We were meeting to make an important decision for the organization, one we’d been wrestling with for months now. Our CEO was seven months into his new role, having been our CFO for many years. Instinctively he reached for his calculator and began “testing the numbers” we were discussing just as he always did, only the CFO who replaced him was sitting at the table with the rest of us. There was silence while he worked. The new CFO looked surprised, many of us were not. Under the stress of an important decision, our CEO reverted to his comfort zone, numbers, and began functioning in his old role as well as his new role. He didn’t realize he was publicly saying to the new CFO, “I don’t trust you.”

I’ve watched this scenario play out countless times, so frequently that it no longer surprises me. A leader is promoted into a new position, and they continue trying to do the job they previously held and their new job. Why? Because people are uncomfortable leaving what they know to learn a new role.

Never forget your new role should be a stretch for you with responsibilities you must grow into.  Trust me, the people who chose to promote you saw growth potential in you, or they wouldn’t have chosen you. When an organization promotes the best salesperson into the “head of sales” role, it isn’t to keep selling. Instead, they want to ensure the things that made them the best at sales are embedded into the entire salesforce. It’s a teaching role, not a role of doing.

Trying to do your old job and the new one will stunt your growth. As an example, a Chief Operating Officer (COO) being promoted to a CEO role, makes a significant shift. Their old role was internally focused and detail oriented. The new role as CEO is much different, it is responsible for shaping vision, externally focused, requires relationship building and strategic thinking. If the new CEO keeps trying to do the details, they will never develop the skills needed for their new role.

When you are promoted, the question you must answer is a critical one.

Who will do for you, what you did for someone else to make them successful?

In other words, “you need to replace yourself”.

Don’t hire a clone yourself. Instead, think about your most valuable gifts that helped a previous leader. You need someone who can do that for you, allowing you to let go because it’s not part of your new job. Then, let them do it, recognizing they will do it differently than you would.

What if your new role needs the same gifts that were most helpful to your predecessor, but it wasn’t their strength?

It’s never wrong to stay with your strengths, just re-shape the two jobs. There isn’t a rule that prevents you from doing this. In this situation, the question you must answer is like the previous one, but it is different.

Who will do for you, what you don’t do well?

Build into your team the skills that you lack, or don’t love. What if the person you are replacing is strong in numbers and loves them, but weak in relationships, which is your strength? Re-shape your new role to have a larger focus on relationships and your old role to have a larger focus on numbers.

When you take the next big step in your career, which you will, don’t try to do what you did and your new job. Ask, “Who can do for you…?”

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19