New title. New expectations. Maybe a new team. You’ve made the move.
The second half of the year is full of fresh energy and pressure. As a manager stepping into a new role, it’s tempting to default to what feels urgent: deliverables, putting out fires, visibility. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from coaching managers, it’s this.
We underestimate how much enablement we need for ourselves when stepping up.
You probably know how to enable others. You’ve done the playbook: goals, growth plans, check-ins, clarity, feedback, tools. But here’s a question that might land closer to home:
Who’s enabling you?
Taking on a new role isn’t just about navigating new responsibilities. It’s a transition of identity. It asks something different of you.
But most managers run into new roles wanting to prove they were the right choice. They sprint before they’ve stretched. They focus on output before orientation. And they forget: readiness isn’t just knowledge. It’s capacity, support, perspective.
So here’s an invitation. Don’t just do the role. Grow into it.
That means stepping back before stepping forward.
That means choosing enablement over assumption.
That means treating your own development like it matters—because it does.
Here are a few questions I use in coaching conversations with managers in transition:
- What do you need to feel supported in this new role?
- Where are you most uncertain, and who can help you unpack that?
- What will you measure to track your own progress, not just your team’s?
- What strengths do you want to lean into more deliberately this time around?
- Where might you still be acting like your previous role?
Performance isn’t just about knowing what to do. It’s about being enabled to do it well.
And enablement for you, as a manager, starts with permission:
- Permission to ask for support without feeling weak.
- Permission to slow down and get clear before speeding up.
- Permission to build systems around your own growth, not just your team’s.
This isn’t about creating a personal development slide deck.
It’s also not about ‘onboarding’ for months without ‘doing’
But, it is about being intentional.
So ask yourself:
What does “good” look like for you by the end of this year?
Here’s what I believe.
Enabled managers build better teams. And the most impactful leaders I know are the ones who learned to enable themselves first.
Welcome to your new role.
Now give yourself what you’d give your team: structure, clarity, feedback, and the space to grow.
You don’t need to have it all figured out.
You just need to begin like it matters.
Because it does.
July 31, 2025
