Secure Early Wins**: Building credibility will be essential to
    establishing your new role on the team, and securing early wins is
    the best way to achieve this. Formal authority over your former
    peers will only carry you so far before your team members start to
    think, "I could probably do a better job." Securing early wins will
    demonstrate to the team that you can plan and achieve tangible goals
    for the group, and they will probably be more willing to follow your
    lead.
5.  **Negotiate Success**: Perhaps the most important relationship in
    your new leadership role will be the one between you and your new
    boss. It will essential that you plan and execute a series of
    conversations with your new boss regarding his/her expectations; ask
    what resources will be available to help you develop your team.
6.  **Achieve Alignment**: Ensure that your goals, your team's goals,
    and the organization's goals are all in alignment.
7.  **Build Your Team**: Inheriting a team can produce a variety of
    interpersonal issues. Depending on the nature of your transition,
    you may or may not be given authority to make personnel decisions
    immediately or at all. A thorough and careful assessment of the
    situation will help when making recommendations to your boss, and
    assist you in your own decisions as how to restructure your team for
    optimal performance.
8.  **Create Coalitions**: Your success will greatly depend upon your
    ability to influence people outside your direct line of control. As
    the new leader of the team, you are the voice of your team to the
    organization at large. You should not only build and maintain
    alliances with the people on your own team, but also with the key
    individuals within the organization who are necessary to the
    ultimate success of your team.
9.  **Keep Your Balance**: Transitions are extremely difficult to
    manage; it is easy to lose perspective, become isolated, and make
    bad decisions. To help maintain a balanced perspective, you need to
    develop a strong advice and counsel network both within your team
    and within the organization.
10. **Expedite Everyone**: You need to not only accelerate your own
    transition, but the transitions of everyone you work with -- direct
    reports, bosses, and peers.

The most important challenges that pertain to a team member stepping
into a management or leadership role relate to those challenges
described in numbers 1, 3, 4, and 5 from above. What follows is a
detailed description and how the challenges apply to each situation.

**Challenge 1:** "Promote Yourself," relates to the psychological
transition that a team member must make when promoted to team leader. As
discussed in section one, newly promoted leaders must change their
perception of themselves and re-frame their roles within the team. While
it may seem that the re-framing would be most difficult for the leader's
former peers, in reality it is the new leader whose own behavior must
change. For example, team leaders will have to forgo the informal
chit-chat and chumminess they may have formerly enjoyed with their
peers. Also, managers probably won\'t be included in all of the
after-hours fraternizing or social activities of the team.

**Challenge 2:** "Matching Strategy to Situation," is arguably the most
important challenge for a team member transitioning to a team leader.
Without fully understanding at what stage the project team is in, a new
leader will be unable to tailor the correct managerial approach to the
team's current situation; as a result the team will fail to achieve.
Watkins recommends using the STaRS model (Start-up, Turn-around,
Realignment, and Sustaining Success), as a framework for helping to
diagnose the team's current situation. A transitioning leader must
identify the challenges and opportunities facing the team in order to
recognize the structural implications underpinning their team's ability
to perform. Those who move from team member to team leader likely do so
as a result from an organization\'s need for realignment. Often in a
realignment situation, the leader's challenge is to revitalize a team
project which has deteriorated. In this situation, the leader must
challenge engrained norms of behavior, convince team members that change
is warranted, as well as restructure and refocus the team. These
challenges are offset by potential strengths already inherent in the
team; team members' prior success serves as motivation for wanting to
achieve future success.

Watkins' assertion that transitional leaders must match their strategy
to the team's situation is in line with Hersey and Blanchard's
Developmental Theory of Leadership. This theory matches leadership style
to group maturity. Group maturity is a function of time, and leadership
style matches relationship-orientation and task-orientation to the
group's stage of development. In the case of transitioning leaders, the
group may be mature when the teammate is promoted to team leader, but
because the dynamic of the team is now changed, the leader may need to
adapt his/her leadership strategy to fit the formative stage of team
development. In the formative stage, the new leader should first focus
on the team's tasks. After this initial phase, the leader should then
heighten his/her relationship-orientation, while maintaining equal focus
on task-orientation.

