Too much/Bitten off more than I could chew?

[Sapsx]

Hi everyone,

I’m new here but I was just wondering whether I could lean on this forum for some advice.

Last year I got promoted to a senior position. I’ll be managing a team for a the first time, setting strategy/direction for a new function, and reporting into a director for the first time (who has 6 direct reports and a team of around 50!)

I feel massively out of my comfort zone, completely unclear on my work objectives, and like I’m under achieving/delivering - though I’ve been in this role for 3 months. It still feels so daunting and I have massive work anxiety... ugh!

I wondered whether anybody had been in this position and any advice on pushing through with this job and getting myself back to feeling comfortable again?

I feel to embarrassed to ask for help as my boss is very senior, and I feel I’ve been in this role for too long?! Sorry, long post but opinions and advice so appreciated xo

3 months is nothing. Honestly.

I would be asking for feedback on what I've done so far - my boss has a team of around 150, 6 direct reports, but we have at least 30 minutes a week when I can run things past him & get his input. So I would ask directly what he thinks, what's good / needs more focus; and where he sees this team going in future, what he wants to achieve. I'd also be giving him my opinions - what I want to see more / less of from the team, and where I think we should go in future.

So once we're agreed on the objective, I'd go away to work on how I achieve that. And that is daunting so break it down into chunks - for this to work we need to do / have / be x so how do we get there, we need to think about this so who do I need to get involved in that, so we need a workstream looking at this aspect, what oversight will I need, etc.

If you don't know where you're going, you can't tell when you've got there... so you will always feel like you're under-achieving. Discomfort is not a bad thing, keeps you on your toes, but it does die away eventually...

"I feel massively out of my comfort zone, completely unclear on my work objectives, and like I’m under achieving/delivering - though I’ve been in this role for 3 months. It still feels so daunting and I have massive work anxiety... ugh!"

Ok - break this down. Two of these points are feelings and one is something you can do something about. You may feel you're out if your comfort zone, you may feel you're underachieving, but unless someone tells you so, then you have no proof. You only have your own brain telling you that.

If you feel unclear on your work objectives, raise this. Present what you think you should be doing in a presentation, ask if this is in line with expectations. Set SMART goals, regular points to assess (quarterly?) so you can keep on track. Do your teams objectives feed into yours? Do THEY know what they're doing? Remember to manage upwards as well as down.

It's January 5th, this is the perfect opportunity to get this sorted.

No advice from me as I am in a very similar situation and feel absolutely miserable at the moment. I've been in the role slightly less time than you (a month when you consider Christmas leave). It all feels extremely overwhelming at the moment.

Sorry for not adding anything of use to this but wanted to add a comment so I could watch the replies too.