Greetings from Toronto.
From the Ask Tom mailbag:
Question:
What happens when you realize you were given a promotion and not able to live up to the capabilities? Do you admit it to your superiors? Do you keep it to yourself and risk failure?
Response:
There are many ways to survive in a position that’s over your head, but in the end, it’s only survival. Not a way to live.
I often ask managers, “How do you know, what behavior do you observe when a person is in over their head? Where the Time Span for the position is longer than the Time Span of the person?”
The descriptions come back.
- They feel overwhelmed.
- They cover things up.
- They cut off communication.
- Their projects are always late.
- I can’t ever find them.
- They always blame someone else.
- They have all the excuses.
- They never accept responsibility.
So, the short answer is yes. When you realize you are in over your head, go back to your boss. Explain the difficulties you are having. Ask for help. If it is a matter of capability (Time Span), no amount of training, no amount of hand holding will help. It is possible that you may grow into the position, but it’s more likely a matter of years, not weeks that allows for the required maturity (increase in Time Span).
This doesn’t make you a bad person, it just means you were placed in a position where you cannot be effective. Yet! -TF
This is called “The Peter Principal”(the title of the book – you may want to read it) … the principal states that at some point many people are “Promoted to their level of incompetency” … they went a little too high .. a little too fast.
This of course is not your fault, but it is your problem, as you are well aware.
In addition to Tom’s fine recommendations, I would further recommend that you turned your Network (all the people that know you and like you) to seek out Mentors who can help you get through this particular challenge. Many people in your network may not be able to personally help you but may be able to introduce you to people with skills in this area.
You may find some additional helpful information my website (free): http://www.advancedtrainingseminars.com .
I would also recommend that you go to: http://www.ask.com – this is an Internet website we can ask questions and you will get responses by experts in anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days. You can also try: Yahoo!answers.com which is very similar.
I hope these suggestions were helpful and wish you the best always.
Sincerely,
Prof. Paul Cline