The No B.S. Workplace Legacy Coach and trusted advisor helping individuals and organizations reach higher levels of work performance.
This is the time of year when leaders in my coaching program are promoted to new roles in their organizations. When we begin the conversation about transitioning from their current role to their new role, I ask: Are you being promoted to be a placeholder or a change agent? This question catches them by surprise. Why? Because every leader believes they’re being promoted to change things—the composition of the team, how the team operates or establishing new team goals and objectives.
However, in my experience, 50% of leaders are promoted to be placeholders, not change agents. But newly promoted leaders often have not been given a clear understanding of why they’ve been promoted and what their organization wants them to accomplish in their new role. This causes them to take actions based on false assumptions, which creates unnecessary confusion and chaos as they interact with their new team.
Placeholders Versus Change Agents
This confusion and chaos can be avoided with an understanding of the placeholder and change agent styles of leadership and when each style is more appropriate for a newly promoted leader to adopt.
Here are the primary characteristics of a placeholder:
• They have a fixed mindset and a strong belief in their existing skills and competencies, which helps them lead with assurance.
• They focus on maintaining the status quo to ensure stability and consistency.
• They do not seek or initiate any significant changes, nor do they encourage or support innovation.
• They have a conservative and risk-averse mindset, preferring to stick with traditional ways of doing things.
• They rely on existing strategies and practices.
And here are the primary characteristics of a change agent:
• They have a growth mindset and a strong vision of a better future.
• They actively work to bring about change and improvement in their team or its performance.
• They challenge the status quo.
• They take calculated risks.
• They embrace uncertainty.
• They are open-minded and encourage new ways of doing things.
Determining Which Style Is Appropriate
These are some of the factors to consider when determining which leadership style is the most appropriate for a new team leader:
1. The Organization’s Goals
If the organization needs to maintain stability and consistency, a placeholder approach is more appropriate. If the organization wants growth and innovation, a change agent approach is more effective.
2. The External Environment
Changes in the economy or marketplace, new competitors and shifts in customer needs determine whether the organization requires a change agent or a placeholder. In a stable and predictable economy, a placeholder maintains the status quo, ensuring the organization remains competitive. In a rapidly changing market or disruptive environment, a change agent leader is often needed to adapt to the new conditions and find a new direction.
3. Interim Leader
During a transition period, a placeholder leader maintains stability to ensure the organization operates effectively until the permanent team leader is in place.
4. Crisis Management
In a crisis, a placeholder leader ensures stability and keeps the organization committed to its core values and stated objectives. After the crisis is resolved, however, a change agent leader may be needed to ensure the crisis does not recur.
5. Organizational Culture
If the organization values stability and consistency over innovation and risk-taking, a placeholder leader rather than a change agent leader is required—and vice versa.
6. Leadership Style
A leader’s mindset—either growth or fixed—factors into why a leader is promoted to lead a team. A placeholder leader tends to have a fixed mindset and is more comfortable maintaining the status quo and stability, while a change agent leader tends to have a growth mindset and is more comfortable taking risks motivated by innovation and growth.
7. Team Capabilities
If the team is experienced and ready to embrace change, a change agent leader approach works best. If the team is less experienced or resistant to change, a placeholder leader is better suited to build consensus and gradually introduce small changes, rather than pushing for significant changes that may be met with resistance.
8. Limited Resources
If the organization has limited resources, a placeholder leader is more effective, as they can optimize existing processes and systems to maximize efficiency, rather than introducing significant changes to the way the team operates.
9. Short-Term Goals
If the team is trying to achieve short-term goals, a placeholder leader is more effective. Faced with disruptions in the marketplace, change agent leaders are often tasked with identifying new opportunities, challenging the status quo and driving the necessary changes to achieve long-term goals. Placeholder leaders, on the other hand, maintain stability and continuity, executing existing strategies and plans to allow the organization to achieve short-term goals within the transition period required to establish the structure to achieve new long-term goals.
Final Thoughts
In the chaotic, evolving pandemic-influenced work environment, the most effective leaders recognize when a situation has changed and requires a change in leadership style. They are capable of adopting either a placeholder or a change agent mindset to meet the changing circumstances and most effectively achieve the organization’s objectives. In some cases, a leader may be both a placeholder and a change agent simultaneously, maintaining stability in some areas while driving innovation in others.
A leader flexible enough to adapt their leadership style to meet the demands of the situation will lead their team to success, regardless of the challenges they are facing.
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