New Leadership Role? Start With Relationships
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
As leaders rise, the nature of their role inevitably shifts, whether through a new position within the same organization, a geographic move, or stepping into an entirely new organization. What often gets underestimated is the depth of transition required. It’s not just a change in title; it’s a change in responsibility, audience, and culture. Many leaders move too quickly, assuming prior success will translate seamlessly. But in leadership transitions, slow is fast. This is a tried-and-true marathon analogy. The biggest mistake most first-time marathoners make is starting too fast. The excitement and adrenaline of the real event override all of their training and experiential wisdom. They end up hitting "the wall" too soon. The same can be said for leaders taking on new roles and responsibilities.
One of the greatest risks in this season is natural isolation. As influence increases, honest feedback often decreases. Without intentional effort, leaders can lose access to the truth about the organization—how it really works, what people actually think—and even more dangerously, the truth about themselves. Blind spots widen in isolation.
This is why a critical component of any successful transition is a deliberate focus on relationships.
Not just any relationships—mutual ones. These are not transactional connections built for short-term gain, but trusted, two-way relationships marked by honesty, investment, and shared growth. A helpful constraint is to focus on ten people or fewer. Within that circle, leaders should intentionally cultivate what might be called a “Trusted Advisor List”—individuals who both earn trust and offer meaningful perspective.
Building these relationships requires intentional behaviors:
Go first – Take initiative in vulnerability and trust-building.
Illustrate, don’t tell – Let actions consistently demonstrate values.
Listen for what’s different, not what’s familiar – Resist filtering everything through past experience.
Keep asking – Curiosity opens doors that assumptions close.
Ask for help when needed – Strength includes appropriate dependence and vulnerability.
Show genuine interest in the person – Relationship precedes influence. (This partial list was taken from The Trusted Advisor, by Maister, Green, and Galford)
These practices accelerate relational depth and organizational understanding, anchoring the leader in reality rather than perception.
Over time, something begins to shift. The leader no longer feels like an outsider interpreting the system—they become an integrated part of it. This is how you know the transition season is ending: when you can fully own the role, make it your own, and lead naturally without forcing it.
Leadership elevation is not just about increased authority—it’s about increased relational responsibility. Those who recognize this early and invest accordingly don’t just survive transitions—they maximize them.
Early in the Bible, the writer states, “It is not good for man to be alone . . .” (Genesis 2:18). In that scenario, God created woman to meet the need of isolation. But the theme of “not good to be alone” continues throughout the Bible. We are created for relationships, and relationships serve us well in every area of life, including our daily practice of leadership.
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