Vinnie Bhadra
Most of us dream about the moment when our boss conveys the news of that much awaited promotion. Imagine that it's yours: a great step up the career ladder, huge responsibility, a bigger team and a whopping pay rise! But, do we acknowledge the anxiety that is as much a part of the promotion package?
Once you get your most sought after promotion, ever thought what after that? However, the one thing that you have to keep in mind is that from this moment on, whatever happens is your responsibility. You are the boss. You have to take the difficult decisions, make the judgment calls and perhaps even define your own role. And there will be the massive unspoken expectation — from your team, your peers and your boss — that you will know exactly what to do. If you have been through this, then you will know that this is what is called ‘promotion anxiety’. Here we have spoken to a few people to know how one can deal with this anxiety and not let it hamper your promotion progress.
Executive Speak: Srikanth Dikhale, VP HR, Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd:
“Promotion anxiety is a phenomenon that almost every executive goes through once he/she reaches the middle and senior managerial levels. Before the promotion, you were a lone worker and had to report to your supervisor. But post promotion, you are not a lone worker anymore. You have a team of people who are reporting to you and expect you to know their work responsibility as well as yours. Sometimes, this feeling can get a little overwhelming. In a well structured organisation, with a competent framework, this issue is always dealt with, where the person getting a promotion is given a session with his/her predecessor or his/her supervisor where they explain his/her new job and role. This initiative taken by the management can reduce the promotion and performance anxiety of the individual. However, there also has to be an effort that is to be taken from the individual’s side. Like for example, if his/her predecessor is still in office, they should go and talk to them so as to understand their KRAs and job descriptions better. India Inc. is addressing such issues as managements have realised that by not addressing this issue, the matter will only get escalated to a level where they have to let go of a good employee because of under-performance due to promotion as well as performance anxiety.”Doc Talk: Gayathri Balsubramaniam, clinical psychologist:
“Performance anxiety is faced by everyone and hence, it is important to deal with it in a humane way. There is no point ignoring the symptoms of it and then waiting for them to become into a full blown problem. As they deal with the problem at the root, so the first step towards that is accepting it and then taking steps dealing with it. For this, it is important to maintain good relations with your boss and your supervisors, so that you can talk about it openly. When new responsibilities are given to you, the human mind cannot accept so much sudden change. Hence, it is important to deal with it in steps. First and foremost, what is important is that the office environment should be such that the individual should not fear talking about it. He/she should not think that their anxiety will be viewed as their weakness and used against them. This is the main reason why most people do not face their anxiety problems and the matter just escalates. It is a common human feeling, just like elation and sadness; self doubt also occurs at certain events in our lives. And also, on the individual's part is it important that he/she realises that they cannot keep their anxiety hidden as it will only hamper their job performance. Self confidence and trusting one’s ability to handle the new job with as much competency are vital.”
Personal Experience: Amit Shah, chief accountant, KK Mehta Charted Accountancy:
“Promotion anxiety can be a big roadblock in one’s career, if not dealt with properly. However, it is a personal demon that every working professional has to fight at some point in their careers and if you win the war against ‘I can’t or can I’ phase once, then you can deal with it every time. When I was promoted for the first time from a junior accountant to a senior consultant, I was first over the moon with joy, but when it all sank in, the responsibilities and magnanimity of the new job profile terrified me but I did not speak about this to anyone as I was worried this would show my weakness to my juniors as well as seniors. Where once I used to submit my final report to a supervisor, I now had people who were submitting their reports to me and I had to approve or disapprove them. I started concentrating on the fact that my boss shouldn’t find a mistake in the reports that I totally lost track of my real job. I was underperforming due to the stress and my boss could see that. But I was very lucky as he approached me and sat me down and asked me what the issue was, if I didn’t like my job anymore or was I finding it difficult to cope with so much work. I finally told him what the problem was and he guided me through my new job profile after which I was very relaxed with my new responsibilities and also I was liking my new job. So yes, promotion anxiety does exist and dealing with it is important or else you can lose your career for good.”
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