Stepping down at end of temporary promotion when expected to apply for permanent role

[StormBertWreckedMyFence]

Long story short: got a temporary promotion to a leadership role. Had reservations about being a people manager which turned out to be well founded. Hate that side of things but enjoy the planning, strategy, finding efficiencies side of it. Have been so busy (partly picking up work for a colleague who’s struggling) that I haven’t had time to do anything for my own development. Promotion finishes at the end of the year and I am expected to apply for the permanent position, but I don’t want to. Managers are telling me I’m doing a great job but keep piling on the work.

I can ask to go back to my old role but don’t want to - I think I’d like to try something different. I can’t move elsewhere in the organisation because my role is business critical and they will block the move. I feel trapped. Am job hunting but it’s quiet at the moment, plus I live somewhere with limited opportunities locally.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation and what did you do?

I had a secondment and stopped extending it and went back to my former Role. I've got no regrets at all.

Knowing what are your strengths is a good thing, I’ve also declined a managerial role as I prefer the strategic planning instead of dealing with sick leave and poor performance team management stuff. Be honest but show where and how you add value, I’ve carved out my own role inthe back of it rather than being lost to the business

Thank you both. When I was younger I think I would have seen myself as a failure for not continuing with it (and worry that I was letting people down) but nowadays I’m more about knowing my strengths as you say @Winter0sunshineHopes but also not carrying on when I’m not enjoying it. I could potentially carve out a niche but the team is under a lot of pressure so I think I’d have to go back to my old job.

I’ve also had enough of feeling constantly anxious and worrying that I’ve missed something. I haven’t slept well in months because I wake up at 4am worrying about work.

Would some extra training or support help you grow in confidence with the elements you find hard? That might help with the worry keeping you up at night.

Alternatively I would tell your boss now that you like xyz elements but not ABC and see if you can develop a specific role for you. It sounds like they might be open to it if you are doing well overall.

I took a voluntary “demotion” in our last big reorganisation/redundancy wave. No regrets.

I just don’t want to do the leadership side at all. While it might help to build skills and confidence in that side of things, I just don’t want to lead a team. It’s not something I’ve ever wanted to do, I’d much rather be a subject matter expert or something like that, something with skills or knowledge in a particular area (which I already have and would much prefer to develop).

I suppose I thought managing a team would get easier with time as I got used to the role, and it has to a certain extent, but I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable doing it.

It does depend on the team as well though. I’ve been unlucky and each time has significant MH issues to manage with team members and long term sick none of it was straight forward and if you don’t have support above it gets a very lonely place to be.

That has definitely been a factor. I have a colleague who stepped down from a line manager role back into their old job so I am going to contact them for a chat. I have raised the issues multiple times but managers have just said I’m doing fine and to carry on. Nobody wants to acknowledge that I might be unhappy in the role, presumably because it’ll inconvenience them having to find a replacement.

I'd never take a line manager role again, even if that means limiting my progression. Absolute worst part of any role I've ever done and no amount of time or coaching would change my mind. There is no shame in stepping down from a promotion if it's not what you want to be doing.

I'd just be honest with your line manager, you've enjoyed ABC parts of the role and this experience has shown you that you want to focus on developing those skills rather than XYZ. You'll be looking for internal and external opportunities to do ABC so what can they do to support you with that? I've seen people carve out roles like this because the company has wanted to retain them rather than risk losing them

Thanks @Rosecoffeecup. I had reservations when I applied but thought I wouldn’t know for sure unless I tried. And yeah, ugh. Still, I gave it a try!

It's strange to me that in so many skilled jobs as you progress and get better at it, you end up doing less of that skill! I have friends who write software/code, are electricians , are accountants (and probably other professions too ) and after a a certain number of years of doing those jobs are suddenly expected to want (and be able) to manage people to progress, often while not doing very much of their original skill any more .

It’s an (il)logical progression! Since my promotion I have tried to keep my hand in with the skills I enjoy using most (quite technical) but really that’s the direction I want to go in, not management just for the sake of progression (and a payrise).