Out of my depth with promotion

[coffeerevelsrule]

I have worked in my sector (public sector in frontline type setting) for nearly 20 years and have been working towards this promotion for a few years now, looking for opportunities etc and now it has finally happened in my existing workplace. I've gone from a middle-management role to a more senior one, though I have kept most of my existing duties - there has been some restructuring but it's very much a step up with a rise.

I thought I would love it but I'm really struggling. I think it's partly because I'm having to establish myself in a new role while essentially still doing the old one, which takes up a lot of time. My new role isn't very clear cut in a lot of ways so it can be hard on a daily basis to know what I should be doing, though I do have more long-term projects I'm working on in the background and I do feel ok about those. It's just that on a daily basis I think I'm doing pretty much what I've always done, as far as people can see, and they probably think why is she being paid more to do the same (not that anyone has said anything).

I also have an element of my new role that is very different from anything I've done before and I'm uncertain what I should be doing, really. For this part I'm line managing someone who knows a lot more about their area than I do and therefore I don't really feel comfortable or effective when I'm doing that - I'm having to make it up as I'm going along, which isn't really me.

I just feel like I've gone from something I was really good at to something where I'm a bit crap and I don't know what to do. I don't have a line manager I see a lot of and to make it worse, they are someone I don't have masses of respect for. The element of my job I feel the most confident in is one they specialise in and, to be honest, I don't really rate them in it. That is also hard to deal with.

AIBU to think I've made a massive mistake?

Does your area have a service plan? A strategy? You should have a line manager and you should be agreeing targets and aims and objectives with them. It doesn't sound like you're out of your depth, it just sounds like there is a lack of clarity for what you should be doing; however it's your role to address that if it's the case.

It sounds as if it is early days in your promotion, so give it time. Discuss with your line manager, even though you don't respect them, what their expectations are of your new role, so you can be clear what you should be doing. You have worked towards this new role for a long time, you secured the promotion so enjoy it. You will gradually settle in, behind to feel confident in your new role. Give it time.

You sound firstly like you have a bit of imposter syndrome. You deserve the promotion, you have no good reason to think otherwise. Get stuck into those extra projects and feel good about them. Re the new bit that you don’t know much about, learn as much as you need to know from the person you are managing (there is no shame in that) but also you don’t need to know all about it because you have them. Being a senior manager doesn’t mean you have to become an expert in everyone’s areas. You are there to manage and support and encourage them. It is a shame you don’t respect your manager but he or she must have some strengths. It is such early days also, give yourself a break. It takes time to get comfortable in a new role.

Definitely Google Imposter Syndrome - how you feel smacks of that! It is very normal to feel out or your depth in a new role. It takes time to adjust. But you were picked for that role for a reason. You'd be amazed at the people who feel like frauds in their jobs- some of the most incredible people do!

I think a conversation with your manager and being kind to yourself will help.

Chat to your team and find out who wants to develop and see who has capacity and what you can delegate.

Be king to yourself, straddling two roles (doing the stuff and managing the stuff) is really hard because it's hard to ask the critical questions and see the woods from the trees.

If your staff are effective I'd try to take a sounding board approach, build rapport and have 1:1s to find put their personal priorities and allocate work where you can from there.

Well done! You will settle. When I got promoted I was a wreck for the first month! You will settle into it.

Did you research the post before you took it. If not can you go back down and look more into it before reapplying? I know extra money is tempting but not at sacrifice to your job enjoyment.

I also have an element of my new role that is very different from anything I've done before and I'm uncertain what I should be doing, really. For this part I'm line managing someone who knows a lot more about their area than I do and therefore I don't really feel comfortable or effective when I'm doing that - I'm having to make it up as I'm going along, which isn't really me.

You don’t need to know more than someone to managed them, does your company not provide training if you haven’t line managed someone before?

you need to be raising with your manager the areas you need support with imo, rather than worrying about it. They can’t help if they don’t know you need help

Don’t worry about your staff being more expert than you. Your job is to enable them to use their expert knowledge

Thanks everyone - I had a look at imposter syndrome and it does resonate.
I have line managed before - I've had a team of 12 for about 6 years, but I knew that role inside out. Now I'm line-managing someone and am supposed to spend time supporting them on a daily basis but they don't really need it, or when they do need support it's not things that are obvious to me so I'm having to ask if they want me to do anything, which makes me feel a bit wet.

I also shouldn't have said I don't respect my manager - I do, but have a fundamentally different approach to a key element of our job, which I feel will be an issue at some point, though it hasn't been yet. I'm just hoping I'll be given autonomy in that area.

It sounds like you need to figure out a way to delegate some of the elements of your old role to give you space to get into the new one. I appreciate that may be tricky in a situation where there's been a restructure and your old role (I'm guessing) doesn't exist? Have a serious think about what you do all day and which bits someone else can do, in a senior role you should be able to push this and you might need to be ruthless. You simply can't carry on doing your old role and develop a set of skills at same time, there aren't enough hours in the day.