You have swallowed the bitter pill and taken a role which is below what you think you are at in your career. We all have to accept reality, and sometimes the stars just don’t align.
This can be a recipe for disaster for three reasons yet has a massive upside often overlooked. Stay with the post until the positives, they are also sprinkled through!
The Downsides – it’s all in your head, but in your control!
- An employer saw that you have been there and you have proven yourselves. They have high expectations of you succeeding and won’t understand why your motivation and performance will dip initially while you get out of your funk. They will be brutal as they want results. Remember that you own your perspective and it does not determine your worth, it’s your actions.
- The team you work for will be wary of your increased level of experience and may not see this as a positive. They may unhelpfully try to limit your opportunities or take credit for your work. Be patient and help everyone, being as transparent as possible, as once people accept you want success for the team (and them as individuals) you will become the go to person for advice and quiet conversations
- You will naturally want to continue to operate at the same level you used to. You may try to do it all and fulfil multiple roles. Not only will this annoy your team, it will cause them to believe you don’t trust them – a team dynamic killer. It also won’t let you be a success at the role you need to be as expectations on yourself by the organisation will be to deliver at a high level and not average across multiple levels. Know your role and have this agreed with your manager, smash these expectations not outside of what is expected of you. Slowly you will see more land on your plate as your performance level becomes known.
Keep in mind that a few false starts at a lower level than you have experience for and are capable of can be a major career halter, I know individuals who took years to come out of their funk and still talk about “when i was..”, mate that was 3 years ago. Unfortunately individuals are biased in their interpretation of job history, and on face value people will believe that you got lucky in a more senior role but were unable to repeat the same success elsewhere. This is something you rarely can influence and need to avoid at all costs.
Which is why it bears repeating
You need to be a success at any level, not just at the level you think you deserve to be, even more so for lower roles than you are capable of.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, a back step or reorientation allows an important thing that often many won’t have in newly promoted roles; Perspective.
- A step back allows you to reflect and see more clearly how things are, vs how people want them to be. Knowing this allows you to take action.
- It allows you to capture quick wins which have worked in the past, this builds rapport quickly
- It gives you a chance to pilot and try new skills which you didn’t use when you previously had this role
If you have had to take a lower role chances are either labour market conditions are poor or the industry is in downturn. Likely if a company you are working for has work, they will continue to win work, and you will be best placed once conditions change to win greater roles and have the best starting point with runs on the board with high confidence in your abilities.
Taking a lower role is an opportunity for you to gain, with massive upside, yet risk exists that you shoot yourself in the foot. This battle is largely in your own head, about what you think others will think and how you will be perceived.
Don’t let your ego get in the way of fulfilling your own purpose, and taking action with an internal locus of control to make a difference.
Reframe my Safety Brain 