**Challenge 3:** "Secure Early Wins," is essential for establishing
credibility as the new leader of the team. These early wins should be
"team wins" as opposed to wins for the new leader. This will help build
the perception that the new leader is effective not just in managing his
or her own work, but more importantly getting the team to work together
toward common goals. Watkins asserts that a new leader's "earliest
actions will have a disproportionate influence on how they are
perceived" New leaders are perceived as more credible when they display
a specific managerial style. This style, according to Watkins, consists
of six components. A new leader must be (1) "demanding but able to be
satisfied" (motivating members to commit to and achieve realistic
goals,) (2) "accessible but not too familiar" (establishing
approachability without compromising authority,) (3) "decisive but
judicious" (communicating the ability to take charge without making
hasty big decisions,) (4) "focused but flexible" (establishing authority
but consulting team members and encouraging team input,) (5) "active
without causing commotion" (building momentum without overwhelming,) and
(6) "willing to make tough but humane calls " (ensuring decisions are
fair and preserve team members' dignity.)

**Challenge 4:** "Negotiate Success," is another challenge that is
essential in almost any situation. Ultimately, your boss is the main
person who will be evaluating your team and your individual performance,
which are directly tied. So establishing criteria and tangible
objectives with your new boss is essential. Also, keep in mind that
these goals may have been set for you by your predecessor, but as part
of Challenge 3, you must evaluate these objectives and determine if they
are still realistic given the transition period required for the change
in leadership, this and other factors which your predecessor might not
have taken into consideration.

  Leaders in Transition   Additional Time Spent
  ----------------------- -----------------------
  Communicating           64.7%
  Planning                60.8%
  Building A Team         60.0%
  Strategy                58.2%
  Influencing             57.1%
                          

As seen in table to the left from Paese and Wellins - \"Leaders In
Transition: Step Up or Step Off\" of Development Dimensions
International 2, communication and planning
consume vast amounts of time from transitioning leaders. In a study
performed by Evolta
3 , 60
--65 % of all transitioners make their transition without special
support from transition-based help firms. Often due to the fact that it
takes transitioners 6 - 9 months to become fully effective and efficient
in their new positions, a startling 35 - 40% of transitioning leaders
fail.

Although the change in leadership of a project team requires a period of
transition for everyone involved, the transitioning leader has many
tools available to make the journey as pain free as possible. Following
proven strategies for smoother transitions and possibly seeking the
advice of leadership transition training by companies like Evolta,
transitioning leaders can not only reduce the time involved, but also
increase their likelihood of success.

## Conclusion

This chapter focuses on how to manage the transition from team member to
team leader, when working in a team-based organization. With the reality
that \"internally sourced leaders are failing 33% of the time\" and
\"very few leaders feel that organizations are doing the right things to
prepare their future leaders\" (Paese and Wellins), the pressure on
transitioning leaders seems insurmountable. Although the mountain is
high, a key aspect of a successful transition is an effective strategy.

The importance of a successful transition not only lies with the leader,
but also with the future performance of the entire team. The
psychological impacts of the transitional period may include role
conflicts and the animosity and personal doubt of other \"passed over\"
teammates. Stress and impaired functionality are often negative outcomes
that commonly arise from role conflict and often the best way to
overcome such role conflict is to simply relinquish the prior teammate
role and frame the leadership role as a definitive new challenge. Once
the new leader has successfully changed his/her perception from team
member to leader, the leader must establish influence over the team.
Although this may be extremely difficult at times and require the entire
team to overcome strong social biases, the results of a meaningful and
challenging work environment are well worth the effort. One of the best
ways to influence a team is through a combination of leveraging
knowledge, expertise and \"liking\" to focus the team around a common
set of goals. This combination of techniques not only establishes the
leader's credibility within the team, but it also primes the group to
visualize accomplishing future goals under such leadership. Finally,
even with extensive training and a thorough understanding of the social
biases that may be present during your transition, it is the actions of
the **leader** that matter most. We discussed topics like how to
\"promote yourself\", \"match strategy to situation\" and \"negotiate
success\" as excellent ways to accelerate your transition period. By
opening your mind and following some of the aforementioned guidelines
for leadership transitions, anyone can successfully transition into a
coveted leadership role with confidence and finesse.

## Links

<http://www.ddiworld.com/>

<http://www.evolta.org/ngcms/v2/htdocs/index.php?cat_id=1000137>

<http://www.patrickmckenna.com/PatrickJMcKennaBrainmatterArticlesWhitepapers11.aspx?ID=50&NavID=40110>

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