Copyright Forbes
Moving from managing people to leading other managers is a big career step. This new role often brings wider duties, higher expectations, and the chance to shape strategy, company culture, and how the whole organization performs. Reaching this level can feel exciting and rewarding. After years of proving yourself, you've earned your place at the decision-making table. What you say now carries more weight. You're probably excited about setting direction and solving bigger problems. But here's where it gets tough. While a senior role comes with great benefits, making the switch can be confusing. Leading other leaders isn't just "doing more of the same" with bigger teams and budgets. The reality is, you have to completely change how you think about your job, how you spend your time, and what success looks like. Mallory, who ran operations, learned this through experience. She had built her reputation by solving any problem that came up—late shipments, unhappy customers, or not having enough staff. When she got promoted to oversee four regional managers, Mallory saw it as a bigger version of her old job. She jumped in to give advice, sat in on team meetings, and had opinions about almost every decision. She didn't realize she was getting in her managers' way. They seemed frustrated instead of grateful—and Mallory's boss wondered why she was still dealing with small details. She found herself working longer hours but feeling less effective than before. This was a reality check for Mallory. The same things that made her successful before—like being hands-on and jumping in with quick fixes—were now holding her back. She had the skills and know-how, but she hadn't changed her thinking to match her new leadership role. Maybe you're also in the middle of moving up to lead other leaders and trying to figure things out. If so, then like Mallory, you might be learning that success means changing your basic beliefs about what makes you valuable and effective. Here are the three key changes you need to make. MORE FOR YOU 1. Moving from expert to guide Your role is no longer to be the most knowledgeable person in the room, but to develop your managers into confident decision-makers. This means fighting the urge to step in with solutions and instead giving your team room to develop their own thinking skills. This can feel like you're losing something important or even failing in your job, especially if you've always been proud of being helpful and smart. But if you're the one making all the strategic choices, your managers don't get the opportunity to strengthen that ability themselves. The next time your team comes to you with a problem, ask for their thinking before sharing your own ideas. Use questions like these to encourage your managers to think deeply and take charge, instead of relying on you: What's the main issue here? What solutions have you thought about? What do you think we should do? If I wasn't available, how would you handle this? Get used to feeling uncomfortable while your people work through unclear situations. Get comfortable with quiet moments and silence. When a manager brings up a concern, pause and say: "That's tricky. Help me understand what you're noticing," or "I can see why that worries you. What do you think would be the right move?" 2. Shifting from doing to creating results through others As a frontline manager, you were likely hands-on with giving out tasks, checking progress, and keeping everything on track. You probably felt good knowing exactly what was happening day-to-day with your team. But now, you need to let go of that control. When you're responsible for multiple teams' success, your job becomes creating the right conditions where great work can happen without you being directly involved. This change can be tough emotionally. Your satisfaction used to come from crossing items off your to-do list and ending each day knowing exactly what you got done. At the senior level, what you accomplish becomes harder to see—strategic discussions, coaching conversations, and building relationships that create value you can't easily measure. When you find yourself thinking, "I spent all day talking and have nothing to show for it," look beyond the immediate results of what you did. Did you help guide an important choice? Get priorities lined up so work moves ahead more smoothly? These victories might not feel rewarding right away, but the bigger effects build up over time. The feedback you shared with a manager today could lead to better performance next quarter. The way you pushed someone to think differently might give them the courage to try a bolder approach that wins a major client three months down the road. 3. Growing from oversight to scalable systems Since you're managing more people and projects, the amount of information coming your way could double or triple. Without the right processes in place, you might get overwhelmed by details or completely miss important problems. So pick three to five key priorities or risks you need to stay connected to, like sales goals or keeping customers happy. Then set up clear rules for when your managers should bring issues to you versus handling them on their own, such as: Check with me on any new spending over $5,000. New hires at the director level or above need my approval. Any situation that might create bad press should come straight to me. Systems that work on their own also help you stay informed without adding more work. You could ask for updates every two weeks or monthly in writing that cover important numbers, successes, challenges, and what's coming up next from each manager. Or you can have each team build a simple tracking system for key information so you can quickly see how things are going instead of setting up lots of meetings.
